Print Commodity Management and Promotional Product Program Management Made Easy
Three Part Guest Post by Steve Bramble, Superior Business Solutions Director of Program Implementation
In my last post, I talked a bit about the power of our Corporate Kiosk technology as it pertains to your commodity management of print and also the management of promotional products. I also promised to provide you with some powerful insight into the benefits you can experience by combining our Corporate Kiosk technology with Promoplace.
So Why Should You Care About Promoplace?
The Promotional Products industry is vast, complicated and a little crazy to keep up with and control, right? Brand control and protection and short decision windows certainly don’t optimize your buying options.
Overcoming issues you might be facing in managing your promotional products supply chain typically takes a combination of relationship building and trust, Corporate Kiosk technology, and Superior Business Solutions’ expertise to implement the most effective processes…with constant attention to detail resulting in continuous improvements in both processes and customer experience.
With multiple decision makers involved in choosing promotional products, our experience is that valuable time is spent searching Google and multiple websites in an attempt to locate products. Even though we offer to do the shopping, there are buyers that want to look themselves. We simplify this experience, saving time and money, with Promoplace.
Your time is too valuable. Our goal is to give you a choice on where you spend that time. We specialize in the program management of promotional products, and you can find out more about this in part three. We use experience and technology as management tools to support our clients promotional management programs and to allow you the opportunity to determine how they would fit within your organization.
What is Promoplace Exactly?
Promoplace is a one-stop e-site for EVERYTHING promotional. It has over 750,000 promotional products and apparel. The user can filter by product, price, brand name, etc., and we help you create your own product groups or categories.
To get an idea of what I am talking about, check out this image of the Delta Dental Promoplace.
We do not recommend Promoplace to all your users, but for the primary promotional product buyers who like to shop. For this reason, we add the site within your Corporate Kiosk, but make it visible only to approved users.
When it comes to Superior Business Solutions and the discussion of management of promotional products, there are a few things you should know:
- Our definition of Promotional Products includes anything you use for promotion that has your logo attached. This includes everything from pens to apparel.
- We have access to EVERYTHING promotional. No need to ask if we carry or can get a product. We do and we can.
- Almost every organization has multiple buyers of promotional products (Marketing, Event Planners, HR, Sales, etc.)
BRAND CONTROL AND PROTECTION
Having the approved image on an approved promotional product is vitally important to any brand. Keeping control over this process is time consuming and difficult. Superior Business Solutions, and specifically our dedicated Customer Service Representatives (CSR’S), are your Brand Police! We provide this service by:
a) Dedicating specific CSR’s to your promotional program. They will be familiar with your brand’s standards and ensure they are applied throughout the supply chain, from initial order, proper technology programming, and the manufacturing facility.
b) Our web based Corporate Kiosk can offer a variety of products, colors, and logo options, all based on your brand standards and corporate approval.
c) There may be items not carried on the company store that a buyer may wish to purchase. Because we have access to everything promotional, we can locate and purchase items that continue to meet your brand’s standards and can communicate with you, if permissions are necessary.
Check back next week to read part 3 of my series where I will discuss a little bit more about the challenges you might be facing in commodity management of print and program management of promotional products.
About Steve Bramble:
Steve’s position is to work with our Account Managers and clients with program understanding, development, and implementation. Please feel free to give him a call at (616) 514-5624 to talk with him about how we might be able to help with your commodity management of print and promotional products.
