April 7, 2025 • 31 mins
The power of promotional products extends far beyond simple brand recognition—they create lasting connections that transform awareness into loyalty. Amber Carter, CEO of Loudmouth Marketing, joins the Public Relations Review Podcast to unpack the strategic value of branded merchandise in today's competitive marketplace.
Drawing from decades of experience in sales and marketing, Carter articulates a crucial distinction: "Marketing is what you say about yourself. Branding is what others say when you're not in the room." This perspective shifts how we understand promotional products—not as mere logo-bearing trinkets but as powerful tools for creating meaningful brand experiences.
Through compelling case studies, Carter demonstrates how thoughtfully selected items can drive specific business outcomes. She shares how personalized snow globes recognized airport employees after a weather emergency, creating emotional connections that lasted long after the gift was presented. At trade shows, unique items like Bluetooth-enabled mugs generated significant leads by creating excitement that translated into business card exchanges. For retail establishments, branded merchandise can incentivize larger purchases, as demonstrated by a Louisiana restaurant that offers souvenir platters with large crawfish orders.
Carter also addresses practical concerns facing businesses implementing promotional strategies. For budget-conscious companies, she suggests measurement techniques like QR codes to track engagement and demonstrate ROI. For environmentally conscious organizations, she highlights the growing availability of sustainable and recyclable options. When delivery challenges threaten event timing, she emphasizes the importance of backup solutions to ensure brand moments aren't missed.
What truly distinguishes Carter's approach is her emphasis on solving customer problems rather than simply distributing branded items. Whether you're looking to enhance employee engagement, generate qualified leads, or encourage repeat business, the right promotional strategy can deliver measurable results while creating authentic brand connections that advertising alone cannot achieve.
Want to transform your brand's promotional strategy? Listen to this episode for actionable insights you can implement immediately, regardless of your industry or budget constraints.
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Announcer (00:04):
Welcome.
This is the Public RelationsReview Podcast, a program to
discuss the many facets ofpublic relations with seasoned
professionals, educators,authors and others.
Now here is your host, PeterWoolfolk.
Peter Woolfolk (00:25):
Welcome to the Public Relations Review Podcast
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(00:48):
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Now question Most companies andorganizations have an interest
in expanding their brands.
Promotional items can benefitorganizations by way of an
effective indirect marketingtool by subtly increasing brand
awareness without overtlypushing sales.
(01:09):
So just what are some of thosebenefits?
My guest today will identifymultiple benefits.
She enjoys decades ofsuccessfully working with
multiple companies andorganizations with their brand
growth and expansion strategies.
So joining me today fromLafayette, louisiana, is Amber
Carter.
She is the CEO of LoudmouthMarketing.
(01:30):
Amber, welcome to the podcast.
Amber Carter (01:33):
Thank you, Peter.
I'm excited to be here.
Peter Woolfolk (01:36):
Well, great, great to have you here.
So why don't we begin by havingyou give us a brief overview of
your background?
Amber Carter (01:43):
Sure, for the last 20 years I was a cable
executive.
I was responsible for workingwith some of our affiliate
partners to be able to sell the30-second spot so that
commercial that comes on yourtelevision as you're watching
your favorite program.
I was responsible for workingin operations to make sure that
(02:08):
that spot aired and we couldbill it.
So that's what I did in thecable industry for 20 years.
Peter Woolfolk (02:16):
Well, so when did you decide to begin to and
launch Loudmouth Marketing?
Amber Carter (02:21):
That's a great question.
So way before I was a cableexecutive, I was a
pharmaceutical sales rep and wewere armed with promotional
products.
So back then what was reallyhot were pens, pads, coffee mugs
and all the things that wouldallow us to be able to get some
(02:42):
time with the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper is the personthat sits at the front desk,
whether it be the office manageror the nursing staff that would
allow me to go back into theoffice to speak to a doctor.
So it was my things.
I used to bribe them and what Inoticed is that when I was
bribing the front office staffwith free stuff these are adults
(03:06):
they would get so excited abouta pen a pad a coffee mug.
God forbid if I brought insomething that cost more than $4
.
So I noticed at that time thatif I ever got a chance to be an
entrepreneur, I wanted to sellpromotional products.
Peter Woolfolk (03:26):
You know it's interesting.
You said that because before Igot into public relations I
actually worked for Xerox.
So getting past the gatekeeperyou're absolutely right is
hugely important if you want tosell something.
So be as nice as you can.
I spent a lot of lunches onreceptionists and secretaries.
Amber Carter (03:46):
Absolutely.
Peter Woolfolk (03:48):
So let's talk about now some of the strategies
that are necessary for brandexpansion via promotional
products.
Amber Carter (03:55):
Okay.
So I think often there's amisconception about branding and
marketing.
I have a couple of phrases thatI want to use to set the stage.
Marketing is kind of what youuse to say about yourself.
Branding is what others saywhen you're not in the room.
(04:16):
Right, Marketing gets attention.
Branding is what turnsattention into loyalty and
lasting impact.
And just one more Branding isnot advertising.
It's a connection.
So when you think of promotionalproducts, you really want to
think of the branding aspect ofit, and so branding can be used
(04:40):
for several different reasons.
For several different reasons,some of the strategies that I
use when I talk to customersabout using promotional products
for branding is increasingawareness, generating leads, so
it's kind of the sales part ofit, and I'll give examples for
each in a moment Boosting yoursales, maybe even encouraging
(05:01):
customer loyalty Loyalty fromcustomers can also extend to
employee engagement and then,obviously, encouraging repeat
business.
Mm-hmm.
Peter Woolfolk (05:13):
Well, you know, I think that's important.
One of the things I'll say isthat I did have a chance to look
at your website as LoudmouthMarketing.
There's a lot of information upthere that listeners can take a
look at that talks about someof the things we're going to
cover here today.
So let's talk about ways of howthese products benefit you and
(05:37):
the clients, as I said, withoutpushing sales.
Amber Carter (05:40):
Sure, customer loyalty, and I'll talk about it
from employee engagement.
So I sit down with the customerand I want to define their
goals first, because what is soimportant about using
promotional products forbranding is that we're not
selling things, although whenyou go to my website, as you
(06:03):
mentioned, there are many, many,many different things right, I
probably have over a millionSKUs on my website but each one
of those things is driving asolution, and so I sit down with
the customer to be able tounderstand what is your
objective.
So I recently did a greatemployee engagement project with
(06:28):
a local airport In Louisiana.
We recently had a blizzard.
For Louisiana, we called itsnowpocalypse.
We had 11 inches of snow on theground, and so they reached out
to me and said Amber, we reallyneed a nice gift to show our
employees that got up andrunning in record time.
(06:52):
We'd never had snow before,we've never had to have the
airport closed for the amount oftime it was, and so these
employees really went out oftheir way to get us back up and
running, and so I thought aboutthat.
I'm like, okay, I know I need adrill to drive a hole in the
wall, and I wanted to focus onmore than the drill but the hole
(07:14):
in the wall.
How can we creatively deliversomething that would show
employees that they wererecognized for the work that
they did?
And always the trick is thatthere's a budget.
There's the B word, right.
Peter Woolfolk (07:28):
That's right.
Amber Carter (07:29):
So we could have spent something as much as $100
per person, but they didn't have$100.
What they had was somewherebetween $30 and $50.
So I went looking for somethingthat I knew that employees were
going to leave on their deskfor years to come, and what we
created was a snow globe.
You know the globe that youtake and you shake them and
(07:51):
there's something inside of it.
And what we put inside of it wasa picture of the airport, a
personalized picture of theairport, and each of the globes
at the base of it had theindividual's name.
And what she said is when theydistribute them, people could I
mean the the mouths open andthey've just worked so excited.
(08:12):
And when she walks around theoffice, people still those that
have kept them at work have leftthem on their desk some of them
have taken them home just to beable to enjoy with their
families.
So what we've created throughshowing employee recognition and
loyalty, we've created anexperience that people and even
(08:34):
the globe actually you can turnit and it makes sounds.
Unfortunately, we couldn't makeit a Louisiana music sound, but
people were really excited toreceive their globe.
Peter Woolfolk (08:48):
You know, I like the way you frame this, because
the fact that people kept themon their desk, it not only was a
reminder to them of the workthat they did, but other people
saw that too.
So that being the visibility ofthat item, a lot of people were
exposed to that and therein,you know, again, gain in terms
of brand exposure, uh, wascertainly a benefit to your
(09:11):
organization.
Amber Carter (09:12):
really, as you said, you know, really without
pushing sales, that's right andso you know, when you think
about you know and I work with alot of companies who use
promotional items to createsales, like generating leads and
boosting sales but the beautyof when you can make it
experiential, you can do areturn on investment.
(09:35):
Right, you can go back and askthe person or not even ask the
person, but you can just see thepride that they took in their
work by continuing to have thatitem on their desk.
So there's a return on thatinvestment.
Peter Woolfolk (09:53):
Well, you know I'll be honest with you.
I'm very excited to hear whatyou've just presented about that
, and so now give us a few moreways that you have helped others
benefit from having their ownproduct identification and
promotional items around.
Amber Carter (10:08):
Absolutely so.
When companies use promotionalproducts to generate leads,
oftentimes I will get a companycalling me at the last minute
like, oh, amber, we're going toa conference or a trade show and
I completely forgot that I needto restock my giveaway items
(10:29):
show and I completely forgotthat I need to restock my
giveaway items.
And I still try to take theexact same consideration of when
that person leaves the boothand they've been handed
something, because what you getin exchange for handing a
promotional item is they giveyou either their business card,
which you can use to be able tofollow up after the fact, but
(10:50):
one of my customers because they, you know, came at the last
minute.
I needed to do something prettyquick and a turnaround, and so
we came up with a really uniqueitem and what she said?
What she said, amber, this itemhad made it around the
convention floor, it was thismug, and it around the
convention floor.
It was this mug and it was aspecial clearance, so I was able
(11:11):
to get it pretty quickly fromthe vendor that was doing a
closeout, but the mug actuallyhad a speaker at the bottom of
it.
So you're not, particularlywhen you can get a product
that's multi-use, useful.
Those ones, those are the onesthat are a big hit.
So you drink out of the mug andthen you can also use it to
play music through a USBBluetooth.
(11:33):
She said she had so many peoplein line waiting to talk to her
simply because of herpromotional product.
There was no relevance in theitem that they were selling, but
the item that they were givingaway became so popular at the
convention she actually ran out.
But in exchange, she got tons ofcards and relevant leads
(11:58):
because people wanted the itemshe was giving away.
Another really good strategy touse promotional products is
when you are trying to boostsales.
So, for instance, I work with adoctor who has just created a
concierge service.
She's a really good functionalmedicine doctor and she no
(12:20):
longer takes insurance.
She is full cash pay right.
So it is called concierge.
And what I pitched to her waswhy don't you, when someone
signs up?
Because it's really expensiveit's like $2,500 per year for
her to be your physician.
This is not something you canget reimbursed from your
insurance.
I said to her when you getpeople that either buy your
(12:45):
product, your concierge services, people that either buy your
product, your concierge servicesor refer, why don't you give
them something, a really nicegift, something like a nice tote
bag or a lunch tote orsomething like that, in exchange
for paying for something?
Another recent idea that I wassuccessful with was a crawfish
(13:08):
restaurant.
I'm in Louisiana, so lots ofthose but there's a tin that
when you eat crawfish, you putyour mud bugs on this tin.
It's a round platter, right,and it became like a souvenir
thing that you could take homewhen you buy 30 pounds of
crawfish or more.
So this restaurant person saidAmber, I don't like stocking
(13:33):
things to sell.
I'm like, no, you're notselling it.
What you're doing is you'reoffering it.
When people buy something fromyou, it's an additive gift
almost.
So what they're seeing is thatpeople are clamoring to be able
to have that platter, so they'rebuying 30 pounds of crawfish
and using it as a souvenirgiveaway.
Peter Woolfolk (13:55):
You know what that also reminds me of.
I see I mentioned earlier.
You know relationship building.
You know, I think of, maybe,circumstances such as you know I
just said.
Getting past the desk, youmight notice that that person is
a coffee drinker.
So you might wind up givingthem a coffee mug with your
company's name on it.
(14:16):
You know, even though you rightnow are not trying to, you know
, sell them specificallyanything, but the fact is that
they drink coffee, why not usethis?
And so it's sitting on thatdesk for a very, very long time
and it keeps your name in frontof them.
So it's sitting on that deskfor a very, very long time and
it keeps your name in front ofthem and it's you know, at some
time, at some point, they maydecide to give you a call
because of that.
You know that generosity youdisplayed to them.
Amber Carter (14:39):
Absolutely.
I'm glad you mentioned thatbecause myself, being a
entrepreneur, I have to think ofcreative ways in which to sell
my product, and so I use thesame strategies that I just
talked about when I'm selling tomy customers to be able to make
the Loudmouth Marketing brandaccessible, and so what I do is,
(15:01):
for every customer, I will sendthem a really nice sweatshirt
and it has my logo on it frontand center, and they often get
like, oh wow, where did you getthat?
So I often use my own productto be able to sell myself items
(15:29):
to my corporate customers, likeyou're saying that they might
need coffee mugs for theiremployees.
Well, instead of them having tobrand their own coffee mugs, I
will make a donation towardstheir company with my logo on it
.
So you're absolutely right.
Anytime you can make peopleyour walking billboards, then
you know.
I mean, there's nothing betterthan when you leave a conference
and you know the attendees havethe backpack on that.
(15:53):
You just gave away in theairport and you see it.
Peter Woolfolk (15:57):
So there's not a better feeling that you know
that your ROI has been wellspent Out of curiosity what has
been one of your most difficultbut well-deserved, if you will
accomplishments in selling to acompany that you had to jump
through a lot of hoops to get it, but once you did it really did
pay off no-transcript.
Amber Carter (16:20):
I have more than one store like that, yeah.
So you know, being a smallbusiness, I have the flexibility
in pricing.
You know I don't have a lot ofoverhead right now.
I'm not doing a lot of, youknow, advertising like that
30-second spot.
I'm not investing in that.
What I do have are a lot oftestimonials from clients that
(16:44):
have worked with me and havebeen able to say if you want the
best price, the right product,on time delivery, work with
Amber and Loudmouth Marketing,and so the hard part is coming
into an established business,peter, and asking for the
business when they've beenworking with a promotional
product vendor for 10 years,five years, and they have a
(17:07):
relationship.
So relationships that arealready built in are hard to
break into.
But here's what I often do Iask for just that one time and I
ask them to let me save them30% or more.
And they are curious becausethey're like how in the world
can you save me just 30% off thetop?
(17:29):
And when I do it, they often askokay, my existing vendor has
been robbing me the fact thatyou're able to come in and
undercut his price and save mesome money because when it comes
to the bottom line,particularly in this economy,
(17:52):
oftentimes promotional productbudgets are ancillary.
It's not a part of how you doday-to-day business, and so
companies that still have it arevery fortunate, but there are
many companies right now who arecutting those budgets, so I'm
having to come in and show themthat let me help you save some
money, and when I do that,normally I will get some repeat
business.
Peter Woolfolk (18:10):
Well, you know, I think that is one of the, I
guess, primary drivers of salesis sell the benefits If you can
sell, and one of the benefits issaving money.
That's hugely interesting.
I would imagine everybodythat's listening.
Maintaining a budget isimportant to any and all
businesses.
Amber Carter (18:29):
Absolutely and oftentimes what I'll get.
Peter, when I talk about youknow budgets are tight.
People often go oh, we've usedpromotional products before, we
just don't know if they work.
And so here's how I show themthat they work.
If they work and so here's howI show them that they work I'll
say let's whatever you're goingto use, let's do a QR code on
(18:49):
that product because you canactually put I'm not sure if you
understand when I say a QR codeand you take your phone and use
it to be able to track.
You can use tracking informationto determine how useful that
product was.
To be able to track conversion.
You can use like a specialoffer or discount tied to the
(19:10):
promotional product to measuredirect impact.
So there are lots of ways wherepeople will go Amber, been
there, done that, we didn't likeit.
And so I asked them did you putany measurements in place to
see where did your products land?
Did they create conversion?
And then they will probably sayno, so then I'll offer them
(19:33):
that solution and that solutionis often impactful when they can
go on social media and seepeople taking pictures alongside
whether it be an award, aT-shirt, taking pictures
alongside whether it be an award, a T-shirt that's the loyalty
that you want to get when youmake people your walking
billboard.
Peter Woolfolk (19:52):
You know you've mentioned several important
things.
As I said, I was in sales yearsago when I was at Xerox, and
you know the bottom line is thatyou have to solve your
customers' problems.
It's not you about gettingbonuses or selling anything,
it's about you solving theirproblems.
If you can do that with yourequipment, then you do have a
sale and whatever your productis, they have to see what the
(20:16):
benefit is and that's whatreally begins to turn the corner
or make people willing to signthe checks, if you will.
Amber Carter (20:24):
Yes, repeat business.
Encouraging repeat business isalso another strategy of
promotional products,particularly when I can.
Let's say a small mom and pop.
Yeah, they sell.
Let's say the butcher shop,because a lot of my target
customers are small andmedium-sized businesses.
One business is a butcher shopin Atlanta, georgia.
(20:49):
I asked them I'm going to giveyou some free merchandise to put
on your shelf with your logoand let's see if it moves.
And do you know?
The thing that moves so muchwas that people were traveling a
long way to get butchered meatfrom them and they needed to be
(21:10):
able to put it on ice.
Well, they had nothing to puton ice, so we would.
We also stocked them withcoolers.
You know the cooler bags and weput their logo on the cooler
bags.
So people were buying up thecooler bags.
So not only did they make moneyfrom the meat and the product,
but they were making money fromthe cooler bags that people
(21:30):
needed to put to be able todrive an hour back home,
especially in Atlanta traffic,so anytime you can and then what
would happen is that peoplewould come back to get more food
with the cooler bag.
So the cooler bag began havinglonger shelf life.
And so that was greattestimonial from that customer.
Peter Woolfolk (21:53):
Well, you know that again is solving problems.
I mean, that's basically whatit is you do.
I'm here to help you solve yourproblems.
That works each and every time,Each and every time, each and
every time.
Now, do you have any othercomplex, if you will stories
that you tell or ways you wentabout solving customers'
problems using your promotionalitems?
Amber Carter (22:16):
Yeah, I mean just right now, peter, talking about
industry.
You know there are headwindwindright now that the tariffs,
particularly in China.
I often source a lot of myproducts overseas because that's
where I can get the best bangfor my customers' bucks
(22:38):
literally.
Because things made in Americatend to have a higher price tag
to source, and so oftentimes Iwill get customers that just
waited to the last minute or,you know, even with Mother
Nature having to contend, andyou go like, what does Mother
Nature have to do withpromotional products?
Well, with all the storms andall the things that happen, ups
(23:01):
will not deliver a product, eventhough my customer says, hey,
my award ceremony is tomorrow,and UPS says no, I cannot get
you your delivery tomorrow.
My customers can't do anythingwith an award the day after the
award ceremony.
Right.
So what I will often do, peter,is have things in stock that I
(23:23):
can hand deliver to a customer.
So it may be blank awards, butat least when the award ceremony
goes on, there's something inthe hands to be delivered to the
award recipient so they couldtake pictures right, so I always
want to have a plan B when Iwork with customers, so that
Mother Nature, ups, fedex don'timpact the event, because the
(23:48):
event is one day and so the nextday the event is no longer and
that product is no longerrelevant.
Peter Woolfolk (23:56):
Well, you know, again, it's solving the problem
because, yes, the actual trophyfor them, because it is
monogrammed or whatever, can'tget there.
But the fact is people lookingat the picture don't know that,
and but the recipient knows that.
You know, yes, this is just forthis moment, because of weather
conditions or whatever, but Iwill get my actual trophy or
(24:17):
plaque or whatever you know,once the weather condition
clears up.
So, in essence, you did solvethe problem.
You know several different ways.
You know, take the picture nowand we can still use it for
publicity, and once the weatherclears you'll have your actual
trophy in hand and from myexposure, people will go along
with that program because theyunderstand.
(24:38):
You know, sometimes you have nocontrol over Mother Nature, but
the fact that you are offering,and still offering, a solution
to the problem is a help andbenefit to me.
Amber Carter (24:48):
Always got to learn how to pivot with Mother
Nature, because it's so.
I mean.
It's becoming more prominentnow, but it's so unpredictable,
right.
And I just want to share.
one other thing that a mountain,I guess I would say are
headwinds.
A lot of the big companies andI do work with a couple of
really big ones that do supplierdiversity, and so they will
(25:10):
often give small shops like minea chance.
What they want is companiesthat invest in sustainable and
locally sourced products.
Oftentimes they think a lot ofthis stuff is mass produced and
it just causes environmentaldamage, and while that could be
true, peter, there are lots ofvendors now that I work with
(25:30):
that create sustainable,recyclable products.
Whether it be a Pendaflexfolder, they make it out of a
recyclable material, a fabriclike the handbags that you'll
use to go grocery shopping.
People are looking for thingsthat are recyclable.
So often when I get thatpushback that, oh no, we have
(25:53):
enough stuff in the, you know,the, the, the landfill I'll show
them all of the green itemsthat loudmouth marketing offers
and I'm able to overcome thatobjection.
Peter Woolfolk (26:05):
Mm-hmm, you know that again is the sales things.
When you mentioned that, goback to Xerox.
Overcoming those objections isa huge you know it separates the
pros from those who are notpros and stealing the deal.
Once you can overcome thoseobjections of customer
satisfaction, things are lookingup for you.
Yes, okay, well, amber, anyclosing remarks?
(26:27):
Because what I've heard today,I mean, was really, really
exciting and, I think, very,very beneficial to our listeners
.
So any closing remarks for us?
Amber Carter (26:35):
Well, I'm just excited to, at this time, expand
my business.
I've been doing this for acouple of decades now and the
thing that I can hang my hat onevery day is that I have never
cheated a client, meaning thatpeople know when they work with
(26:56):
me, my product will always be ofquality.
I will always give handholdingservice.
I'm not going to have you go onthat website and try to look
through a million products to beable to pick just the right one
.
My customer service, my brand,my brand is often called
hand-holding service.
(27:16):
It feels a little touchy-feelysometimes, but when I can take
away that burden from the adminthat will call me to say my
executive leadership team wantsme to find this great item, I'm
able to take that burden awayfrom that person and get the
right product in the rightbudget and get it there on time.
(27:37):
And so using those testimonialsover and over again to get or
drive new business for loudmouthmarketing is what we do.
Peter Woolfolk (27:47):
Well, amber, I certainly appreciate your taking
the time to come on our podcastto talk about the success of
loudmouth marketing, and I haveno doubt that our listeners will
learn a lot from what you'vehad to say here today.
So, once again, thank you somuch for being our guest.
Amber Carter (28:04):
Thank you, peter, for the time, and I greatly,
greatly appreciate it and wouldlove to do it again.
This was fun.
Thank you for making it fun.
Peter Woolfolk (28:13):
Thank you.
And to my guest let me saythank you, and certainly you
will certainly benefit from thewisdom that Amber Carter has
shared with you today.
Once again, Amber Carter, she'sthe CEO of Loudmouth Marketing.
I'd urge you to go take a lookat her website.
I mean, I've been there andthere's some really, really good
looking stuff there, so I'durge you to take a look-see.
The one other thing I'll askwell, if you've enjoyed the
(28:35):
podcast, certainly leave us areview and we certainly
appreciate it and share it withyour friends and colleagues.
And don't forget to listen tothe next edition of the Public
Relations Review Podcast.
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United States.
So thank you to all of ourguests and listeners for your
(00:48):
continued support and if youenjoy the podcast, please leave
a review.
Now question Most companies andorganizations have an interest
in expanding their brands.
Promotional items can benefitorganizations by way of an
effective indirect marketingtool by subtly increasing brand
awareness without overtlypushing sales.
(01:09):
So just what are some of thosebenefits?
My guest today will identifymultiple benefits.
She enjoys decades ofsuccessfully working with
multiple companies andorganizations with their brand
growth and expansion strategies.
So joining me today fromLafayette, louisiana, is Amber
Carter.
She is the CEO of LoudmouthMarketing.
(01:30):
Amber, welcome to the podcast.
Amber Carter (01:33):
Thank you, Peter.
I'm excited to be here.
Peter Woolfolk (01:36):
Well, great, great to have you here.
So why don't we begin by havingyou give us a brief overview of
your background?
Amber Carter (01:43):
Sure, for the last 20 years I was a cable
executive.
I was responsible for workingwith some of our affiliate
partners to be able to sell the30-second spot so that
commercial that comes on yourtelevision as you're watching
your favorite program.
I was responsible for workingin operations to make sure that
(02:08):
that spot aired and we couldbill it.
So that's what I did in thecable industry for 20 years.
Peter Woolfolk (02:16):
Well, so when did you decide to begin to and
launch Loudmouth Marketing?
Amber Carter (02:21):
That's a great question.
So way before I was a cableexecutive, I was a
pharmaceutical sales rep and wewere armed with promotional
products.
So back then what was reallyhot were pens, pads, coffee mugs
and all the things that wouldallow us to be able to get some
(02:42):
time with the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper is the personthat sits at the front desk,
whether it be the office manageror the nursing staff that would
allow me to go back into theoffice to speak to a doctor.
So it was my things.
I used to bribe them and what Inoticed is that when I was
bribing the front office staffwith free stuff these are adults
(03:06):
they would get so excited abouta pen a pad a coffee mug.
God forbid if I brought insomething that cost more than $4
.
So I noticed at that time thatif I ever got a chance to be an
entrepreneur, I wanted to sellpromotional products.
Peter Woolfolk (03:26):
You know it's interesting.
You said that because before Igot into public relations I
actually worked for Xerox.
So getting past the gatekeeperyou're absolutely right is
hugely important if you want tosell something.
So be as nice as you can.
I spent a lot of lunches onreceptionists and secretaries.
Amber Carter (03:46):
Absolutely.
Peter Woolfolk (03:48):
So let's talk about now some of the strategies
that are necessary for brandexpansion via promotional
products.
Amber Carter (03:55):
Okay.
So I think often there's amisconception about branding and
marketing.
I have a couple of phrases thatI want to use to set the stage.
Marketing is kind of what youuse to say about yourself.
Branding is what others saywhen you're not in the room.
(04:16):
Right, Marketing gets attention.
Branding is what turnsattention into loyalty and
lasting impact.
And just one more Branding isnot advertising.
It's a connection.
So when you think of promotionalproducts, you really want to
think of the branding aspect ofit, and so branding can be used
(04:40):
for several different reasons.
For several different reasons,some of the strategies that I
use when I talk to customersabout using promotional products
for branding is increasingawareness, generating leads, so
it's kind of the sales part ofit, and I'll give examples for
each in a moment Boosting yoursales, maybe even encouraging
(05:01):
customer loyalty Loyalty fromcustomers can also extend to
employee engagement and then,obviously, encouraging repeat
business.
Mm-hmm.
Peter Woolfolk (05:13):
Well, you know, I think that's important.
One of the things I'll say isthat I did have a chance to look
at your website as LoudmouthMarketing.
There's a lot of information upthere that listeners can take a
look at that talks about someof the things we're going to
cover here today.
So let's talk about ways of howthese products benefit you and
(05:37):
the clients, as I said, withoutpushing sales.
Amber Carter (05:40):
Sure, customer loyalty, and I'll talk about it
from employee engagement.
So I sit down with the customerand I want to define their
goals first, because what is soimportant about using
promotional products forbranding is that we're not
selling things, although whenyou go to my website, as you
(06:03):
mentioned, there are many, many,many different things right, I
probably have over a millionSKUs on my website but each one
of those things is driving asolution, and so I sit down with
the customer to be able tounderstand what is your
objective.
So I recently did a greatemployee engagement project with
(06:28):
a local airport In Louisiana.
We recently had a blizzard.
For Louisiana, we called itsnowpocalypse.
We had 11 inches of snow on theground, and so they reached out
to me and said Amber, we reallyneed a nice gift to show our
employees that got up andrunning in record time.
(06:52):
We'd never had snow before,we've never had to have the
airport closed for the amount oftime it was, and so these
employees really went out oftheir way to get us back up and
running, and so I thought aboutthat.
I'm like, okay, I know I need adrill to drive a hole in the
wall, and I wanted to focus onmore than the drill but the hole
(07:14):
in the wall.
How can we creatively deliversomething that would show
employees that they wererecognized for the work that
they did?
And always the trick is thatthere's a budget.
There's the B word, right.
Peter Woolfolk (07:28):
That's right.
Amber Carter (07:29):
So we could have spent something as much as $100
per person, but they didn't have$100.
What they had was somewherebetween $30 and $50.
So I went looking for somethingthat I knew that employees were
going to leave on their deskfor years to come, and what we
created was a snow globe.
You know the globe that youtake and you shake them and
(07:51):
there's something inside of it.
And what we put inside of it wasa picture of the airport, a
personalized picture of theairport, and each of the globes
at the base of it had theindividual's name.
And what she said is when theydistribute them, people could I
mean the the mouths open andthey've just worked so excited.
(08:12):
And when she walks around theoffice, people still those that
have kept them at work have leftthem on their desk some of them
have taken them home just to beable to enjoy with their
families.
So what we've created throughshowing employee recognition and
loyalty, we've created anexperience that people and even
(08:34):
the globe actually you can turnit and it makes sounds.
Unfortunately, we couldn't makeit a Louisiana music sound, but
people were really excited toreceive their globe.
Peter Woolfolk (08:48):
You know, I like the way you frame this, because
the fact that people kept themon their desk, it not only was a
reminder to them of the workthat they did, but other people
saw that too.
So that being the visibility ofthat item, a lot of people were
exposed to that and therein,you know, again, gain in terms
of brand exposure, uh, wascertainly a benefit to your
(09:11):
organization.
Amber Carter (09:12):
really, as you said, you know, really without
pushing sales, that's right andso you know, when you think
about you know and I work with alot of companies who use
promotional items to createsales, like generating leads and
boosting sales but the beautyof when you can make it
experiential, you can do areturn on investment.
(09:35):
Right, you can go back and askthe person or not even ask the
person, but you can just see thepride that they took in their
work by continuing to have thatitem on their desk.
So there's a return on thatinvestment.
Peter Woolfolk (09:53):
Well, you know I'll be honest with you.
I'm very excited to hear whatyou've just presented about that
, and so now give us a few moreways that you have helped others
benefit from having their ownproduct identification and
promotional items around.
Amber Carter (10:08):
Absolutely so.
When companies use promotionalproducts to generate leads,
oftentimes I will get a companycalling me at the last minute
like, oh, amber, we're going toa conference or a trade show and
I completely forgot that I needto restock my giveaway items
(10:29):
show and I completely forgotthat I need to restock my
giveaway items.
And I still try to take theexact same consideration of when
that person leaves the boothand they've been handed
something, because what you getin exchange for handing a
promotional item is they giveyou either their business card,
which you can use to be able tofollow up after the fact, but
(10:50):
one of my customers because they, you know, came at the last
minute.
I needed to do something prettyquick and a turnaround, and so
we came up with a really uniqueitem and what she said?
What she said, amber, this itemhad made it around the
convention floor, it was thismug, and it around the
convention floor.
It was this mug and it was aspecial clearance, so I was able
(11:11):
to get it pretty quickly fromthe vendor that was doing a
closeout, but the mug actuallyhad a speaker at the bottom of
it.
So you're not, particularlywhen you can get a product
that's multi-use, useful.
Those ones, those are the onesthat are a big hit.
So you drink out of the mug andthen you can also use it to
play music through a USBBluetooth.
(11:33):
She said she had so many peoplein line waiting to talk to her
simply because of herpromotional product.
There was no relevance in theitem that they were selling, but
the item that they were givingaway became so popular at the
convention she actually ran out.
But in exchange, she got tons ofcards and relevant leads
(11:58):
because people wanted the itemshe was giving away.
Another really good strategy touse promotional products is
when you are trying to boostsales.
So, for instance, I work with adoctor who has just created a
concierge service.
She's a really good functionalmedicine doctor and she no
(12:20):
longer takes insurance.
She is full cash pay right.
So it is called concierge.
And what I pitched to her waswhy don't you, when someone
signs up?
Because it's really expensiveit's like $2,500 per year for
her to be your physician.
This is not something you canget reimbursed from your
insurance.
I said to her when you getpeople that either buy your
(12:45):
product, your concierge services, people that either buy your
product, your concierge servicesor refer, why don't you give
them something, a really nicegift, something like a nice tote
bag or a lunch tote orsomething like that, in exchange
for paying for something?
Another recent idea that I wassuccessful with was a crawfish
(13:08):
restaurant.
I'm in Louisiana, so lots ofthose but there's a tin that
when you eat crawfish, you putyour mud bugs on this tin.
It's a round platter, right,and it became like a souvenir
thing that you could take homewhen you buy 30 pounds of
crawfish or more.
So this restaurant person saidAmber, I don't like stocking
(13:33):
things to sell.
I'm like, no, you're notselling it.
What you're doing is you'reoffering it.
When people buy something fromyou, it's an additive gift
almost.
So what they're seeing is thatpeople are clamoring to be able
to have that platter, so they'rebuying 30 pounds of crawfish
and using it as a souvenirgiveaway.
Peter Woolfolk (13:55):
You know what that also reminds me of.
I see I mentioned earlier.
You know relationship building.
You know, I think of, maybe,circumstances such as you know I
just said.
Getting past the desk, youmight notice that that person is
a coffee drinker.
So you might wind up givingthem a coffee mug with your
company's name on it.
(14:16):
You know, even though you rightnow are not trying to, you know
, sell them specificallyanything, but the fact is that
they drink coffee, why not usethis?
And so it's sitting on thatdesk for a very, very long time
and it keeps your name in frontof them.
So it's sitting on that deskfor a very, very long time and
it keeps your name in front ofthem and it's you know, at some
time, at some point, they maydecide to give you a call
because of that.
You know that generosity youdisplayed to them.
Amber Carter (14:39):
Absolutely.
I'm glad you mentioned thatbecause myself, being a
entrepreneur, I have to think ofcreative ways in which to sell
my product, and so I use thesame strategies that I just
talked about when I'm selling tomy customers to be able to make
the Loudmouth Marketing brandaccessible, and so what I do is,
(15:01):
for every customer, I will sendthem a really nice sweatshirt
and it has my logo on it frontand center, and they often get
like, oh wow, where did you getthat?
So I often use my own productto be able to sell myself items
(15:29):
to my corporate customers, likeyou're saying that they might
need coffee mugs for theiremployees.
Well, instead of them having tobrand their own coffee mugs, I
will make a donation towardstheir company with my logo on it
.
So you're absolutely right.
Anytime you can make peopleyour walking billboards, then
you know.
I mean, there's nothing betterthan when you leave a conference
and you know the attendees havethe backpack on that.
(15:53):
You just gave away in theairport and you see it.
Peter Woolfolk (15:57):
So there's not a better feeling that you know
that your ROI has been wellspent Out of curiosity what has
been one of your most difficultbut well-deserved, if you will
accomplishments in selling to acompany that you had to jump
through a lot of hoops to get it, but once you did it really did
pay off no-transcript.
Amber Carter (16:20):
I have more than one store like that, yeah.
So you know, being a smallbusiness, I have the flexibility
in pricing.
You know I don't have a lot ofoverhead right now.
I'm not doing a lot of, youknow, advertising like that
30-second spot.
I'm not investing in that.
What I do have are a lot oftestimonials from clients that
(16:44):
have worked with me and havebeen able to say if you want the
best price, the right product,on time delivery, work with
Amber and Loudmouth Marketing,and so the hard part is coming
into an established business,peter, and asking for the
business when they've beenworking with a promotional
product vendor for 10 years,five years, and they have a
(17:07):
relationship.
So relationships that arealready built in are hard to
break into.
But here's what I often do Iask for just that one time and I
ask them to let me save them30% or more.
And they are curious becausethey're like how in the world
can you save me just 30% off thetop?
(17:29):
And when I do it, they often askokay, my existing vendor has
been robbing me the fact thatyou're able to come in and
undercut his price and save mesome money because when it comes
to the bottom line,particularly in this economy,
(17:52):
oftentimes promotional productbudgets are ancillary.
It's not a part of how you doday-to-day business, and so
companies that still have it arevery fortunate, but there are
many companies right now who arecutting those budgets, so I'm
having to come in and show themthat let me help you save some
money, and when I do that,normally I will get some repeat
business.
Peter Woolfolk (18:10):
Well, you know, I think that is one of the, I
guess, primary drivers of salesis sell the benefits If you can
sell, and one of the benefits issaving money.
That's hugely interesting.
I would imagine everybodythat's listening.
Maintaining a budget isimportant to any and all
businesses.
Amber Carter (18:29):
Absolutely and oftentimes what I'll get.
Peter, when I talk about youknow budgets are tight.
People often go oh, we've usedpromotional products before, we
just don't know if they work.
And so here's how I show themthat they work.
If they work and so here's howI show them that they work I'll
say let's whatever you're goingto use, let's do a QR code on
(18:49):
that product because you canactually put I'm not sure if you
understand when I say a QR codeand you take your phone and use
it to be able to track.
You can use tracking informationto determine how useful that
product was.
To be able to track conversion.
You can use like a specialoffer or discount tied to the
(19:10):
promotional product to measuredirect impact.
So there are lots of ways wherepeople will go Amber, been
there, done that, we didn't likeit.
And so I asked them did you putany measurements in place to
see where did your products land?
Did they create conversion?
And then they will probably sayno, so then I'll offer them
(19:33):
that solution and that solutionis often impactful when they can
go on social media and seepeople taking pictures alongside
whether it be an award, aT-shirt, taking pictures
alongside whether it be an award, a T-shirt that's the loyalty
that you want to get when youmake people your walking
billboard.
Peter Woolfolk (19:52):
You know you've mentioned several important
things.
As I said, I was in sales yearsago when I was at Xerox, and
you know the bottom line is thatyou have to solve your
customers' problems.
It's not you about gettingbonuses or selling anything,
it's about you solving theirproblems.
If you can do that with yourequipment, then you do have a
sale and whatever your productis, they have to see what the
(20:16):
benefit is and that's whatreally begins to turn the corner
or make people willing to signthe checks, if you will.
Amber Carter (20:24):
Yes, repeat business.
Encouraging repeat business isalso another strategy of
promotional products,particularly when I can.
Let's say a small mom and pop.
Yeah, they sell.
Let's say the butcher shop,because a lot of my target
customers are small andmedium-sized businesses.
One business is a butcher shopin Atlanta, georgia.
(20:49):
I asked them I'm going to giveyou some free merchandise to put
on your shelf with your logoand let's see if it moves.
And do you know?
The thing that moves so muchwas that people were traveling a
long way to get butchered meatfrom them and they needed to be
(21:10):
able to put it on ice.
Well, they had nothing to puton ice, so we would.
We also stocked them withcoolers.
You know the cooler bags and weput their logo on the cooler
bags.
So people were buying up thecooler bags.
So not only did they make moneyfrom the meat and the product,
but they were making money fromthe cooler bags that people
(21:30):
needed to put to be able todrive an hour back home,
especially in Atlanta traffic,so anytime you can and then what
would happen is that peoplewould come back to get more food
with the cooler bag.
So the cooler bag began havinglonger shelf life.
And so that was greattestimonial from that customer.
Peter Woolfolk (21:53):
Well, you know that again is solving problems.
I mean, that's basically whatit is you do.
I'm here to help you solve yourproblems.
That works each and every time,Each and every time, each and
every time.
Now, do you have any othercomplex, if you will stories
that you tell or ways you wentabout solving customers'
problems using your promotionalitems?
Amber Carter (22:16):
Yeah, I mean just right now, peter, talking about
industry.
You know there are headwindwindright now that the tariffs,
particularly in China.
I often source a lot of myproducts overseas because that's
where I can get the best bangfor my customers' bucks
(22:38):
literally.
Because things made in Americatend to have a higher price tag
to source, and so oftentimes Iwill get customers that just
waited to the last minute or,you know, even with Mother
Nature having to contend, andyou go like, what does Mother
Nature have to do withpromotional products?
Well, with all the storms andall the things that happen, ups
(23:01):
will not deliver a product, eventhough my customer says, hey,
my award ceremony is tomorrow,and UPS says no, I cannot get
you your delivery tomorrow.
My customers can't do anythingwith an award the day after the
award ceremony.
Right.
So what I will often do, peter,is have things in stock that I
(23:23):
can hand deliver to a customer.
So it may be blank awards, butat least when the award ceremony
goes on, there's something inthe hands to be delivered to the
award recipient so they couldtake pictures right, so I always
want to have a plan B when Iwork with customers, so that
Mother Nature, ups, fedex don'timpact the event, because the
(23:48):
event is one day and so the nextday the event is no longer and
that product is no longerrelevant.
Peter Woolfolk (23:56):
Well, you know, again, it's solving the problem
because, yes, the actual trophyfor them, because it is
monogrammed or whatever, can'tget there.
But the fact is people lookingat the picture don't know that,
and but the recipient knows that.
You know, yes, this is just forthis moment, because of weather
conditions or whatever, but Iwill get my actual trophy or
(24:17):
plaque or whatever you know,once the weather condition
clears up.
So, in essence, you did solvethe problem.
You know several different ways.
You know, take the picture nowand we can still use it for
publicity, and once the weatherclears you'll have your actual
trophy in hand and from myexposure, people will go along
with that program because theyunderstand.
(24:38):
You know, sometimes you have nocontrol over Mother Nature, but
the fact that you are offering,and still offering, a solution
to the problem is a help andbenefit to me.
Amber Carter (24:48):
Always got to learn how to pivot with Mother
Nature, because it's so.
I mean.
It's becoming more prominentnow, but it's so unpredictable,
right.
And I just want to share.
one other thing that a mountain,I guess I would say are
headwinds.
A lot of the big companies andI do work with a couple of
really big ones that do supplierdiversity, and so they will
(25:10):
often give small shops like minea chance.
What they want is companiesthat invest in sustainable and
locally sourced products.
Oftentimes they think a lot ofthis stuff is mass produced and
it just causes environmentaldamage, and while that could be
true, peter, there are lots ofvendors now that I work with
(25:30):
that create sustainable,recyclable products.
Whether it be a Pendaflexfolder, they make it out of a
recyclable material, a fabriclike the handbags that you'll
use to go grocery shopping.
People are looking for thingsthat are recyclable.
So often when I get thatpushback that, oh no, we have
(25:53):
enough stuff in the, you know,the, the, the landfill I'll show
them all of the green itemsthat loudmouth marketing offers
and I'm able to overcome thatobjection.
Peter Woolfolk (26:05):
Mm-hmm, you know that again is the sales things.
When you mentioned that, goback to Xerox.
Overcoming those objections isa huge you know it separates the
pros from those who are notpros and stealing the deal.
Once you can overcome thoseobjections of customer
satisfaction, things are lookingup for you.
Yes, okay, well, amber, anyclosing remarks?
(26:27):
Because what I've heard today,I mean, was really, really
exciting and, I think, very,very beneficial to our listeners
.
So any closing remarks for us?
Amber Carter (26:35):
Well, I'm just excited to, at this time, expand
my business.
I've been doing this for acouple of decades now and the
thing that I can hang my hat onevery day is that I have never
cheated a client, meaning thatpeople know when they work with
(26:56):
me, my product will always be ofquality.
I will always give handholdingservice.
I'm not going to have you go onthat website and try to look
through a million products to beable to pick just the right one
.
My customer service, my brand,my brand is often called
hand-holding service.
(27:16):
It feels a little touchy-feelysometimes, but when I can take
away that burden from the adminthat will call me to say my
executive leadership team wantsme to find this great item, I'm
able to take that burden awayfrom that person and get the
right product in the rightbudget and get it there on time.
(27:37):
And so using those testimonialsover and over again to get or
drive new business for loudmouthmarketing is what we do.
Peter Woolfolk (27:47):
Well, amber, I certainly appreciate your taking
the time to come on our podcastto talk about the success of
loudmouth marketing, and I haveno doubt that our listeners will
learn a lot from what you'vehad to say here today.
So, once again, thank you somuch for being our guest.
Amber Carter (28:04):
Thank you, peter, for the time, and I greatly,
greatly appreciate it and wouldlove to do it again.
This was fun.
Thank you for making it fun.
Peter Woolfolk (28:13):
Thank you.
And to my guest let me saythank you, and certainly you
will certainly benefit from thewisdom that Amber Carter has
shared with you today.
Once again, Amber Carter, she'sthe CEO of Loudmouth Marketing.
I'd urge you to go take a lookat her website.
I mean, I've been there andthere's some really, really good
looking stuff there, so I'durge you to take a look-see.
The one other thing I'll askwell, if you've enjoyed the
(28:35):
podcast, certainly leave us areview and we certainly
appreciate it and share it withyour friends and colleagues.
And don't forget to listen tothe next edition of the Public
Relations Review Podcast.
Announcer (28:49):
This podcast is produced by Communication
Strategies, an award-winningpublic relations and public
affairs firm headquartered inNashville, Tennessee.
Thank you for joining us.
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