Promotional Product Advertising Opportunities for Graphic Arts-Related Businesses

This article is designed to show businesses how to make money by offering promotional products to their customers and also to help those already selling promotional products to be more effective.

If you are an established business owner, and are looking for a way to increase your profit or to take more money out of your business, promotional products advertising is a unique opportunity for you.

This report will show you how you can take advantage of your position in the marketplace to generate extra profits and value for yourself out of your business without doing anything you are not already doing or investing in equipment, people or space.

Do You Have A Business In Any Of These Areas?

These are the types of businesses we have found from experience do very well by having a promotional products advertising profit center. This is because they already have the customers who need these products and they have the capabilities to make the sales using their existing staff and they also understand artwork.

If you are in one of these businesses, give serious consideration to promotional products. If not, do likewise and make sure you are willing to acquire the necessary capabilities.

The Opportunity

Here are 11 reasons why promotional products advertising is a particularly good business for owners of the business types listed above to consider as an additional profit center:

Your customers need these products and will buy from you if you make them available. Your staff is probably getting asked for them every day because these products are viewed by your customers as something it makes sense for you to offer.

Many of your competitors are probably doing this already and it makes sense to get this capability yourself before you lose any of your regular business by not being able to supply these products too.

You have artwork capabilities so when you do any kind of new artwork or design for a customer, your ability to give them their design on multiple products will be appreciated by your customers and bring extra profit for you.

You can do this with your existing staff and overheads—no new investment in people or equipment.

You can potentially double the cash you take out of your company with very little investment or work just by offering these products to your customers.

You have no inventory—you order the products after you sell them. You will outsource these products just like Quick Printers do with bindery, thermography or other capabilities that your customers need that you might not have in house.

You can make 50%, 60% and even 70% profit margins.

It costs very little to start and takes very little space.

It allows you to sell up to 500,000 products to corporations and get them factory-direct.

If you choose, the manufacturers will drop-ship to your customers for you with your company contact info on the box and paperwork, not theirs.

Once your customers start buying their promotional products from you, you will be getting ongoing re-orders from them that provide great cash flow with even less work.

Because of all these things, your profit from promotional products will be much higher than that any other type of company will be able to achieve. In fact, as incredible as it may seem, you can easily have a

20% Increase in your sales due to promotional products—
DOUBLE your bottom line profit.

You are probably thinking, no way, how can a 20% sales increase double my profit?

Here's How

For this example, I'll assume your sales are $1,000,000 per year. If they aren't, don't worry, the same proportions apply.

Your promotional products advertising business will be outsourcing some printing on other products, just like you already do now. You only need $200,000 (or 20%) extra business in promotional products to double your profit, not $1,000,000.

Here's Why

If you make an 8% profit on $1,000,000 in sales after a reasonable owner's salary, you're doing great. Most printing & graphic art businesses have 12% profit before any owner compensation (SCORE statistics from their web site). Using a conservative average of only 40% profit (not the 50%–70% that is possible) from your promotional products profit center, your numbers will look like this:

This works because the rest of your overhead covers your base business and the extra revenue coming from the promotional products sales has no extra cost other than the cost of the products themselves. No extra equipment, people or space is needed.

Does an extra $200,000 of business sound like a lot? Here's what one of our customers told me—and he only had 12 accounts in his existing print brokering business when he got started:

"Thanks to your program and suggestions, I have gotten my business off the ground and moving faster than I had ever dreamed. I expect to do anywhere between $250,000 and $500,000 in my first year. I have gained knowledge in areas at an incredible speed thanks to all your tips that saved me countless hours of aggravation. I wanted to thank you and let you know your program was paid off with my first order and I have never regretted a moment of it. Thanks."

– Marc DiFrancesco, Paradigm Graphic Solutions

Not everyone will be as successful as quickly as Marc has but because you already have customers, letting them know you have promotional products and just taking the orders that drop in your lap is pretty easy...

The 3 Myths You Will Hear about
the Promotional Products Business From Those In It
Who Want to Keep YOU Out!

You have probably heard of ASI and PPAI and have discovered that it is not so easy to get into this business. You may feel that the industry is conspiring to keep you out of it even though you are a legitimate reseller.

Well, you're right.

By trying to make it difficult for end users to get around the system and buy direct from factories, they have also made it difficult for you to supply your customer's needs. The industry is structured around having distributors who sell only promotional products and nothing else.

If you have looked into this business before you have probably been told these things to keep you out of the business:

You have to be a member of the ASI or the factories will not deal with you. Not true. We have helped over 1,365 businesses and individuals start their promotional products business and not one has had any problems doing business with the factories when they follow the methods we prescribe.

It's common sense. If you are a legitimate distributor (and you will be) wanting to buy from a factory, why wouldn't they want a new customer? As long as they know you understand the business and are assured they will get paid, they want your business. Wouldn't you want a new customer for your business?

It takes a large financial investment to be in the business, or large quantity orders are required by the factories. Not true. You can frequently get custom imprinted orders for $100 or less. Even on large orders, if you get a 50% deposit from your customer as we suggest, the advance deposit you get will cover most if not all the money you need to pay the factory.

You will not get the same costs for products as other distributors. Not true. It would be illegal if it were—the law says that competing customers must be sold at the same price regardless of quantity purchased. Though large volume customers may get some year-end rebates based on volume or special "End Quantity Pricing" deals, we'll show you how to get these too.

This is also common sense. Since many factories produce 200- to 300-page color catalogs with the prices in them, it would be totally illogical for them to make a special catalog for smaller volume customers at a higher price. These catalogs can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce. Just to make sure get a catalog with their ASI number on the cover and you'll know you're getting the same price as everyone else.

In the last 6 years while we have been helping businesses set up promotional products profit centers we have had large amounts of feedback and have also done numerous surveys to determine what business owners thought were the barriers to getting in this business.

The misconceptions mentioned above are just that—beliefs that are not true so you do not have to be concerned about them. Our experience in helping 1,365 companies get in the business has shown that.

There are however, another group of concerns that are legitimate. Here is that list along with how we help alleviate each of those concerns for you.

The Top 5 Legitimate Concerns Business Owners Have
About Getting Into Promotional Products Advertising and
How We Can Solve Them All

Finding factory sources—The #1 reason most business have not added a promotional product profit center is the difficulty in locating the sources for the products they need. We can give you the sources where you can access all 650,000 products in the industry online and search on numerous criteria to find exactly what you want. Make sure anyone you deal with gives you the actual factory contacts. If you have to send your orders anyone other than the factory, they are making money on your orders. With our help, you only send your orders directly to the factories.

"Our business is 10 years old. We have wasted 100's of hours sourcing items. Your directory has been in use every day since we got it. We have already made 3 sales with it in the first week!"

– Morton Stone, Great Impressions

Making Money— A concern that it will be too complicated, take too much time or not work keeps some businesses from getting involved. With our program we give you a step-by-step system to follow. You get industry information to teach you the business including help on how to do your marketing and how to best sell promotional products without discounting your prices. You also get catalogs, your own web site and dozens of other resources to make sure you succeed. Be wary of anyone who tells you they have the cheapest prices— they will typically be distributors trying to get you to sell for them and part of how they get the prices down is cutting your commissions to 20%!

"I've had a screen printing business for 10 years. I added a promotional product profit center to my business by simply following exactly what Joe McVoy taught me to do in his Distributor Program—which had all the factory sources I needed. In only 7 months, I've started earning a 6-figure income. I've decided to close down my screen printing business to concentrate on my lucrative promotional products business full-time.

– Joe Ferraro, Universal Showdown Marketing

Investment Risk— With franchises and business opportunities in promotional product advertising costing $10,000 to $20,000 up front along with a royalty/advertising fee equal to 10% of your sales forever, many companies have told me they think that's too expensive. When they consider working with a distributor and find out their top commission will usually be 20% or maybe 25%, it's not worth it either. Our program has a small one-time fee with no royalties to pay. Not to mention, none of those other programs have any guarantee—if they don't work for you, you've lost your money. Our program comes with a 100% money back guarantee—if it hasn't worked for you after 1 year send it back. No investment risk at all.

"My business started off with a $13,000 order and they have been coming ever since. I really like this business and find it very rewarding. Thank you.

– Cindy Crosby, Cynyal Promotions

Ease of Doing Business— Both the franchises and our program have systems to follow to help you do business easily. With businesses that partner with distributors, the main complaint I hear is that they are not allowed to talk with the factories. This makes doing business extremely cumbersome. Questions and responses have to be relayed through the distributor's office which takes much longer to resolve an issue that could have been settled with one call to the factory. I'm told that this reason is even more important than making double the money by going direct.

"As a prior dealer working for distributors, I was unable on many occasions to offer on-time delivery. As a distributor, I can now track orders directly, offer quality customer service and customer satisfaction. My re-orders have doubled! Additionally, the business consultation supplied has been excellent.

– Michael Donato, Lasting Impact Advertising

"Within 2 weeks of receiving your program, one of my clients asked me if I knew where to find custom 4-color printed mouse pads. With less than ½ hour of time spent calling some factories in your directory, I was able to get a price that pleased the client and made me a tidy profit of $3,750!"

– Tim Scott, The Art of Business

Being Able To Get Support— What we hear is that it's a sink or swim approach with many distributors. They give you a box of catalogs and say "go get some sales." We offer both phone and email support and have found that most people call a lot in the first few months while they are learning the business. We have one person with 29 years of experience who can help with large quantity orders or import orders.

"I've owned and operated an ad agency for over 10 years. We always ordered specialty items from distributors which made it hard for us to make a reasonable commission on the items. I tried to find out how to become a distributor but no one seemed to want to help me or they just did not know. Thank you for really helping!"

– Pamela Wise, Pamela Wise & Assoc.

3 Ways to Get Started Selling Promotional Products

While other companies putting you into the business are selling expensive franchises, equipment you don't need or trying to get you to sell for them and make half the money, we help you get into the industry inexpensively dealing factory direct.

We are not the only way to get into this business. Though our help is much less expensive than a franchise or "business opportunity" alternative, there are other alternatives as well which are summarized in the chart below.

When you consider the cost of the average promotional products franchise, that is, $20,000 (plus an annual franchise fee and additional royalties equivalent to about 7–10% of your sales), you begin to see how low our pricing is. If you have annual sales of just $200,000, you'd have to pay your franchiser an extra $20,000 every year.

Competitive Cost Comparison

There are basically 3 ways to get started in promotional products advertising. Work with an existing distributor under their name, get started by buying a business opportunity or franchise, or use our information to do it yourself.

The following chart summarizes the costs and income potential of each approach.

Here is some further explanation of each of these ways.

If you work with an existing distributor and place your orders through them, you will typically make 25% on an "A". Examples of some distributors are: Kaeser & Blair, Nationwide, and Newton. You will usually have to pay a small fee to get started—but not much because you are selling for them and they make half the money.

This way you have your own business making 50% on an "A". Costs are significant, depending on which program you choose you will pay an up-front fee of $10,000–$20,000 and an additional percentage of your sales up to 10%! Not exactly an inexpensive way to get in the business. Franchise examples are Adventures in Advertising and Pro Forma and a business opportunity example is Press-a-Print.

You make 50% (on an "A") dealing direct with the factories. We can even show you how to get 60–70%! We show you where to get the factory database and everything else you could want to get started including color catalogs with your name on them, a web site with 650,000 products, and information about how the business works and how to get sales. You pay no royalties because we offer consulting, not franchises or business opportunities.

What You Get From Our Consulting Help

I've spent the last 21 years learning the inside secrets of the promotional products industry owning both a printing company with 300 employees and several other businesses related to the industry. One of my partners has owned a distributorship himself for over 15 years.

When you do exactly what I teach you, you'll easily break through the barriers that most people encounter when entering this industry, dramatically reduce your learning curve, and get serious money in record speed.

Please don't confuse my program with offers from distributors trying to get you to sell for them. This is a one-of-a-kind program not available anywhere else that enables you to have your own promotional products business or profit center that pays you full margins (i.e., you pocket 50% of every order as your profit) on all the products you sell. And my Program lets you do it in the shortest possible time—and for less than 10% of the cost of a franchise or "business opportunity" alternative.

I won't try to impress you by cramming your brain with an entire kitchen sink full of ideas, and then leave you to decipher the information for weeks before you can implement them. Instead, I've distilled everything about promotional products advertising down to the cream—nothing but pure, usable strategies that you can use the same day you receive your package.

Here's what you'll get:

The Inside Secrets of the Promotional Products Industry. This is a primer containing all the inside scoop about the industry. This 12-page report explains the secret industry codes, how the business works, and who the key players are. This is worth its weight in gold.

The source where to buy an online directory of factories that you can deal with directly. There are over 3,500 factories listed and over 650,000 products listed all with photos and prices. You name it—it's here!

A phenomenal two-tape audio course titled "What Every New Promotional Products Distributor Needs to Know" by David Blaise, a seasoned sales pro, industry leader and author. This comprehensive course alone is worth the price of the entire program because it shows you surefire strategies that will ensure your success. Here are just a few of the contents:

Any one of the above profit-making tactics can easily pay for your Distributor Program many times over.

Your very own customized website featuring 650,000 products shown in full color—complete with pricing! This is your online store that's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—even while you sleep. Your website allows your customers to browse your product offerings at their leisure. It's convenient, professional, and it sure beats having to hand each customer printed catalogs. If you had a website like it professionally designed on your own, it would cost you tens of thousands of dollars.

How to Set Up Your Promotional Products Distributorship—This essential 24-page report covers some basic information about setting up your business, but also some industry-specific matters you must know, such as how to get factory catalogs; how to organize them so you can find what you want quickly; formats for purchase orders; and several other important administrative details.

Exclusive "Guidelines for Distributors"—I pulled some strings to get you this booklet, which is normally only available to members of PPAI. It covers points on catalogs, samples, credit, submitting orders, artwork and imprinting, and shipping. All these areas have industry-specific procedures you must follow to prevent problems.

Color catalogs with your company name on the cover—You get 4 sources for dozens of color catalogs you can get with your own company name printed on them. There are mini 5x7 catalogs up to full size 8½ x 11 sized catalogs featuring everything from apparel to toys. These make ideal prospecting pieces, and give you tons of credibility with your clients.

Indispensable Marketing Tools and Sales Aids.

A printout of 200 trade shows you can attend in order to fully develop your promotional products business. These traveling shows are free to attend as long as you're a qualified distributor with a business card—and they don't require ASI or PPAI membership.

Access to exclusive PPAI resources—without having to be a member! Because I'm a member of PPAI, I've negotiated a deal to allow several of PPAI's proprietary publications to be included in my Distributorship Program for you, even though you're not a member. Without joining PPAI, you simply can't get these publications yourself (such as the Guidelines for Distributors mentioned above, Regional Promotional Product Trade Association lists, and PPAI's catalog of publications that you can buy at non-member prices).

Valuable industry resource directory that is absolutely priceless! In case I forgot to tell you, within our information are dozens of little-known tricks of the trade that spell the difference between your success or failure in the industry.

The answers to these and other questions are contained in the information we provide our clients.

For More Information Contact:

Joe McVoy
Profitable Marketing Systems, LLC
1100 Nautilus Court
Lafayette, CO 80026
Web: www.ProfitableMarketingSystems.com
Email: Joe@ProfitableMarketingSystems.com
Phone: (720) 890-8760
Fax: (303) 604-6839

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© 2006 Profitable Marketing Systems, LLC