6 Ideas to Promote Your Business

January 1, 2018 No comments Article

Are you looking for a way to boost your business sales? Stuck for inspiration? Promotional items used as advertising tools are very useful!

Materials such as promotional merchandise, banners, gifts, press releases, and profiles in social media, effectively contribute to the positioning of your brand; helping you to establish an identity that distinguishes you and your business from others.

Through these advertising elements it is feasible to build brand perception. Promoting a brand through these powerful advertising tools is a very effective method to achieve greater brand awareness, and increase your sales.

These are ideal mechanisms to promote potential advertising opportunities for your brand, so here are some suggestions you should consider when it comes to using promotional merchandise as an advertising resource:

1. Use promotional items to increase the visibility of your brand

By using promotional gifts such as T-shirts, bags, toys, phone chargers, USB drives, etc. with the name of your business or simply your brand message on them, your brand will be noticed and remembered with a minimum of investment required. Get brand recognition through these inexpensive advertising tools.

2. Build consumer loyalty through promotional products

Customers are pleased when they receive practical and durable promotional gifts, especially ones they can use frequently such as phone chargers, USB drives, etc. Promotional elements with your printed logo are timely and have a long service life. Build consumer loyalty by rewarding your best customers with helpful promotional gifts.

3. Use promotional merchandise to increase traffic to your website

Increase the flow of visitors to your website by giving away promotional items. Your brand will get a guaranteed boost in exposure, and increased traffic with each additional visit to your site. Don’t forget to harness the power of social media to push your promotion!

4. Corporate promotional gifts help to get customer support

With a wide range of prices and items to choose from, you are sure to be able to find something suitable for your customers, based on your business, products, and sector in which you operate. Express your gratitude to your customers by giving away a fine and sophisticated corporate gift that will win their loyal support for a much longer period of time.

5. Create a distinctive identity for your brand through quality promotional gifts

Develop a unique identity for your brand by establishing seasonal and diverse promotional activities to communicate your brand message to consumers.

6. Get recognition at fairs and events

It is opportune to distribute appropriate promotional merchandise at trade fairs and business events. The audience that attends the event can become potential clients, so try to at least participate in the most relevant events for your business sector.

Undoubtedly, if you get creative with using promotional merchandise to communicate your brand message and reward loyal customers, your sales force will also thank you!

How to Cater to the Corporate Customer

February 25, 2013 No comments Article

Any caterer with a degree of experience in the competitive catering market will be aware of the need to maintain a steady stream of work. This regular work, whilst not creating huge profits for the business, does bring in the bread and butter income that keeps the business ticking over, pays the staff’s wages and many of the business’s running costs. It can also lead to more profitable work from the same source. The type of contract that best fits this bill is the contract to provide catering services for corporate clients. The phrase “corporate catering” implies that it is one entire genre. In fact, there are various types of corporate catering service, all of which the successful caterer needs to be able to fulfil if valuable ongoing contracts are to be won and retained. In this article we will look at some of these different corporate catering disciplines.

Breakfast Buffets

It seems appropriate that the first topic that we should cover is the first meal of the day. Time is so scarce, especially in the business world, that working breakfasts, which used to be a rarity, are now a frequent component in the corporate day. It is essential that breakfast buffets for business clients are prompt. In fact, the need for timely delivery to the corporate trade is of the essence generally. A smaller breakfast buffet can include Danish Pastries & Croissants, muffins with butter and preserves, fruit juices and tea and coffee. If something more substantial is required, the menu can be augmented with eggs and toast, whilst, if a substantial breakfast is required, a complete selection of grilled food can be provided.

Business Lunches

Once again, there is a wide variety of catering services for the business lunch. For many corporate clients, a selection of sandwiches is sufficient for an internal luncheon meeting. However if the lunch is intended to entertain their business contacts (or potential contacts) it is probable that a much fuller menu will be required. This may even involve more than one course and the provision of beverages in addition to the food.

Corporate Catering is an essential part of a catering business

Corporate Catering is an essential part of a catering business

Business Dinners

Because the business dinner does not happen during the course of the working day it is likely to involve some special occasion or celebration, such as a retirement or to mark an important event for the business. The caterer is likely to need to provide the full range of dinner services for such an occasion, including the provision of beverages.

AGMs and Board Meetings

Once again, the caterer is likely to be required to produce his entire repertoire of services and menus for annual meetings, extraordinary general meetings and meetings of the board of directors.

Great Corporate Catering for an important business meeting can help clinch the deal!

Great Corporate Catering for an important business meeting can help clinch the deal!

Christmas Parties

The annual company Christmas party is an event which, although happening only once a year, is an extremely valuable contract to have, whatever the size of the business. Along with wedding celebrations it really can represent the “cream” for a catering business. Because the work is repeat work, unless the firm decides against future Christmas parties, it is essential, once a contract has been won, to deliver everything to the satisfaction of the customer. One of the realities of “special occasion” catering is that customer expectation is higher and the disappointment with poor catering is felt all the more keenly. A poorly fulfilled Christmas party contract for a corporate client is almost certain to lose not only the following year’s party but also any other periodic work throughout the course of the year. Conversely, a corporate client who is happy with the catering provided for a Christmas party is likely to use the caterer again.

Impromptu Requests

If a caterer has an ongoing relationship with a corporate client it can often entail having to provide catering services on a single isolated occasion, sometimes with little warning. If a meeting becomes more difficult than envisaged, the client may well make an urgent call for provisions to be delivered. Although it may not always be feasible to meet such a request the more prepared the caterer is to at least try to do so, the more he will be held in esteem by the client.

Summary

Corporate catering does, indeed, cover a wide range of services. The successful catering company will need to be able to satisfy all of the needs of the corporate client. That way, not only will the regular “bread and butter” contracts come in, the occasional helping of “cream” may also be served!

 

Image Credits:  Wikipedia 1 and 2