Shorty's Print and Promo | Printing & Promotional Products: Blog

Dog Gone Good Marketing

Sep 18, 2020

Sometimes a dog can make good marketing. It worked for Richard Nixon in 1952. When General Eisenhower ran for president he choose Richard Nixon to be his running mate. Then there were accusations of...

Being Different Can Be Good Marketing

Aug 25, 2020

I once had a lawn maintenance business owner come to me for door hangers. He wanted a list of services he provided — like mowing, edging, and trimming — printed on them. My response was to...

Is Your Advertising Believable

Aug 18, 2020

Many years ago I read a story about a family that lived near a football stadium. On game days people would park in their yard. They put up signs threatening to tow cars away but people would park ther...

Use These Five Steps to Grow Your Business

Mar 05, 2019

There are five important steps to grow your business. The focus here is to attract new customers and keep them. We'll start by just cutting to the chase and listing them. We will later go into more de...

Where's Your Business Card Now? Part 1: Using Promotional Products

Nov 19, 2019

Sign Up for Our E-mail List - Click Here So you have a contact. You give him or her your business card and/or a brochure, proposal or something. Then, at some later point in time, the client wants...

Where's Your Business Card Now? Part 2: Be Where I Can Find You

Nov 20, 2019

The last article was about a client being able to find you. The solution offered in that article was to give the client a promotional product, like a refrigerator magnet or jar opener, that would be s...

When Getting Noticed is not Enough

Mar 05, 2020

The first step to attracting new clients is to get noticed. But that is not enough. After all, we notice many advertisements everyday but have no interest in pursuing them. Your ad is wasted if someon...

Marketing Lesson - Florida Theatre

Oct 18, 2019

When I was young Forsyth Street in downtown Jacksonville, Florida, was where most the movie theatres were. First were the Imperial and Empress, and across the street the Arcade. But the Florida was on...

Marketing Lesson - U-Haul Truck

Oct 13, 2019

Do you see the marketing lesson here? Yes, I see two. The first is the medium being used. U-Haul is getting a lot of exposure for almost free. Other than the cost of painting the back of the truck the...

Marketing Lessons I Learned from Walmart

Feb 23, 2020

Walmart was a new breed of retail department store. They, along with others, started in the early 1960s. These stores had a different concept. And, years later, many were gone but Walmart survived. Wa...

The Marketing Lesson I Learned from Game Theory

Jan 21, 2020

There is an important principle in game theory: Assume you have an intelligent opponent. This means that you must assume that, when you do something, your competitor will make the best decision he can...

Using Curiosity in Marketing

Nov 23, 2019

When you advertise in a crowded space, like the Pinterest page above, you need to do two things: First, you have to get noticed. You can use bright colors, crazy design, or, in this case, plain white ...

Less is More: Part Two - Advertising

Nov 05, 2019

One of the great things to do in advertising is tell a story. I've seen videos that keep going and going with no end in site. I've seen direct mail pieces with long stories about the product. These al...

Less is More: Part One - Company Name

Oct 29, 2019

Once upon a time companies often had long company names: Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A & P), International Business Machines (IBM), and, of course, Intern...

When Out-Gunned by Your Competition, Don't Do What This Auto Manufacturer Did

Oct 24, 2019

This is the Rambler American, a low-priced passenger car. The manufacturer, American Motors Corporation, is long gone because of their fatal mistake. They were competing with General Motors, Ford, and...

Don't Just Market to Potential Customers

Nov 13, 2019

Sometimes it pays to market to people who are not potential customers. Medical providers market to doctors, not because they want the doctors to become patients, but because they want the doctors' pat...