There is no other advertising that is more effective than advertising that doesn’t even seem like it’s there. Advertising that is so ingrained into your daily life that you don’t even realize that your loyalty for that brand is constantly growing and being reinforced.

Whether it’s the type of coffee that you drink, your computer or smartphone, the shoes that you wear, or the type of toothpaste that you use, these brands are strong because you use them on a daily basis. Their messaging is subtle, but that’s the way you like it. You don’t want to be screamed at by ads and you don’t want to be interrupted by commercials or giant billboards.

The messages that those brands want you to believe are slowly being delivered one day at a time.

This kind of slow, subtle, and non-obtrusive brand integration builds a stronger bond, much like a long-term friendship. While some companies try to buy TV or radio time to get your attention, others earn it over time. This builds trust with you and allows companies to be in your life everyday. But most importantly, this type of advertising is less expensive and priceless. You can’t buy this kind of advertising. You can only develop it over time by giving people the opportunity to “Live Your Brand”.

Need to launch a new product? Need to get new internal buy-in for a new corporate initiative that’s been handed down from the C-level?

You can scream at the top of your lungs, torture people with powerpoint, or make them read the T.P.S. reports. But from time to time, consider thanking someone with a useful branded product.

Perhaps your product may not be visible in people’s everyday lives. (Like CREST toothpaste). That does not mean that your brand can’t be. So the use of branded merchandise could be a subtle and cost-effective way to build brand equity.

Seriously consider thanking a client or employee by giving them something nice that they’ll use everyday. Perhaps a reusable market bag, a journal book, a nice coffee mug, or a comfortable t-shirt?

Help people “Live Your Brand” everyday.

New Contest:

We had so much fun with the last contest that we want to do another one and raise the bar a little. Take a photo of your brand on a product in the real world and send it to us. We’ll choose the best photo and the winner will win a Jambox by Jawbone. The deadline is next Friday December 2nd, so warm your camera or smartphone up and take that contest winning shot.

Here’s What You’ll Win

Today is the day we launch our brand new site!

We couldn’t be more excited about the new look and the rebirth of Planet Logo. For years we’ve been helping our clients bring new ideas, quality products, and “sticky” messaging to the market. But we’ve decided it’s not enough.

Why the redesign?

We redesigned our site to reflect the kind of company and service that we want to bring to you and the rest of our great clients.

We heart our clients!!!

This site is actually designed to bring you and our team closer, and to help us establish a stronger relationship as we move through our personal and professional journeys together. We feel it is our duty to curate the promo world and make sure that you’re getting the best products to best reflect your brand.

After all, the better our campaigns are, the better our clients look!

We WILL work hard AND have fun

Nobody wants to work with boring people. Here at Planet Logo, we want everything, including phone calls, Facebook posts, campaign design, meetings, emails, twitter feeds, all to be fun! We want every experience that you have with us to be positive, professional and potent.

We want you to be excited when you see a Planet Logo meeting on your calendar. This site is the product of us working hard to make sure that happens.

We want to be your source for great branded merchandise

The interesting thing about the world today is that people have stopped listening. They can easily change the channel, turn the radio off, and click to the next website… but not with branded merchandise. People will physically interact with your brand over and over again if the messaging is memorable and the products are cool and useful.

This new site will highlight the newest and best products, and show you how to put them into play through messaging and creative interaction. We are the expert source for branded merchandise, period.

One of the most important tools that a business has is it’s brand. In the old days, the companies that had the greatest advantage were the companies that could build the biggest factories. Then it became, “who can get the most capital to build more factories?”. After that, the advantage became intellectual capital such as trademarks, patents, and copyrights.

Since, business now moves at a pace faster than we can get trademarks, what is the greatest advantage we can have now?

The answer is our customer’s brain real estate.

If I say “mp3 player”, what comes to your mind? The Apple iPod right? What if I say online book store? Amazon right?

That is because Apple and Amazon have earned the right to fill the spot in your brain reserved for their products and services. Each of us only has the capacity to have one or two companies in each of these spots, so it is vitally important that you earn one of them. (number one would be best:)

The way to claim this brain real estate is through your brand. A company’s brand is now the unique advantage of business. The way to gauge the effectiveness of your brand comes in two parts: internally and externally.

The way to determine the external value of your brand is to simply and objectively ask your clients, “what is your gut feeling when you hear the name of our company?”. Listen to the way they talk, their language, their facial expressions. The answer that you get will tell you how effective your branding and marketing are.

Next, to determine the strength of your internal brand, go to a few of your people walking in the halls and ask, “who are we, what do we do, and why do we matter?” If you get different answers, you’ve got your branding work cut out for you:)

Brand clarity is extremely important in achieving your business goals. Your brand should be strong and consistent throughout each of your departments, whether it’s customer service, production, lab technicians, salespeople, etc.

If branding is the new advantage, and you didn’t like what you heard about your brand in your small survey, we know someone that would love to help you create a campaign to get a stronger brand internally and externally:)

Cheers.

Perceived Value – The customer’s opinion on the value of a product. It may or may not correlate with the actual price of the item.

We’ve been meeting with some really big clients lately here at Planet Logo, and things couldn’t be better.

As many of our competitor’s are screaming about how bad the economy has affected their businesses, we’re being called more and more by their old clients. It appears that what we’ve been saying about the branded products business is reigning true.

Clients want more from their vendors. If they can get what you offer anywhere, they will, and they’ll price you out. What they crave are unique ideas and products that will continue to strengthen the bond between them and their clients. That is exactly what Planet Logo does.

Along those lines, we are seeing an interesting trend among some of the most heavy-hitting companies in the world. They are cutting costs. Every meeting that we go into starts out the same, “my boss said I have to go on the cheap!”

One of our favorite clients (which shall remain nameless of course) recently came to us because they needed a leave behind gesture that would “lock in” sales prospects after the initial meeting was over. Their budget was under $2 for their top level clients.

This immediately took us into a new thought process… perceived value.

You see, the metric that most companies overlook is the most important. It’s easy to overlook because you can’t necessarily view it as a line item in a ledger.

The metric is the Lifetime Value of a Client.

What this particular company is failing to realize is that the potential client is worth millions over the lifetime of the relationship, yet they are willing to wage it on a $2 coffee mug.

Perceived value comes into play immediately when you give the prospect your item. They say “thank you” on the outside, but what is interesting is what they’re telling themselves on the inside. “Wow, you’re proposing I give you multi-millions and you’re setting the bar with a mug?”

You may be asking yourself, “yeah, but how do I put Lifetime Value into play, and how do I determine it?”

Simply measure how many years your average client stays with you, and multiply it by the amount they spend on an annual basis.

Now, experiment with what products will GUARANTEE that you get the sale, and track the conversion rate to the amount spent.

You will instantly see that trading a $2 item for a $25 item will increase your conversion rate and the $23 extra dollars will turn into millions. (or thousands depending on your industry)

You don’t have to spend a fortune, just find items that SEEM to be worth more. Products that are made from better material, are more widely used, or that are super-unique, are always a great place to start.

Your clients are human, and they’re smarter than we give them credit for. Actually, they are just as smart as we are.

So when you’re about to purchase something that you want to give them, ask yourself the question, “would I give myself a million dollars based on this product?”

Here’s an easier question, “would I even keep and use this item?”

We’re just looking after you:)

After years of being in the promotional and branded merchandise business, we have noticed one thing that hasn’t changed… Junk.

The branded products business has long been seen as the place to go when you want to get a bunch of stuff (on the cheap) to throw at your prospects, clients & team members. But at what cost?

Every time you order something that has your logo on it, you have to ask yourself the question, “If this was the only item from my company that a potential client saw, would I still send it out?”.

“Is this product a true reflection of my brand?”

Companies will spend millions of dollars on advertising and ad companies that will give them a message to spread to the world, but somehow, the message gets lost by the time branded products come into the picture.

For some reason companies want to spend millions on marketing, when they could in fact get the same ideas from a branded products company that has more experience in the day-to-day interactions with brands. Companies like us understand how people wear your brand, share your brand, and experience your brand.

With branded products, the message doesn’t end with a phrase, it carries on through the lifetime of the products that bear your logo. Do you want a brand that people love & share, or a brand that hits the landfill before you make it home from the convention?

Next time you talk with your boss about how small your branded products budget is, ask them the question, “is this going to be enough to get us products that are a true reflection of our brand and what we’re trying to accomplish?”.

We believe it’s time to use branded products to reach your goals, not just using them as a quick gesture. We know how effective brand interaction can be, but everyone knows that a client can’t interact with something in the trash.

Frank was nominated as a TOP ENTREPRENEUR by Business Leaders Magazine in Raleigh.

You can download the article here.