Adding Promotional Products Creates New Revenue Streams

The new year is a great time to look at your printing business and identify opportunities for new programs. In addition to tweaking your sales methods for existing products and services, don’t overlook the possibilities that promotional products offer. They can often be complementary to your printing business, create the ever-sought-after one-stop shop for your printing customers, and open up new revenue streams.

While this might sound enticing — and your first instinct would be to jump in with both feet, investing in all sorts of decoration equipment and selling every brandable product you can think of — take a second to strategize and see exactly how the promotional products puzzle piece fits into your business’s overall picture.

When done tactfully, adding promotional products can be a catalyst for sales growth and open new doors. The beauty is that it’s a scalable business, so you can sort of be as involved in the promo side as you want. Even if you start small, you can add new product categories or decoration methods down the road and provide even more for your customers.

Promo Products for Branding Initiatives

As a print services provider (PSP), you have no doubt attended your fair share of trade shows. Those busy expo center floors are full of businesses fighting for your attention, and promotional products play a large role in that. They provide a lasting, tactile reminder of a meeting or educational session, and that’s where some printers start with their promotional products journey.

Kimberly Elmore, director of marketing and sales strategy for Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Gilson Graphics, says that her company first started selling promotional products in the early 2000s with this in mind.

“Many of the first products we added were in support of trade show events — trinkets, pens, and other giveaways — but have since expanded into the complete gamut of promotional products, including items like mugs and drinkware; custom enamel pins and employee recognition items; branded apparel; items to support dealer networks like service counter mats; barstools; neon signs; clocks; and more,” she points out. “You name it — we can source it and put your logo on it.”

Many of these products aren’t too far from the world Gilson already existed in, so producing items like stickers, magnets, event tickets, and some signage came naturally. But for items like custom board games, the company invested in equipment for printing and routing wood.

That type of investment isn’t necessary, though. It’s perfectly possible to have a promotional products presence without clearing out manufacturing space and buying equipment like screen printers.

“While we haven’t ventured into traditional apparel or promotional item manufacturing, our emphasis is on maintaining a network of quality suppliers and delivering exceptional quality control and project management for our clients,” Elmore says.

Developing External Partnerships

At least at first, it’s wise to source your promotional products from outside vendors. They can also handle the decoration, too, as equipment is not only costly, it’s big.

Todd Matsuka, president and CEO of ENPOINTE, in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, reports his company looked into investing in manufacturing and decoration equipment, but ultimately decided against it.

“We determined that, from a decoration standpoint, we have really strong partners, and it just didn’t make sense from a business standpoint for what we could pay our partners to do it,” Matsuka says. “Promotional product decoration is labor-intensive, and it takes a fair amount of square footage, especially if you’re in the apparel game and decorating.”

Matsuka found that ENPOINTE could maximize its margins by working with suppliers and decorators, and just integrating the promotional products into its sales approach by offering it as a complementary product.

After 15 years of offering promo products, it now offers items like engraved writing instruments, drinkware from brands like YETI, and an assortment of products that can go into branded kits for big-name clients like Disney.

Personalized YETI tumblers have become a very popular gift item that print providers can provide. | Credit: Ironmark

For its apparel offerings, they work with local businesses that specialize in services like embroidery when the products they order don’t come decorated by the supplier. “We really started building relationships with the smaller types of vendors that can handle this,” Matsuka says.

A Different Approach: Acquisition

Ironmark, based Annapolis Junction, Maryland, ventured into the promotional products world a little differently. Rather than just adding products relative to demand and success, Ironmark acquired a dedicated promotional products company, which came with staff well-versed in the ins and outs, as well as relationships with vendors.

However, Ironmark President Matt Marzullo notes the company still had to navigate similar channels as a company new to the promo space to find vendor partners over the years. A big part of that has come with Ironmark joining the Chesapeake Promotional Products Association (CPPA), which is a regional association for promotional products distributors.

“Those are great, because they organize a lot of trade shows where you’re bringing all of your vendors to one place,” Marzullo says. “From an efficiency standpoint, you can meet with 10 or 15 vendors at a time. We belong to several of those groups, and we see a lot of value in just helping with the vendor relationships and the networking events they put on.”

Getting the Word Out

Once you do decide to add promotional products, however many or few as you choose, now comes the step of letting your customers know that it’s part of the process. Bringing the opportunity for an all-encompassing branding solution in the form of a kit, or adding products that complement print, like writing instruments or bags, can be appealing to an end user who wants to do all of their business in one place — ensuring a more organized and simplified procurement process.

“Gilson Graphics has organically proved our services within our client base through discussions and examples of employee retention programs, trade events, and client appreciation swag boxes,” Elmore says. “Utilizing a show-and-tell approach, we offer branded samples as conversation starters. Our focused sales strategy targets clients unfamiliar with Gilson’s promotional product offering, aiming for substantial 2024 growth through word-of-mouth within our existing client network and expansion into new areas, like human resource departments.”

Marzullo notes that Ironmark gets the word out through its print sales team. By already being a trusted partner, the door is open to suggest new programs. “This was a way to engage the client, start servicing them, and we’ve seen that be a great door-opener down the line to expand our service,” he explains.

In the digital age, adding a section to your company’s website about promo products can also be an easy way to show what you can do. It takes the “show-and-tell” approach to prospective clients without the need of scheduling in-person meetings.

The Dollars and Cents

The simple truth is that print suppliers wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t profitable. The companies featured in this article have been in the promo products space for more than 15 years. Why else would these programs still be around, let alone growing, if they didn’t work?

“Adding promotional products has enhanced our full-service marketing solution, catering to diverse sectors like manufacturing, retail, professional services, and higher education,” Elmore says. “It seamlessly complements our existing marketing efforts for clients.”

Now, it does require more than just the products. You need to change your sales mindset in some cases, too. “By taking responsibility for the final output, including value-added services like creative and strategy, we create added value and facilitate further investment in our organization,” Elmore adds.

When Ironmark added promotional products to its offerings in 2008, Marzullo admits the company actually “failed miserably because we were printers and we were thinking like printers, and not promotional products people.”

From there, the company made its promo acquisition, but also took the time to educate itself on vendors, the manufacturing process, and treating promo as a separate arm of the business rather than an offshoot of print. Adding personnel who specialized in promo products to serve as “coaches” of sorts for the print-focused salespeople also helped.

“Once we did that, it accelerated the learning curve 100%,” Marzullo notes. “At this point, somewhere in the neighborhood of 17% of Ironmark’s revenue derives from [promo products.] It’s a huge piece of what we do, and it’s very complementary to the full-service suite that we’re offering. It’s great. I would love to do even more.”