Digital Asset Management, Print on Demand, Global Fulfillment | OnFulfillment Blog

The last thing your sales team wants is to shop around for commercial printers each time they need something produced. Without a ton of experience, sourcing print is difficult, inefficient, and frustrating.

Fifteen years ago, OnFulfillment was  in a 1000 square foot warehouse that was loaned to me by a great friend and mentor, Jim Moreton, now departed. The internet was the Wild West, and we were six months from the bubble bursting on a large portion the early adopters of the dot com craze. At that point, we were convinced that the internet would change the fulfillment business forever.  By us, I mean Dan Barnett and I. Shared information, universal access and real-time transactions – the possibilities were endless. We had an idea, enthusiasm, and a great support structure of friends and colleagues.

Our first customer was Zilog Corporation and Debra Erickson. Debra and I still exchange Christmas cards. No one wants to be the first customer, so I can’t thank her enough for our start. With Zilog on board, we had product in our warehouse and projects to do. At first my wife, kids and I did the work at home, but we soon hired  Juan Rosales from my previous job, and now I knew the work would get done. And so it continued as we added one new customer at a time. We soon moved to Hayward where another friend rented us space on a month to month basis.

So you’re exhibiting at an upcoming trade show, where you hope to attract a ton of high-quality prospects. You’ve got a table or a booth, be it large or small. Forgetting for a minute about what you did PRE-event to promote your event participation, think about what kinds of “swag” you should have at your display to give to passersby.

Swag, in PG terms, is short for “stuff we all get.” If you’ve been to trade shows before, you know you’re going to have salespeople foisting various and sundry objects upon you. And if it’s a major show (think hundreds of exhibiting sponsors, not just one or two dozen), be prepared. You’ll be like that neighborhood kid with a too-small paper bag on Halloween having to face four dozen homeowners tossing candy bars and popcorn balls in your general direction. With luck, that’s what they’re tossing – as opposed to apples or boxes of raisins. (Come on, who among you hasn’t received unappetizing “healthy” snacks on Halloweens of yesteryear, only to pitch them in some darkened neighbor’s yard before you ever reached home?)

Consider this a public service announcement from us. To all you marketers planning an upcoming print marketing campaign, make sure you jump on some great promotions at the post office.