Newsletter Blogs

A Lesson in Branding from a Skate Spot
February 16, 2016 at 1:35 pm

Growing up, skateboarding was just about the most important thing in the world to me. I tore through magazines, like Thrasher and Skateboarder, I idolized Tony Hawk, and I watched every skate video I could get my hands on. I…

My 2016 Promo Picks for Spring
February 11, 2016 at 6:33 pm

No matter what my relationship status is Valentine's Day warmly reminds me that winter is ending and spring is (kind of) around the corner. Naturally, I've been thinking about all of the spring promotional products I'd like to have this year. Based on 2016 trends and personal needs, here are four products that I'll be…

Grease Is the (Promotional) Word
February 10, 2016 at 6:40 pm

It was with great hesitation that I tuned into "Grease: Live" on Fox last week. Don't get me wrong—I love the "Grease" movie—but I assumed this new version could never live up to my favorite childhood movie. However, three seconds into the opening credits of Jessie J singing "Grease Is the Word," and I was annoying…

A Very Powerful Question
February 9, 2016 at 5:08 pm

As I returned my Alamo rental car in Newark, N.J., recently, an employee asked if I had any issues with the car and how my trip was. I said, "Fine," and was prepared to get my receipt and walk to the terminal. Instead, I was legitimately surprised by a simple question: "Could we have done…

What’s Their Story?
February 4, 2016 at 6:47 pm

If you want to become a business partner who matters, you need to get to know your customers. Go deep. Study their companies every way and every where you can. Start on your computer. Google the companies. Read articles about them. Set up Google Alerts to get trending articles about them. Study their industries. Read…

The Problem with Promotional T-shirts
February 3, 2016 at 6:11 pm

Confession: I have a lot of promotional T-shirts—but I wear the majority of them as pajama tops. Why? It’s not about color, style, texture or unwieldy logos. It’s not even a matter of actually liking whatever organization, cause or movie the…

11 Keys to Great Success in Life and Business: Key 10: Grow Your Sales Skills
February 1, 2016 at 5:01 pm

Most of us will never win the big lottery, so we have to go out and earn our successes. And earning success equals selling. In Key No. 8, I talked about the four pillars of success, the only four things a business owner can do to create wealth: Earn new customers. Sell more to your…

Looking Forward
January 28, 2016 at 6:27 pm

Unbelievably, we have entered a new year. 2015 went by so fast that I am still in awe that it is already over. It was such a busy year for the Promo Marketing Media Group. We were not only busy producing our award-winning publications, events, newsletters, online solutions and all the unique custom services we…

Puppies and People: 5 Management Insights
January 26, 2016 at 6:53 pm

People are much smarter than puppies, but raising a puppy can teach you a lot about how to manage people. I know this because with Tiffany, my family's first puppy 25-plus years ago, I did everything wrong. Tiffany was never potty trained, constantly barked at nothing and, essentially,…

A Better Way to Access Orders
January 22, 2016 at 7:47 pm

Question: I have been using the order numbers that QuickBooks auto-assigns for sales orders (SO), purchase orders (PO) and invoices numbers. Is there a better way? Answer: Yes. When I was a distributor, I quickly learned how often I had to access different orders during the course of a day. And thus, being able to…