It is January 3rd and I have 157 days to the Howard Alan Blum 5K 4 5K that is going to be at our annual trade show in Atlantic City on June 6th.  This race is very personal to me as it is named in honor of my brother who passed away at the age of 16 from cancer.  So, I am going to train hard and would love if you would follow me on my journey.

Today's running outfit included my promotional wicking t-shirt and a pair of really nice custom racing pants. You have to look good to run good! With my music and my great custom water bottle - I look like a know what I am doing.  Now I just have to get up to 3 miles and all will be well.  Stay tuned for my great adventures in running...I plan on giving tips and tricks for beginner runners and give you some great items to use in your runs! 

Good Running!

Have you ever received a promotional product? A custom printed pen, a promotional t-shirt, or even a promotional coffee mug with some business name imprinted on it? The advertising idea of giving away promotional items has gained widespread popularity since its inception in 1789. There is hardly anyone in the world today who has not received a promo item at least once in their life. Here is a very creative chart that will give you interesting details about this widespread industry.

Several surveys confirm that promotional items have an effective recall value, are great giveaways for brand building exercises, and inspire customer loyalty too! A lot of businesses leverage this popular advertising medium to their benefit by giving away promo items at their annual celebrations, tradeshows, and even business meetings. So, while planning an advertising campaign next time, it might work well for you to have a budget kept aside for trade show giveaways and promotional products and see your business soar to success!!!

My other job - besides selling promotional products - is being a member of the board of the regional promotional products association - SAAGNY.

At SAAGNY I am the event planner and this year I am planning my biggest event to date...the Splash Party at the Pool at Harrahs. If you have never been to this venue, you should check it out - it is a tropical forest in the middle of Atlantic City.  Besides picking DJ's and menu's, I love to pick the products that are going to be in our swag bags. 

This year we have some great items:

Some promotional towels with our beautiful Splash party logo, a custom shaped hawaiian shirt mousepad,  a tropical flavored lip balm, Snorkel Guy promotional sunscreen and of course  great promotional tote bags to put it all in.

I love my jobs!

My new found passion is social media.  Now I am looking for great ways to tie in promotional products with a social media strategy.

At a recent show I put a photo of one of our trade show volunteers wearing a Vantage jacket on my Facebook page.  The posting said that anyone who found our model wearing the jacket at the show would get a free gift.

The gift that we offered was an adhesive cube with the model's picture on one side - and all of our advertising on the other 3 sides.  Adhesive cubes are great way to brand your product because they have a large imprint area and a small desktop footprint.

This small posting brought alot of attention to both the model and the jacket. We were able to double the traffic from last year.  

If you have any stories about how you have integrated used social media and promotional items with great results...let me know. Maybe I will talk about your success story time!

After working at Motivators for over a year, I still didn't fully understand the importance (or the need) for me to spend time as a blogger.
Then, I had a revelation.
I attended a SAAGNY educational seminar that featured Patti Simone of Womencentric.net where she spoke of the importance of blogging and other social networking and the need to work toward creating your own “personal brand”. The point that stuck in my mind was that you should write about something that was relevant and something that you were passionate about.
Well, my passions are both promotional items and non-profit groups so I decided to combine those passions into this blog.
The first non-profit that sparked my attention is RAMP, the Rockin' Appalachian Mom Project, which is run by Amy Guerrieri, a friend of mine.

I was at the gym (my handy promotional stainless steel water bottle nearby)watching the TV as I worked out.  I saw that Amy was going to be featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams as their “Everyday Hero of the Week”.  I was happy for Amy, knowing the good work that she did through RAMP.
The Rockin' Appalachian Mom Project is a charitable organization dedicated to making a difference -- one family at a time.  Working community-to-community, family-to-family, Mom-to-Mom, and kid-to-kid, they've proven they can make a difference in the quality of life for the children and families of Appalachia.
Back in February of last year, Amy started this project by collecting promotional items (including eco pens and mugs) to donate to women and their families in the Appalachian mountains.  From that humble beginning Amy has been to Kentucky four times and has run both a food and clothing drive to help needy families in the area.
If you want to learn more about Amy’s great work, please go to www.rampamerica.org … and tell her Rhonda sent you!

Do you have an “Amy” in your life? Get in touch and let me know. I'd love to tell the world about others who do the unsung work of helping others!

Till next time ...