Short Story, Big Picture: Been Here, Survived That.
I am writing directly to you, dear reader, from my heart (which means that I’m doing this without the use of any ChatGPT or AI.)
Talking to a host of promo industry people lately (LEAD, Regional meetings, and personal phone calls) and seeing all the comments on Social Media (Promotional Products Professional Page and PromoEQP Private Facebook Page), I feel that we need to remember what we are good at…
Overcoming everything that the world throws at us because of how nimble and essential our line of work is.
Today’s Short Story is a piece to help you achieve your long-term goals, aka the Big Picture.
The signature on my personal email account reads, “A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.” – Henry Ford.
Since I started in this industry, right out of high school, there have been three major events that, if you believed all the fear reports, should have killed the promotional products industry… regardless of the fears, Promo survived:
September - 2001
A group of people attached our land. War was the only option, and economic uncertainty was at an all-time high. Groups of distributors were putting together boxes of products that were sent to our men and women fighting overseas. Patriotic symbolism was printed, lasered, and embroidered on everything. Our industry rose to the challenge and pushed through.
Housing Crisis - 2008
Our neighbors were losing their homes. Financial institutions were losing money at an astonishing rate. No business had money to spend on frivolous marketing, but they still had to market. Our industry stepped up and offered low-cost, fast turn options to meet diminished budgets to sustain marketing during the depression. The focus was on Main Street, not Wall Street.
Covid Shut Down - 2020
No more events. No meeting people face to face. No more trade shows…with that being the bulk of what the promotional products industry sold, how were we going to get through this? Our industry was uniquely able to offer help through PPE, Signs, and “WFH Kits” that businesses could send directly to employee homes and keep commerce going.
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The trending fear word today is “Tariff.” We have been here and survived that in 2016/17.
If we stay focused on what we do best, solving the needs of the buyer in ANY economic climate, we will survive this too.
Stay diligent, smart, and nimble. Our industry is essential in this capitalistic economy.
Believe me… You got this!
