June 4, 2025 • 11 mins
Swire Ho, Director of Sales at Garuda Promo and Branding Solutions, shares insights on how to cultivate a loyal customer base that actively promotes your brand. He discusses practical strategies to turn your customers into enthusiastic advocates who not only refer others but also enhance your brand's visibility. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, you'll discover actionable techniques and real-life examples that can help you create and leverage a network of mini advocates for your business.
Listen on Podbean:
https://brainworkframework.podbean.com/
Connect with Alison Ver Halen :
Company Website: https://dataspeaks.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zekecamusio/
Connect with Chris Troka:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-troka-3a093058/
Website: https://focused-biz.com/
Website: https://christroka.com/
#brainwork #framework #business #entrepreneurship #advocates #strategies #techniques
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
A lot of times when they think aboutour industry, they think about the
(00:03):
pants, the to back, the stressful.
How can you tell your story?
How can you relate to your touchpointto become the value that you stand for?
The best promotional product, and I'mkind of giving you a vague answer,
but TA direct answer to everything, isto give people a taste of the actual
experience or your product and services.
You are listening to Brainwork Framework,a Business and Marketing podcast,
(00:25):
brought to you by Focused-biz.com.
Welcome back to another episode.
With us today is the Directorof Sales of Garuda Promo and
Branding Solutions, Swire Ho.
Their business focuses all onthe product promotional industry.
Here to create manyadvocates for your brand.
And we'll be talking more about how toidentify and target your ideal audience.
Swire, so excited to have you on.
(00:46):
Thanks for joining us today.
How are you?
Good.
Thank you for having me on today, Chris.
Absolutely.
So business owners, marketers outthere, they're trying to make an impact.
They're trying to buildthese relationships.
One, I don't think they really know whothey want to target and how to target
them, get found and get in front of them.
So how do we kind of go about buildingour ideal client and and kind of
(01:07):
focus on delivering a message to them?
Thank you, Chris.
That's a good question andobviously that's a big question.
If we could find our ideal clientand we're able to pitch our
offerings to them then we're allgoing to be a happy entrepreneur.
But a lot of times when small businessowners are focusing on this task,
they don't want to miss out, right?
(01:29):
If I'm at restaurant, everyonehas to eat or if I do a website,
everyone needs a website.
So I like to target everybody.
A lot of times when you think aboutbig companies, million dollar project
or they have unlimited budget.
None of them actually go target everyone.
So why would you as a smallbusiness entrepreneur, myself
included, we have limited resourcesversus our larger competitor.
(01:51):
Why don't we focus on our niche, focus onwhy people buy from us, why people choose
us versus our competitors and by findingand knowing who your ideal clients are,
you actually can save a lot of money.
answer all the questions ofwhere you should advertise, where
should I hang out or where shouldI spend my marketing dollar?
(02:12):
So by finding and knowingyour ideal client is actually
answer all of those questions.
Absolutely.
And knowing who we're working with andwho our ideal client is, it's really
going to save us a lot of money anda lot of time and effort creating
content for an audience that doesn'teven want to listen to our message
or it's just going to help us improvethe effectiveness of our campaigns.
(02:32):
So now these businesses here ofcourse with technology, yes, we're
going more digital but I see a lotof businesses also having better
success with more physical media now.
So everything from like printedpromo materials and even flyers are
even making a comeback now in 2025.
How do you kind of see promotional?
Branding fitting into a company'smarketing strategy and how
(02:56):
does it help them kind oflike get their name out there?
Yeah.
I consider a promotionalproduct as another touch point.
So we're talking about youdepending on the business, right?
You at least to have seven to eighttouch points for people to kind
of know who you are, maybe build alot of some trust in you or maybe
pick up the phone or text you.
Some of the touch point canbe your website, social media
(03:19):
or maybe they saw you on YouTube andthen promotional product is another
tangible way to a touch point.
So your message is luxurious oreco friendly or smart, right?
So how can you make yourwebsite to save those things?
And when you see people at traditionalevents, you could let people know the
(03:39):
promotional product that you're givingout has the same message and value to what
you're trying to have people to receive.
Absolutely.
I love the idea of using itas an extra touch point.
And it is just another reminder.
I have a stress ball sitting onmy desk that the color and the
logo always reminds me of thatcompany every time I look at it.
Are there certain promotionalmaterials or products that you see
are really effective or very popular?
(04:01):
Cause we have everything from tshirts and hats and jackets to pens
and styluses to cups and backpacks.
What do you think is most effectiveor is it really just about what the
business is and what their clients want?
Yeah, that's my most frequentlyasked question and everyone calls
it, what's the best item for me?
Going back to what we just talkedabout, your ideal client, who are they?
(04:23):
What do they stand for?
What is the demographics?
What's their title?
Where do you find them?
For example, if you're targetingB2B cells, you're targeting the
C corp C level executive, chancesare most of them are behind a desk.
Or you can find them maybe at agolf club or maybe a country club.
So the item that you have to cater tothose events versus if you are a local
(04:45):
pizza restaurant targeting a soccermom, buying all the pizza for the game
out there for the kids, then you'repromotional items got to be different.
A lot of times when they think aboutour industry, they think about the
pants, the tote bag, the stress ball.
How can you tell your story?
How can you relate to your touch pointto become the value that you stand for
(05:07):
the best promotional product and I'mkind of giving you a vague answer but
direct answer to everything is to givepeople a taste of the actual experience
or your product and services.
For example, when we go to Costco, whenwe go to market sampling, when you
eat one, you buy the whole box, right?
So can your promotional product hint them?
If you use our product and services,this will be the comfort or this will
(05:30):
be the problem that you can solve.
And then here's a reminderas a promotional product.
So when you are looking at thatpromotional product afterwards, after
the event, you could be reminded,okay, when I need to do that, I
really need to call this company.
So that's a successfulpromotional product.
And it's like, it depends answer.
(05:50):
I really love your approach to findingthe right product for the business.
Give me a little sample of whatit's like to work with you as a
business or what your problem solves.
It is something that is really importantfor business owners to get right
in order to make sure that messageis resonating with the audience.
So let's say they get thesepromo materials together and
they have this really great item.
(06:11):
They want to give out to people.
Should they be focusing ongiven it to anybody, everybody,
should it be customers only?
Is it more of a you get a free promo item?
If you upgrade to a certain package,how should people implement and
use promo items effectively?
I think that's all the about crystal.
Obviously it depends on thebudget and depends on the type of
(06:32):
client tells that you have, youtalk about maybe a trade show.
That will be a lot of people, right?
When you may be do a communityevent, a lot of people are
going to walk by a booth.
So these item can be more general to justto bring the brand awareness or you could
actually give your current client a gift.
So what that actually does is, wetalk about bring a brand advocate.
(06:54):
So these are people whoactually purchased from you.
You could afford to spend a fewmore dollars to those people and the
idea is maybe I give you a t shirt.
If I'm a SaaS company, if I amhome service company, then you
actually wear it afterwards.
And people will ask you, Hey,Chris, where'd you get that t shirt?
What's that logo there?
And then you actually tellothers about your experience.
(07:15):
Oh, yes, I use this plumber.
They fix my toilet real quick andyou see the number back there.
So I'm actually using the cost
that I used to print this t shirt andtrain you Chris to become ambassador.
Think of little pieces like that.
That's why, again, going back tothe ideal client, knowing where
they are, where they're going to behanging out, then they actually help
(07:35):
you filter down a lot of questions.
What you should buy, how much youshould buy and how many you should buy.
Absolutely.
And obviously Swire, you'revery knowledgeable in your
craft and what you do.
You've been doing this for a while.
Tell us more about your journey.
What were you doing beforeand how did they kind of bring
you to what you're doing now?
Well, if you're all going back to thebeginning, I started my first business
in the CD, DVD replication industry.
(07:56):
If you're old enough likeme, you still have CDs.
We're in LA, so work with a lot ofrecord label film companies and along
the way, when they finished the album,they go on tour or they do a red carpet
and ask, Do you do concert t shirts,hats or the gift bags that we can use?
That's how we got todabble into the industry.
And then in 2013, we sold the CD,DVD part of the business to our
(08:21):
competitor and focus exclusivelyin promotional product ever since.
Wow.
That is fascinating.
Love the experience cause it seems like alot of entrepreneurs were doing something
before they had some experience similar tothe industry and just the way that it kind
of leads them into their newest venture.
Now it really just shows the evolutionof you as a business owner and
everything that you've gone through.
Right now it's 2025.
(08:41):
What are you looking forward to?
Are you planning any bigexciting launches in 2025?
Are you doing anything different or areyou just kind of keeping with the same
thing that's been working for you already?
I think 2025 so far has been keepingus and the entire industry on the toe.
Because if you don't watch the news,you know that there's a lot of different
talks with tariff restrictions.
(09:02):
So things are going toget moving very fast.
Let's put it this way.
And if you're going to a trade show,if you're planning on a production,
especially something that's beingmade, I would suggest listener to
give more time than you normallywould and if you have a plan, we're
looking out three to six months ahead.
We don't know what it's going to looklike, it kind of changes every time I turn
(09:25):
on the TV or read industry newsletters.
So I think in 2025.
For us planning is the key to success anda lot of time people want to save money.
When they come to me, theyall, how can we save money?
Planning will actually save you money.
If you are the type of business whowill attend multiple trade shows every
year, exactly when the trade show areright now, you probably have today.
(09:46):
Why wait until two days beforethe event to do something versus
you have two months or six months?
People plan in advance.
You could do something really custom,really appropriate for the event
versus two days before you probably arelimited with the options that you have.
So I think 2025, for me personally,it's all about planning.
Absolutely.
(10:06):
Planning for business owners is going tooffer a lot more flexibility if they want
to adapt and pivot to a lot of the changesin the laws, legislation and uncertainty
that's just happening throughout the worldright now for us business owners but for
those who want to get connected with Swirehere, where can people find you online
and get connected connected with you?
Well, thank you, Chris.
If they wanted to see some ofthe work that we do, they can
(10:28):
visit our website at GarudaPromo.
com.
I'm also love networking, so people canalso find me on LinkedIn just search
for Swire or Hashtag The Promo Guy.
Love talking about promotional productand then before you call, do you
think about who your ideal clientsare and think of ways that you can
know more about your ideal clientthan they know about themselves?
(10:49):
Then you're on the way to success.
That is the key to a winning strategy.
Absolutely.
Swire.
We appreciate you coming on andsharing your tips and tricks, your
wisdom and your journey with usmessage from our sponsors here.
For those who are trying to get foundand get in front of the right people
and getting booked appointmentson your calendar, visit focus biz.
com for more information, Swire.
Thank you so much for your time.
We appreciate you.
(11:10):
Congratulations on everything you've done.
Really looking forward to how 2025catapults your success into the future.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Chris.
A lot of times when they think aboutour industry, they think about the
(00:03):
pants, the to back, the stressful.
How can you tell your story?
How can you relate to your touchpointto become the value that you stand for?
The best promotional product, and I'mkind of giving you a vague answer,
but TA direct answer to everything, isto give people a taste of the actual
experience or your product and services.
You are listening to Brainwork Framework,a Business and Marketing podcast,
(00:25):
brought to you by Focused-biz.com.
Welcome back to another episode.
With us today is the Directorof Sales of Garuda Promo and
Branding Solutions, Swire Ho.
Their business focuses all onthe product promotional industry.
Here to create manyadvocates for your brand.
And we'll be talking more about how toidentify and target your ideal audience.
Swire, so excited to have you on.
(00:46):
Thanks for joining us today.
How are you?
Good.
Thank you for having me on today, Chris.
Absolutely.
So business owners, marketers outthere, they're trying to make an impact.
They're trying to buildthese relationships.
One, I don't think they really know whothey want to target and how to target
them, get found and get in front of them.
So how do we kind of go about buildingour ideal client and and kind of
(01:07):
focus on delivering a message to them?
Thank you, Chris.
That's a good question andobviously that's a big question.
If we could find our ideal clientand we're able to pitch our
offerings to them then we're allgoing to be a happy entrepreneur.
But a lot of times when small businessowners are focusing on this task,
they don't want to miss out, right?
(01:29):
If I'm at restaurant, everyonehas to eat or if I do a website,
everyone needs a website.
So I like to target everybody.
A lot of times when you think aboutbig companies, million dollar project
or they have unlimited budget.
None of them actually go target everyone.
So why would you as a smallbusiness entrepreneur, myself
included, we have limited resourcesversus our larger competitor.
(01:51):
Why don't we focus on our niche, focus onwhy people buy from us, why people choose
us versus our competitors and by findingand knowing who your ideal clients are,
you actually can save a lot of money.
answer all the questions ofwhere you should advertise, where
should I hang out or where shouldI spend my marketing dollar?
(02:12):
So by finding and knowingyour ideal client is actually
answer all of those questions.
Absolutely.
And knowing who we're working with andwho our ideal client is, it's really
going to save us a lot of money anda lot of time and effort creating
content for an audience that doesn'teven want to listen to our message
or it's just going to help us improvethe effectiveness of our campaigns.
(02:32):
So now these businesses here ofcourse with technology, yes, we're
going more digital but I see a lotof businesses also having better
success with more physical media now.
So everything from like printedpromo materials and even flyers are
even making a comeback now in 2025.
How do you kind of see promotional?
Branding fitting into a company'smarketing strategy and how
(02:56):
does it help them kind oflike get their name out there?
Yeah.
I consider a promotionalproduct as another touch point.
So we're talking about youdepending on the business, right?
You at least to have seven to eighttouch points for people to kind
of know who you are, maybe build alot of some trust in you or maybe
pick up the phone or text you.
Some of the touch point canbe your website, social media
(03:19):
or maybe they saw you on YouTube andthen promotional product is another
tangible way to a touch point.
So your message is luxurious oreco friendly or smart, right?
So how can you make yourwebsite to save those things?
And when you see people at traditionalevents, you could let people know the
(03:39):
promotional product that you're givingout has the same message and value to what
you're trying to have people to receive.
Absolutely.
I love the idea of using itas an extra touch point.
And it is just another reminder.
I have a stress ball sitting onmy desk that the color and the
logo always reminds me of thatcompany every time I look at it.
Are there certain promotionalmaterials or products that you see
are really effective or very popular?
(04:01):
Cause we have everything from tshirts and hats and jackets to pens
and styluses to cups and backpacks.
What do you think is most effectiveor is it really just about what the
business is and what their clients want?
Yeah, that's my most frequentlyasked question and everyone calls
it, what's the best item for me?
Going back to what we just talkedabout, your ideal client, who are they?
(04:23):
What do they stand for?
What is the demographics?
What's their title?
Where do you find them?
For example, if you're targetingB2B cells, you're targeting the
C corp C level executive, chancesare most of them are behind a desk.
Or you can find them maybe at agolf club or maybe a country club.
So the item that you have to cater tothose events versus if you are a local
(04:45):
pizza restaurant targeting a soccermom, buying all the pizza for the game
out there for the kids, then you'repromotional items got to be different.
A lot of times when they think aboutour industry, they think about the
pants, the tote bag, the stress ball.
How can you tell your story?
How can you relate to your touch pointto become the value that you stand for
(05:07):
the best promotional product and I'mkind of giving you a vague answer but
direct answer to everything is to givepeople a taste of the actual experience
or your product and services.
For example, when we go to Costco, whenwe go to market sampling, when you
eat one, you buy the whole box, right?
So can your promotional product hint them?
If you use our product and services,this will be the comfort or this will
(05:30):
be the problem that you can solve.
And then here's a reminderas a promotional product.
So when you are looking at thatpromotional product afterwards, after
the event, you could be reminded,okay, when I need to do that, I
really need to call this company.
So that's a successfulpromotional product.
And it's like, it depends answer.
(05:50):
I really love your approach to findingthe right product for the business.
Give me a little sample of whatit's like to work with you as a
business or what your problem solves.
It is something that is really importantfor business owners to get right
in order to make sure that messageis resonating with the audience.
So let's say they get thesepromo materials together and
they have this really great item.
(06:11):
They want to give out to people.
Should they be focusing ongiven it to anybody, everybody,
should it be customers only?
Is it more of a you get a free promo item?
If you upgrade to a certain package,how should people implement and
use promo items effectively?
I think that's all the about crystal.
Obviously it depends on thebudget and depends on the type of
(06:32):
client tells that you have, youtalk about maybe a trade show.
That will be a lot of people, right?
When you may be do a communityevent, a lot of people are
going to walk by a booth.
So these item can be more general to justto bring the brand awareness or you could
actually give your current client a gift.
So what that actually does is, wetalk about bring a brand advocate.
(06:54):
So these are people whoactually purchased from you.
You could afford to spend a fewmore dollars to those people and the
idea is maybe I give you a t shirt.
If I'm a SaaS company, if I amhome service company, then you
actually wear it afterwards.
And people will ask you, Hey,Chris, where'd you get that t shirt?
What's that logo there?
And then you actually tellothers about your experience.
(07:15):
Oh, yes, I use this plumber.
They fix my toilet real quick andyou see the number back there.
So I'm actually using the cost
that I used to print this t shirt andtrain you Chris to become ambassador.
Think of little pieces like that.
That's why, again, going back tothe ideal client, knowing where
they are, where they're going to behanging out, then they actually help
(07:35):
you filter down a lot of questions.
What you should buy, how much youshould buy and how many you should buy.
Absolutely.
And obviously Swire, you'revery knowledgeable in your
craft and what you do.
You've been doing this for a while.
Tell us more about your journey.
What were you doing beforeand how did they kind of bring
you to what you're doing now?
Well, if you're all going back to thebeginning, I started my first business
in the CD, DVD replication industry.
(07:56):
If you're old enough likeme, you still have CDs.
We're in LA, so work with a lot ofrecord label film companies and along
the way, when they finished the album,they go on tour or they do a red carpet
and ask, Do you do concert t shirts,hats or the gift bags that we can use?
That's how we got todabble into the industry.
And then in 2013, we sold the CD,DVD part of the business to our
(08:21):
competitor and focus exclusivelyin promotional product ever since.
Wow.
That is fascinating.
Love the experience cause it seems like alot of entrepreneurs were doing something
before they had some experience similar tothe industry and just the way that it kind
of leads them into their newest venture.
Now it really just shows the evolutionof you as a business owner and
everything that you've gone through.
Right now it's 2025.
(08:41):
What are you looking forward to?
Are you planning any bigexciting launches in 2025?
Are you doing anything different or areyou just kind of keeping with the same
thing that's been working for you already?
I think 2025 so far has been keepingus and the entire industry on the toe.
Because if you don't watch the news,you know that there's a lot of different
talks with tariff restrictions.
(09:02):
So things are going toget moving very fast.
Let's put it this way.
And if you're going to a trade show,if you're planning on a production,
especially something that's beingmade, I would suggest listener to
give more time than you normallywould and if you have a plan, we're
looking out three to six months ahead.
We don't know what it's going to looklike, it kind of changes every time I turn
(09:25):
on the TV or read industry newsletters.
So I think in 2025.
For us planning is the key to success anda lot of time people want to save money.
When they come to me, theyall, how can we save money?
Planning will actually save you money.
If you are the type of business whowill attend multiple trade shows every
year, exactly when the trade show areright now, you probably have today.
(09:46):
Why wait until two days beforethe event to do something versus
you have two months or six months?
People plan in advance.
You could do something really custom,really appropriate for the event
versus two days before you probably arelimited with the options that you have.
So I think 2025, for me personally,it's all about planning.
Absolutely.
(10:06):
Planning for business owners is going tooffer a lot more flexibility if they want
to adapt and pivot to a lot of the changesin the laws, legislation and uncertainty
that's just happening throughout the worldright now for us business owners but for
those who want to get connected with Swirehere, where can people find you online
and get connected connected with you?
Well, thank you, Chris.
If they wanted to see some ofthe work that we do, they can
(10:28):
visit our website at GarudaPromo.
com.
I'm also love networking, so people canalso find me on LinkedIn just search
for Swire or Hashtag The Promo Guy.
Love talking about promotional productand then before you call, do you
think about who your ideal clientsare and think of ways that you can
know more about your ideal clientthan they know about themselves?
(10:49):
Then you're on the way to success.
That is the key to a winning strategy.
Absolutely.
Swire.
We appreciate you coming on andsharing your tips and tricks, your
wisdom and your journey with usmessage from our sponsors here.
For those who are trying to get foundand get in front of the right people
and getting booked appointmentson your calendar, visit focus biz.
com for more information, Swire.
Thank you so much for your time.
We appreciate you.
(11:10):
Congratulations on everything you've done.
Really looking forward to how 2025catapults your success into the future.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Chris.
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