Greenwashing, for those that might not know, is a term “describing the deceptive us of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company’s policies or products are environmentally friendly. (Wikipedia.com)

Now we all want to be “green” but I have held to the notion that the entire human race tends to jump the gun a bit and not think things through. In the rush to do something good, we might end up doing more harm. Take for example the non-woven, recycled tote bag.

The New York Times published a great article on how some of these recyclable totes contain high levels of lead in the paint used on some bags. Keep in mind here that this is likely NOT the paint that is used to decorate items with your logo. (Great topic for another post sometime!) In the rush to either actually be “green” or to look “green”, a few named national brands are running to put out a nice hot PR fire.

On the flip side of the greenwashing coin is the trend of Quick Response codes. These QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that look like a black and white patchwork. You need a special reader to decode the code but like with many other “techy” things now-a-days, there is an app for that.  Yep, you can turn your iPhone or another device with a camera into a QR scanner. So how is this green?

Think about the last tradeshow you attended. I know that a few are trying to lower the amount of printed materials by scanning a traditional code, but those codes are extremely limiting. Basically, once a badge is scanned, the software generates an action to send Mr. Trade Show a packet of information to the address assigned to that bar code. The only thing this solution did was to place shift the collateral transaction.

With the QR code, Mr. Trade Show can visit my booth and scan my QR codes. Each code could be set up with different information that is particularly interesting to Mr. Show. When he scans the QR code on my table cover, it sends him to my company website for general information. When he scans the QR code on a pen I am giving out, it goes to a .pdf of specials that he is entitled to because he stopped by my booth. OR perhaps I put a QR code on a T-shirt that I gave out to people. The code could be programed to open a map of the trade show floor and my location so people can find me.

As for “green” solutions, I think this is one for the books. Think of the savings in paper collateral, mailing and waste. In addition to this being a “green” solution, it has potential to really track and measure advertising ROI. On the backend of scanning the code, I can track how you learned about me, my company, the products I carry and so forth.

Above and beyond other “green” solutions, this is a very user friendly technology. As I mentioned, the scanner apps are free to download and it is free to generate codes as well! This could very well the replacement for hardlinking in the future. Think about it, would you rather type: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Meridian-ID/BAMM-Promo/199589392227 or just scan:

BAMM Promotional Facebook "Like" URL QR Code

So, these are as far from the standard 100% pre-shrunk cotton sport shirts that you got at your last trade show as you can get. They are cool, trendy, functional and guess what, people will WANT to wear them!!

 Yes, a branded shirt like Ogio is going to cost more but not as much as you might think. But for a few bucks more, you take a huge step up in quality, performance and even brand recognition. I mean, which shirt would you rather put on in the morning before you go off to work? A faded, washed out blah cotton sport shirt? I didn’t think so.

The next time you are at a networking event, observe the Ritual of the Business Card Exchange. Watch what happens when someone gets a business card from a new contact. More often than not, they read the content on the front of the card and then they flip the card over to see if there is more information that describes what the person does or sells. The recipient is making his or her first judgment on whether or not to do business with you.

As this is the case, why hand out a business card with someone else’s business information (the company that prints the card) or a card that proclaims, “Hey, I just got in business and I’m trying to do it as cheap as possible so I got me sum free business cards.”? Sadly, I see this more often than not and it kills me to think about the damage being done to an otherwise good brand/ business.

Your business card is the first piece of advertising, branding, promoting and selling materials that you will invest in as a business owner/ representative. When you invest in your business card design and production, you are investing in the foundation of your business. Why would you want to skimp on the foundation of something you are putting your heart and soul?

By investing in your business card layout and design you will reap the following benefits:

1. Customized logo development (Rather than stock images)
2. Professional presence
3. Creative design and balance that reflects you and your business
4. A foundation for long term branding

So with all the reasons to have a professionally produced business card, why do so many companies opt for the free online business cards? Perhaps the biggest reason is because they think they can’t afford it. The reality is that there are options available that are very cost effective and still provide a professional branding presence.

As a promotional solutions company, we specialize in finding affordable design solutions for our clients. Additionally, we take great care to protect the branding efforts of our clients through understanding their goals and objectives. We provide more that just pens and coffee cups, we provide results!

I don’t mean to sound harsh or uncaring. In fact, I think that I am getting to a place, mentally, that I can be more caring and therefore able to “be there” for my step mom. Since I’ve now “adjusted my position of observation” I am learning (or sometimes re-enforcing) what business is all about.

Perhaps the key component in business that I am reminded of is communication. Actually to be exact, it should be follow up communication. In the case of cancer you feel as if every minute of the day counts and the faster you can get answers the quicker you can develop a plan. You can imagine the anguish that we all endured when it took 4 days to get results back on a procedure.

The thing is that we didn’t know or ask the doctor when we should expect the results. We have expectations and we all get side tracked especially when we don’t have a schedule to meet. Think about it. How many times do you push off a project that doesn’t have an immediate due date till the last minute?

Ongoing communication is vital to business. Whether it is just to let my client know that production is on schedule or to tell them about a problem, it gives them the rightful feeling that I am focused on them 100% and they don’t have to worry about “the results”.

Interesting choice for sunscreen.

From our past dealings with the client we knew that they were exceptionally price conscience and expected a better than industry level of customer service.  We were not going to be the sole vendor supplying the client with promotional items and that made the need to stand out even greater.

With a short window of time to turn two projects around and a VERY tight budget, we leveraged our relationships with vendors to help us cut time off production without adding rush fees. (Very commonly a 15% up-charge.) One of our vendors out of Arizona produced an exceptional temporary tattoo and had it to the customer a few days ahead of schedule. Our other vendor was shipping from the Tennessee and while they are excellent in quality and service, there was an oversight made and we had to go into high alert to get the project to the customer on time.

Instead of our vendor shipping the project out as 2nd day delivery they shipped the products ground with the expected arrival the following Wednesday. (Two days AFTER the client’s event.) In order to save the event, we did (what few other promotional marketing companies have the power to do) what needed to be done.

A day into shipping, the project had arrived at a UPS transfer station in Illinois. I had our dedicated UPS account manager pull the shipment and upgrade the shipping from ground to Overnight. I’ll spare you the grizzly details and skip to the part that the client received the project the very next day to hand them out two days BEFORE the event. Needless to say they were thrilled.

So we were able to pull of the near impossible but it just didn’t seem right to relay the details of the travels of the project to the customer. (But MAN I wish I could!!) When the order follow up email was sent on the day the project arrived at the client’s we were thrilled to hear that the customer loved the quality of the job and commended us on a job well done. We were also told that because our project was on time, it made the client extremely impressed because she had just found out (through her calling the other vendor) that her other projects would not arrive in time for the event.

The client will most likely never know what we had to go through in order to get her what we promised. But she will know that we delivered on our promise when others couldn’t.

They say that you can’t get new customers through excellent customer service, but through excellent customer server you keep them. I like to think that through this experience our client will promote BAMM Promotional Marketing to her sphere of influence and by chance that will turn into a few new clients.