How does the everyday consumer or business professional in need of logoed products find a distributor with an accessible collection of solutions? Is it the internet, a recommendation from a colleague or perhaps a savvy marketing play?

In detailed conversations that ASI Media had with distributors across the U.S., these companies continue to find customers in a number of ways. Here, they share their best methods for finding promotional products customers.

Word of Mouth Matters

Distributors overwhelmingly cited word-of-mouth referrals as the most common way prospective customers discovered their business. When consumers need logoed product, they often solicit suggestions from others in their social networks, both in the real and digital worlds. And those suggestions carry a lot of weight.

Last year, TCAG (asi/170136), a distributor based in Littleton, CO, scored a 39% jump in revenue over its previous record year, company founder Jim Harker reports. And this year, Harker anticipates another 15%-20% jump off that 2022 figure. The driver?

“It’s definitely fueled by word of mouth, first and foremost,” Harker says, adding that TCAG does not operate an online store.

How does Harker, who favors an agency perspective and offering white-glove service, earn those referrals? To him, it’s simple: show every customer attentiveness and care. If TCAG can consistently provide that, Harker knows his current customers will spread the word.

In TCAG’s 16-year history, Harker claims he has only lost one client. He calls every customer an important one because you never know where today’s customer will take you tomorrow, especially given fluidity in the labor market.

Harker, for instance, recalls fulfilling a local woman’s holiday order for three custom T-shirts. When TCAG handled that order with the same care and attentiveness it devotes to significant corporate orders, the woman left impressed. When she later became the marketing director for a large company, Harker’s distributorship – which was named a 2022 Counselor Best Place to Work – jumped to the top of her list for branded product.

“Do a good job and take care of your customers,” Harker says, “and not only will people remain loyal to you, but they won’t hesitate to recommend you to others as well.”

“Do a good job and take care of your customers, and not only will people remain loyal to you, but they won’t hesitate to recommend you to others as well.” Jim Harker, TCAG

Britny Berndt, owner of Fort Wayne, IN-based Brand Buzzz (asi/145326), similarly cites personal referrals as the top way customers learn about her 5-year-old business. She cultivates word-of-mouth referrals by deepening relationships with her existing customers. Specifically, Berndt prioritizes face-to-face conversations as much as possible to build rapport and strengthen relationships, even if that requires more work on her part.

“When I listen to customers, what they have coming up and their objectives, and then provide thoughtful solutions to them, they’re more likely to become word-of-mouth ambassadors for me and send others my way,” Berndt says.

In-Person Networking Moves the Needle

Though the COVID-19 pandemic reduced in-person networking for a period of time, distributors continue to champion the benefits of attending business-to-business (B2B) events or volunteering in the community.

For Burns Mailing & Printing (asi/150837) in Knoxville, TN, a small firm with fewer than 10 employees and just four years in the promotional products space, promo department manager Suzanne McCarter says participating in B2B events such as chamber meetings and business group luncheons has heightened visibility for Burns.

“It’s probably been the most beneficial and cost-effective marketing vehicle we have and something I’d highly recommend to anyone in our industry,” McCarter says, adding that Burns is involved in three local chambers. “Attending these events absolutely leads customers to us because we’re then a name they’re familiar with when they need promotional product.”

“Attending these networking events absolutely leads customers to us because we’re then a name they’re familiar with when they need promotional product.” Suzanne McCarter, Burns Mailing & Printing

Berndt, meanwhile, touts volunteering as another way distributors can increase visibility for their business and foster sales-driving relationships. She has volunteered with organizations such as Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana and the local chapter of the Indiana University Alumni Association. She has also served as a board member with the 3Rivers Federal Credit Union.

“Since I’m involved beyond the office, people often find me and Brand Buzzz because we’ve interacted before or they know someone who personally knows me,” Berndt says. “Ultimately, most people want to do business with people they know or have at least heard of.”

Networking alone, however, is only half the proverbial battle to building a relationship with prospective customers. Follow-up is the next critical step.

While Berndt admits that “cold calling is not [her] game,” she does actively follow up on leads. This past January, for instance, she landed three potential new customers from organic conversations. In one case, Berndt learned that a previous volunteer with whom she had worked needed someone to produce team jerseys. Berndt picked up the phone and leveraged her existing relationship with that individual to earn business.

“Put out what you do in an honest, upfront way,” Berndt says, “and it’s something people will be receptive to, even if you have to remind them.”

Digital Spurs Discovery

Not surprisingly, digital is an important touchpoint with prospective customers given technology’s ubiquity in today’s world. Internet searches and social media all help customers discover a distributor. Though some distributors note it’s not as straightforward as one might think, particularly with search engines.

Targeted local SEO is a good start. For example, do a Google search of “custom promotional products,” and the first page is filled with industry power players like VistaPrint (asi/162149), Custom Ink (asi/173232) and 4imprint (asi/197045). Tailor that search to “custom promotional products near me” and the first page features a smattering of national players combined with local distributors.

Landing prime positioning on the first page is just the initial step. By drawing a customer into their site, distributors can sell their business – their story, services, capabilities and people – to merit an inquiry through phone call, email or even chat. And if they offer an online store, they can instantly convert prospects into customers with an online order.

Absent a store, digital can still be a valuable discovery tool for prospective customers, particularly social media as an engine for referrals. Burns, for instance, maintains a presence on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Almost daily, McCarter says, she is tagged somewhere by one supporter or another – often friends from a chamber or business networking group – recommending Burns to fulfill a job.

“When you see folks who are continually recommended, that builds credibility in the marketplace,” McCarter says.

PR & Community Goodwill Drive Awareness

Doing community goodwill – and having others talk about it – can surely help drive consumer awareness.

In 2021, Thom Loreman, owner of Loremans’ Embroidery, Engraving and Screenprinting (asi/255758) in Keeseville, NY, and his wife, Betty, earned local attention for receiving the “Spirit of Ianelli” Award from the Sunrise Rotary Mayor’s Cup Regatta & Festival Committee. The honor recognized the Loremans for operating a successful local business as well as their continued community efforts, which include organizing community events and spearheading fundraisers, such as distributing Thanksgiving turkeys to local families and running a hat and mitten tree during the wintertime.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Loremans' (@thinkloremans)

“Instead of doing less, we’ve done more,” says Thom, whose father, Don, started Loremans’ in 1979. “When our name is mentioned over and over in ways that are good for our community, that puts us in people’s minds and leaves them with a good feeling about us.”

Harker, meanwhile, generated community goodwill in a different way. He volunteered to handle three local school programs and created websites for each school free of charge. He also gave the schools elevated clothing and claimed a booth at school-led events, where he then displayed available product and networked. As a result, more people discovered TCAG and Harker reports he’s now doing $725,000 in revenue from neighborhood contacts alone.

Hitting the Pavement Can’t Be Overlooked

When Marc Kozak and his wife Cheryl launched Blue Monster Creative Marketing (asi/466761) in 2009, Kozak had no existing clients and no sales experience. Though Kozak himself had worked in the promo industry since 1998, he did so as a graphic artist on the supplier side.

“No one knew who I was, so I had to let people know myself,” he says.

Kozak drummed up business by walking up and down the streets of White Plains, NY, introducing himself to one business after another – insurance agencies, dental offices and restaurants among them. During these face-to-face visits, which typically feel more natural and personal than a random phone call, Kozak talked about his business services and, even more, the importance of creativity for standing out in the marketplace.

“Honestly, I hated it, but we had to start somewhere,” Kozak notes.

Kozak says the strategy put his name in front of potential clients and spurred some early business. And over the years, those modest business card orders grew into larger orders of promotional products.

When Kozak and his wife relocated from New York to central Florida with Blue Monster in December 2011, they applied the same grassroots, door-to-door strategies once again to create awareness and cultivate a new client base.

“I just know it’s tough to create a business by sitting behind a computer,” he says.

A Community Presence Prompts Familiarity

Being visible locally has helped Loremans’ become a memorable business name in and around Keeseville, a community in the northeastern tip of New York state.

Specially, Loremans’ is the main sponsor of the Keeseville Riverfront Summer Music Series that’s popular among locals. Loreman, who co-founded the series in 2017, and his team book musical acts and organize the event. The Loremans’ name is well represented on concert communications like posters, as well as at the event with a banner and a branded trailer.

“It’s subliminal messaging but messaging nonetheless that puts our name in front of people,” Loreman says.

Given the diversity of potential clients available to Loremans’ around Keeseville, from school and sports programs to local businesses and civic groups, Loreman calls generating community awareness critical to capturing new customers. To that end, the Loremans’ team also makes local deliveries in its own branded vehicles, which serve as roving billboards for Loremans’ on area streets.

“People aren’t seeing the FedEx or UPS guy making our deliveries, but us traveling around,” Loreman says. “This helps people know we’re open and active.”

Kozak, meanwhile, similarly champions the value of being a community presence to spur customer discovery. At local events, first in New York and later in central Florida, Blue Monster was present with a prize wheel. Kozak says “that clicking sound” never failed to attract a crowd and he awarded different Blue Monster-branded prizes to participants.

“We had lines 15-20 deep to spin that wheel,” he says, “and you never know where your own self-promo product is going to wind up.”

Self-Promos Attract Customers

To Kozak’s above point, a promotional product itself can be the tool to drive discovery among prospective clients.

Instead of handing out business cards, a perfectly suitable but blasé tactic, Kozak prefers to distribute usable, practical items carrying the Blue Monster name, such as lip balms or distinctive pens, including a transparent one resembling a syringe and filled with blue ink – a nod to the Blue Monster name. These items brand the business as something different and tend to be items “people use and keep around,” Kozak says.

“Our industry has no shortage of unique products available, so why not use those to help people learn about us or remember us?” he adds. “You can’t be afraid to be a little different.”

And, yes, these products can travel and lead to new customers. McCarter, for instance, recalls providing a high-quality metal pen with a full-color imprint, soft touch finish and useful stylus to one of its regional healthcare clients working to expand nationally. After the client began distributing this pen at their newest locations, McCarter says she received a half-dozen calls from others requesting that specific pen.

“Their clients not only wanted more of their pens to use, but called from across the country to purchase them for themselves,” McCarter says. “That was evidence to me that a well-crafted, functional product can garner you more business, even through the back door.”