In a blog post back in March, we talked about how “Success May Be Habit-Forming!” and focused mainly on being prepared and positive thinking to move forward. When you prepare your mind, establish routines, don’t procrastinate, and find balance, you set yourself up to win. But we never really got into hard business topics like sales, communication and growing your company step-by-step.
 
One thing that many entrepreneurs know firsthand is that building a small or medium-sized business (SMB) isn’t easy. It can take quite a bit of time. And, if you serve SMBs, like distributors of specialty advertising and promotional products, there are ways you can add value to these companies.

 
Building Sensibly and Sustainably
 
Certainly one aspiration among entrepreneurs is to try to conquer the world. That’s why, when SMBs experience some initial success, they might have the urge to “ramp up” and grow sales as much as possible. But some business minds such as those at Fast Company advocate that, depending on your business, slower or gradual growth can often be best. There are cases when hiring help too soon, or buying too much inventory can actually be a misstep.
 
“Bulking up too fast can be fatally risky,” writes Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO and founder of Location Labs, a $200+ million tech firm in California. “Sustaining momentum is one thing, but trying to foment it yourself is another. In fact, the more slowly your team expands, the better.”
 
The same goes for SMBs and their marketing. The entrepreneur’s instinct may be either to pour big money into traditional local TV ads or even online without really understanding how it will get them customers. We do know, however that quality promotional products work. According to a recent study, 83% of people like getting promotional products, and more than a third would describe them as a constant reminder of the advertiser.
 
There is something for every type of customer, from sports bars, to two-person law firms, to local home improvement contractors. Whether promotional items like wearables, writing instruments, drinkware or office favorites like calendars fit their marketing, we know that customers keep and use these items.
 
Promotional product distributors can show small business owners a variety of options for every budget and support new companies just getting started on a small budget, as well as more established organizations looking to reinforce brand recognition.
 
Connecting with New Customers
 
Staying on point and making it easy for customers to communicate with them, according to multiple voices cited in CIO Magazine, are all critical for companies.
 
For a lot of smaller businesses, good service and paying proper attention to customers is not a problem. This might have much to do with why small businesses are growing when big companies aren’t. Yet, companies of all sizes benefit from doing a little brand building.
 
According to an article published recently by Arizona’s Daily Courier, a smart branding strategy starts with answering some basic questions about the business, such as:

• What benefits and advantages does your company provide to customers?
• For what do you want your company to be known?
• What qualities come to mind when customers think about you? 

Existing customers often do business with an SMB for simple reasons. It may a combination of great service, quality products, or even good prices. But where small businesses often need a boost is name recognition.
 
By helping SMBs build their name recognition — and even providing logo design — specialty advertising and promotional products distributors can empower businesses to extend great products and services to more clients. Show them their many options, and help your SMB customers craft campaigns that are unique, a little creative, and relevant to what their business offers.
 
If you need help preparing production-ready files for decorating products or even designing a new logo quickly and cost-effectively, give Idea Custom Solutions a shout!