Alchemy Needle Random Haystack

After almost two full weeks away I returned to host a “small” gathering today of 200 local entrepreneurs.   For a nominal entry fee each person was provided with a kit which included the Leeds Vortex Deluxe Sling and a Leeds Navigator Zippered Padfolio both of which arrived as usual with a perfect embellishment courtesy of my usual suppliers.

 I did also throw in some local chocolates which I ordered from the candy house nearby instead of going with the same people that supplied the padfolios.   Surprisingly this was on their recommendation as chocolate I guess tends not to travel well and generally the stuff you buy locally is better than the stuff that can be brought in for a reasonable price.   I do use my local printer for the banners and other assorted stuff as I have found that the cost of shipping in banners and similar items is so high now it is outrageous.  Staples hooked us up with the various little items we needed.  We had it catered by the local restaurant and overall I think things went great.

Well that is until we got down to discussing the matter at hand which is the economy and how it is effecting businesses.  Universally the answer is not well.   Realtors are dying, many are changing businesses and going back to school.   All forms of contractors are doing the same  with many picking up second jobs.  Some of the lifetime contractors are fine from repeat customers but those that focused on new construction are hurting.  All other associated businesses are struggling including banks which were busy signing note after note during the boom.  An informal survey showed about 40%, almost half planned on laying off people if things did not improve.    Nine out of ten indicated they had no new plans to hire staff.   A year ago it was two out of ten at the same conference!

The biggest complaint is lack of funds.   Clients are broke and cutting back and as a result so are the small businesses being hurt.   Really it is not a great situation and almost everyone felt it is too little too late by the politicians and Federal Reserve.    I think things will rebound faster than people think come this summer but it is still going to be a slow uphill climb.

Oh and of course I do know that I spelled Savy wrong, that was by design.  Kind of like the weird title I picked for this post.

Not Even Good Promotions Can Save This Economy

Well I keep tooting the horn of a company I found several months ago so I might as well do it one more time before I leave for a two week vacation.  I had our last tradeshow today and once again the promo items we received from our new provider arrived and were a huge hit.  I made the mistake of giving the wrong address and later confirmed the wrong address yet through a lot of hard work on the part of Promo Managers they got the package to me by re-routing it through UPS.   A couple of years ago I dealt with another company where they screwed up the address and basically washed their hands of it so this was a pleasant change.  I did 500 padfolios which looked great.   That kind of ends the good news.

 We ordered 500 because last year we ordered 400 promo items for this show and we ran out halfway through.  This time we came home with three boxes not because people did not want them.  We gave some people two or three but there were just no visitors.   Across the board all of my partners and affiliate businesses are reporting a huge downturn in business over the last two or three weeks to the point of being worse than anything in the last fifteen or twenty years.  Most are saying literally the business has just vanished.  One of my large customers whom I have organized tradeshow events with for over fourteen years is not attending their industry show this year.   The costs due to high fuel prices are too high to ship and fly everyone in and the returns low.  This appears to be a trend as several other industry insiders report the same type of dwindling returns.

People that would typically drive to shows cannot afford $3.50 per gallon and most see prices going higher which means they have less interest in going.  With prices expected to tip over four dollars a gallon by spring it is just going to get worse.  With the news today of a huge bank bailout you have to wonder how close to the edge we are of a historic failing.  One of my other longtime clients had already pulled the plug on one of their summer events as they cannot justify a celebration in the face of such terrible financial news.  

I am on my way to fun in the sun for two weeks.  We made the reservations forgetting that this is spring break time so this should be an interesting few weeks down where it is warm.  I am pretty certain things are going to get worse before I get back.   For the first time in maybe ten or more years I leave with the fear that business many not return to the levels we saw earlier in the decade until the beginning of the next decade.   I also am coming to the realization that the economy of 2010 is going to be totally different than what most of us know.

Save A Tree By Using USB

The advent and incredible popularity of USB flash drives over the last few years has driven prices way down.   Although it is far from a perfect environmental solution using USB memory keys to carry your marketing slogan is a reusable medium that customers will keep in hands.  There are dozens of choices available from personalized versions to store bought and my recommendation to you is shop purely on price, here is why.

Your target market will care much more, or I should say should care much more about what is on the memory drive than what is printed on it if you are using it as a marketing message.  Simply put if you are using a flash drive as a promotional channel the message inside the drive is most important.   That is not to say getting a drive printed like the Leeds Beetle USB Flash Drive 1GB is a bad choice so long as the price is good, but there are less expensive alternatives that are just as effective.  If you are buying small numbers something like the Sandisk 1GB can save you a few dollars if you are buying small quantities especially when you consider shipping and setup charges.  The Sandisk requires a rebate and there is no loading capability at the store.  This means you will have to open each package and load up your marketing files yourself.   If you go with a factory drive that is printed you can pay a little extra money to have your message uploaded in bulk.   There are still cheaper alternatives but it surprised me greatly to find that the printed drives are now often less expensive than blank retail drives.  I am not really sure why this is unless competition is fierce or they are becoming a huge commodity.

The environmental benefits of going with a USB drive to put your catalog on are negligible in theory.  I am sure some company will try to claim they are green because they are reusable – that seems to be the big rip right now, everything is green if it is reusable.   At the very least it is a neat idea and one that your customer will almost certainly keep even if they delete the marketing material and use it as an in house drive to carry their own data.    Remember these are now commodities and prices will vary weekly so look around for the best deal and you will hopefully save yourself a few dollars.   Note the Circuit City listing I gave includes a rebate which would be a royal PITA while the Promo managers listing is direct pricing.  You can find even better deals in your local Costco or similar warehouse store.