Branded Prevention Kit for the Swine Flu
As reports of swine flu circulate through the national media, people are beginning to panic. While vaccines are being developed, simple procedures like covering one’s mouth when coughing, staying home if sick and washing hands are the best ways to help prevent getting the dreaded disease.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the government’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was reporting that 91 people across 10 states were infected with the virus. Minnesota was not among the states the CDC identified as having a confirmed case of the disease, although one “probable” Minnesota case is currently being tested at the CDC.
As the demand for face masks increases, Cormarq offers branded flu prevention kits. This is the perfect promotion to show your clients or employees that you care about protecting them from the flu.
- Flu Prevention Kit
Add comment May 1, 2009
A Knock Out Promotion for Gameday
You are probably familiar with Eye Black, it has been used by athletes for centuries to reduce the glare of the sun. Today eye black can be a powerful and cost effective promotional tool for both teams and companies. When you think about your next game day giveaway consider 20,000+ fans walking around with your logo on their face. Now that’s spirit!
Add comment April 19, 2009
Top 10 Health Care Promotions
To make a lasting impression on your fellow hospital employees, clinic workers, dentist or pharmacists, and to build trust with patients, consider imprinting our custom medical products and promotional health products with your personalized health message.
1. WIN A MYSTERY SCRATCH OFF CARD: Attract and encourage people to donate blood by offering a promotional product. You can increase your donor database by offering donors a mystery card that gives them a chance to win music downloads well as larger prizes like a MP3 player or a DVD player.
2. CUSTOM SKINS for CELLPHONES: Orthodontics should reward their current patients for achieving their hygiene goals and for other patient referrals. Over 72% of 13-17 year olds have cell phones so their typical patient would go crazy over this unique promotion.
3. MUSIC DOWNLOAD CARDS: Hospitals have tight budgets for recruiting nurses these days. Incentive cards that contain free music downloads can be an ideal recruiting tool at a job fair.
4. BAND-AID COMPRESSED T-SHIRT: Compressing a t-shirt into a unique shape can have a big impact. The shirts are shrink-wrapped and you can insert a custom card with your message into the wrapping.
5. HAND SANITIZER SPRAY: Clinics should promote a healthy germ free way of living by handing sanitizer sprays out to patients. Great for a mom’s purse or in the car. One simple spray will kill 99% of the germs that are plotting against you.
6. PEDOMETER: As our medical practitioners prescribe daily regimens of exercise to their patients, pedometers assist the patient in achieving their fitness goals by providing measurement of steps, distance, and calories burned during each exercise routine.
7. CLIPBOARDS & PENS: This is a great way for pharmaceutical companies to build brand exposure and promote their new products.
8. MEDINCINE DISPENSERS: The dispensers are perfect promotional giveaways that help build brand awareness for medication products as well as service providers including treatment centers, pharmacies and organizations devoted to management of diseases that frequently require timely use of medicines.
9. SUNSCREEN: Today skin cancer is a leading health concern. The number of outdoor events will increase as we approach summer. Protect your costumers/patients with a custom bottle of sunscreen.
10. LAYNARDS AND BADGE ACCESSORIES: Customized lanyards and badge accessories are great corporate gifts for new employees. Imprinted badge lanyards and customized lanyards can be personalized with your logo or promotional message. Great for keeping name tags visible and safe.
1 comment April 8, 2009
Why Use Social Media?
One of the basic keys to building a successful internet business is driving traffic to your website or blog. Without traffic, your business simply does not exist online. It’s a common misconception that you can only get traffic from the search engines. While search engines usually will provide the bulk of your traffic, there are many other ways to drive traffic to your website other than thru the search engines.
One of the latest techniques for driving targeted traffic to your website is using what are called social media. Social media are websites and applications that specialize in sharing and discussing information among other interested people. The major social media include sites like myspace, facebook, technorati, stumbleupon, and digg to name just a few. If you are not utilizing any of these in your current marketing mix then you are missing out on a substantial volume of free, targeted traffic.
The first thing you should do before jumping into the social media marketing game is to explore some of the more prominent social media sites, learn their rules, and learn how they basically operate.
Here is a list of the major social media sites that everyone is talking about:
Youtube (video)
MySpace (social networking)
Facebook (social networking)
LinkedIn (social networking)
Digg (blogging)
Twitter (micro-blogging)
There are many other social media sites out there and new ones spring up all of the time. However, the sites listed above account for approximately 85% of social media traffic and therefore focusing your marketing efforts on these sites will likely be very effective.
Once you have taken the time to familiarize yourself with the above websites, the next thing you should do is read the spam policy of each site. The owners and users of the social media sites hate spam with a passion. Therefore, it’s very important to disguise your commercial intentions as meaningful content. Better yet, instead of disguising your intentions, actually submit relevent, quality content that users of social media will appreciate. If you do this you are likely to see a huge flow of traffic.
The bottom line is this: if you want the social media sites to work for you you need to work with them rather than against them. And this means providing users with meaningful content, not a bunch of bogus information and spam links.
http://mashable.com/2009/03/23/social-media-marketing-budgets/
Add comment April 1, 2009
Top 10 Promotional Products for the Banking and Financial Industry that are Guaranteed to Enrich your Brand!
Tradeshows and conferences are a great place for the banking and financial industry to create brand awareness and gain loyalty. Strategically implementing a marketing plan that includes promotional products can help you successfully attract new prospects and retain existing customers. Maintaining brand standards and bank logos while making sure your tradeshow giveaway is related to the industry will maximize the effectiveness of your message. Here are my top ten picks for tradeshow promotions that are sound investments and are sure to pay off
1. Credit Card USB Drive-Flash drives are a valued gift. A credit card shaped USB not only relates to your industry but fits directly into a wallet for a long-lasting advertising campaign.
2. Music Download Cards- reward people with free music downloads. The recipient is then directed to a website and required enter personal information for a chance to win an iPod.
3. VIP Concierge Card-A live branded personal assistant will definitely show a potential client that you offer VIP service that they can bank on.
4. Compressed T-shirt- take your apparel promotion to the next level. Compress your branded t-shirt into a credit card or dollar bill shape and include a insert advertising promotions or brand information.
5. Mint Tin- Not your typical tin of mints. This version opens to reveal a mirror on the inside. Think of this tag line…”Look inside to see who should be banking at ABC Bank.”
6. Porky Pig Bank- A cute pig bank promotes saving while making people smile.
7. Pocket Jotter with Memo Pad and Calculator-a highly utilized product and a great way to create a daily impression.
8. Dollar Shaped Sticky Notes- Everybody uses them making this a cost effective way to get your brand great exposure.
9. Eclipse Financial Theme Tumbler- Patented heat changing technology reveals a financial theme when filled with hot liquid. Making your brand something they will warm up to.
10. Dollar Shaped Seed Paper- a perfect handout solution for tradeshows to convey the message that you care about all things green.
1 comment March 30, 2009
Why Use Direct Mail?
I know that many businesses have moved away from direct mail campaigns due to the explosion of internet marketing coupled with the rising cost of postage. If you are putting all your marketing eggs into one basket you are missing out on the opportunity to talk directly to hundreds, thousands, and even millions of potential customers. Direct Mail is one of the only forms of advertising that lets you precisely pinpoint your target audience and gives you measurable results fast.
When creating a direct mail program be sure to set an objective. It is important to keep your objectives clear, specific and be realistic. Ask yourself what does your business hope to accomplish from the campaign? Is it to find new customers, or to drive traffic to your business, maybe it is to sell more products or a service? You may want to create a branding piece to increase your brand awareness in the market.
Consumers are hit with over 3500 messages on any given day. Only a unique and personalize message can break through the barrier and grab their attention, and compel them to act. Variable Data Printing (VDP), also called Variable Information Printing is the revolutionary printing process that lets you easily customize your message by individually targeting each customer and creating a personalized effect in your direct mail communications. By utilizing the VDP method you can expect response rates 3 to 10 times higher than the traditional mailer. This technique presents an effective tool for increasing ROI on marketing campaigns.
When developing your upcoming campaign do not leave direct mail out of the marketing mix. Direct mail can lead an integrated campaign and give your brand the break through it needs to deliver a message to the audience that is supported with the frequency offered through mass media outlets such as TV, radio and print. Direct mail also drives response, which can then lead customers to branded websites, SMS response or email follow up.
To get some insight on how consumers sort through their mail go to this link. http://news.pb.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=269
Add comment March 23, 2009
CORMARQ Introduces “Promo Girl”
In a world of economic despair there is hope for failing businesses. Promo Girl has taken a vow to fight the evil forces of the economy and help you promote your brand!
Do not let the negativity surrounding the economy be the kryptonite for you businesses’ success. Now it is more crucial than ever to promote your brand and make a promise to consumers that you are here to stay!
1 comment March 5, 2009
The Perfect College Marketing Tool
Trip Builders MiniMaps are the perfect way to welcome college students to your campus. The customized map is a credit card size when closed. When opened by the students they will discover a foldout map on one side and your powerful promotional message on the other.
Popular Promotional MiniMap Uses on College Campuses
:
- Bank Locators
- Campus Discount Cards
- Campus Maps
- Orientation Gifts
- School Calendar
- Student Services Brochure
- Sports Schedules
For more information visit
http://www.tripbuilder.net/beta/minimaps/minimaps_enhancements.php
or contact Nicole French at nfrench@cormarq.com.
Add comment February 23, 2009
Promotional Swag vs. the Effectiveness of an Ad
I read an article published in ADWEEK in November of 2008 which commented on a study released by the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI). The study concluded that the most effective marketing medium to reach your target audience was promotional products.
Read more at the link below.
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/client/e3i2d029babe3f1f02ea0a389048245c2bc
The study also included a survey of 618 participants that consisted of business people in four metro areas: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. The survey asked the participants to recall promotional swag that they had received over the past 12 months.
Significant findings include:
· 84% of consumers can name the advertisers on the products they receive
· 62% have done business with an advertiser after receiving a product.
· The average cost per impression of a promotional product = $0.004
· 42% percent had a more favorable impression of an advertiser after receiving a promotional product.
· 24% nearly one quarter, said they are more likely to do business with an advertiser based on items they receive.
· #1 most commonly owned promotional item is a writing instrument, followed by apparel, caps, and bags.
· 81% of promotional products were kept because they were considered of a useful nature.
· Over 66% of participants kept their items for seven months.
1 comment February 16, 2009
Promotional Power with Digital Promotions
In order to create a successful promotion you have to offer the end user something current and with a perceived value. A digital campaign could be the answer to the ROI that you have been dreaming of. Have you ever received a gift card or a coupon code that you could use online? Maybe you won a free download off a soda cap? Perhaps you registered online in exchange for a free sample? All these are examples of a digital promotion in action.
A digital promotion consists of a branded plastic card that gives the card holder access to a certain value of goods and services. For example music downloads or ringtones. These goods and services are redeemed by visiting a cusotm website online and entering the unique PIN number found on the back of the card.
Visit these websites for more information.
http://www.mypromotool.com/cormarq/
http://www.mediatreegroup.com/index.php
A Digital Campaign is a powerful promotional tool for marketers…
+Bring more potential buyers to the brand.
+Interact with consumers.
+High-perceived value, Low cost premiums.
+Give the consumer instant gratification.
+Customers have the power to choose from millions of songs, ringtones, etc.
+Reach multiple target markets.
+Track your promotion with real-time redemption metrics.
Add comment January 20, 2009
