Hm... where/how can I get started on this side opportunity?

[Zeze]

Straight to the point, bullet style:

1. A friend I went to college with went back to Hong Kong, started a boutique manufacturing & trading company.

2. They specialize in promotional premiums (stress balls, bottle openers, etc), mannequins, surgical masks, cell phone cases, and overall general plastic items. Her partner is a skilled engineer, so they customize anything.

3. She approached me and says they're looking to expand in US. Seeing as I'm in NYC, she was wondering if I was interested helping her out getting new customers.

If I approach this correctly, learn, and apply myself, I can make this happen. But I could use a slight nudge in the right direction. Just start with ads on CL? Ebay? Attend conventions? On the long run, one can just make a full-blown US website, but one step at a time...

Your thoughts? Also let me know if you or your company is interested.

 

[Slew Foot]

Head down to Wall Street and ask some 1%ers if they want to outsource some manufacturing to China.

 

[janas19]

Head down to Wall Street and ask some 1%ers if they want to outsource some manufacturing to China.

Actually... that is a good idea.

I have a couple of general ideas. The segment I know of which uses promo plastic items the most is pharmaceuticals. If you could figure out how to get a contract with someone, that would be a gravy train!

 

[Kreon]

Colleges and Universities. Target them.

Some things that I look for when ordering things:
-Don't nickel and dime me: charge me for the product per piece and 1 all inclusive setup fee (though "free setup" is much easier to sell)
-Give me free shipping: This kind of goes back to the first point, but is different. It makes my life much easier.

Make sure you state these things on your website and promotional materials.

You will need promotional materials. Looking through my collection of handouts from companies wanting to sell me promotional materials, the most common in it (at least the ones I hold onto the most) state clearly:
-What they are selling (T-Shirts, little promotional giveaways, promotional thumbdrives, etc)
-Base Cost
-Free Setup/Shipping or the fees for such etc <-I tend to keep these around most often as quotes are easier to assemble for budget proposal stuff

The three above should be biggest, with the name of the company and contact info (website and phone number) after it.

Honestly, the thing I hang onto the most is small (4"x8") flyers.

Also, please for the love of anythig you consider holy, do not go onto my company and/or school website, find all of the email addresses you can (dept. heads, club leadership, etc), and send some advertising. I say this because it apparently seems like a really good idea to a lot of T-Shirt printers and promotional merchandise people, but it will not be effective (and at my college will earn you a lovely spot on the "buy somewhere else" list).

In other news, shoot me a PM about stress balls. I will happily see how the prices compare to the ones we get now.

 

[Zeze]

Colleges and Universities. Target them.

Some things that I look for when ordering things:
-Don't nickel and dime me: charge me for the product per piece and 1 all inclusive setup fee (though "free setup" is much easier to sell)
-Give me free shipping: This kind of goes back to the first point, but is different. It makes my life much easier.

Make sure you state these things on your website and promotional materials.

You will need promotional materials. Looking through my collection of handouts from companies wanting to sell me promotional materials, the most common in it (at least the ones I hold onto the most) state clearly:
-What they are selling (T-Shirts, little promotional giveaways, promotional thumbdrives, etc)
-Base Cost
-Free Setup/Shipping or the fees for such etc <-I tend to keep these around most often as quotes are easier to assemble for budget proposal stuff

The three above should be biggest, with the name of the company and contact info (website and phone number) after it.

Honestly, the thing I hang onto the most is small (4"x8") flyers.

Also, please for the love of anythig you consider holy, do not go onto my company and/or school website, find all of the email addresses you can (dept. heads, club leadership, etc), and send some advertising. I say this because it apparently seems like a really good idea to a lot of T-Shirt printers and promotional merchandise people, but it will not be effective (and at my college will earn you a lovely spot on the "buy somewhere else" list).

In other news, shoot me a PM about stress balls. I will happily see how the prices compare to the ones we get now.

Unsurprisingly there are a number of established websites for promotional items. They have a catalogue of photographed items, customize it with the logo, and order cart system etc. I reckon you can just hire a firm to build on for you. BUT how do you get the company out on the map?

Besides SEO, go to conventions and market set up a booth, that's about it. What other ways? I'm weary of email spams/direct mail/etc...

 

[SirStev0]

Actually... that is a good idea.

I have a couple of general ideas. The segment I know of which uses promo plastic items the most is pharmaceuticals. If you could figure out how to get a contract with someone, that would be a gravy train!

Not anymore. Go into your doc's office and notice what pen he is using now...
The Gov outlawed the so called "Drug Pens" back in 2007 or so.
It was one of those, "lets look like we are doing something to penalize the pharm industry by doing something that makes absolutely no fucking sense."

Drug reps still come around and bug the shit out of us but now with stupid fucking pamphlets that basically go straight into the garbage. If we are lucky we get a sandwich or salad from some place that is always late and cold.
I've never known a doc to prescribe anything based on a drug rep's recommendation. They are just there as an annoyance you put up with to keep your office staff happy. Office staff's used to be happier when the pens were free.

 

[Kreon]

Unsurprisingly there are a number of established websites for promotional items. They have a catalogue of photographed items, customize it with the logo, and order cart system etc. I reckon you can just hire a firm to build on for you. BUT how do you get the company out on the map?

Yes there are. But if you can offer competitive rates at some point in the relatively near future, I would happily use a company of/related to an ATOTer over the random website we use now.

Besides SEO, go to conventions and market set up a booth, that's about it. What other ways? I'm weary of email spams/direct mail/etc...

Not direct mail or email. Get a website going, and then print off 4x8 flyers that have something like the guidelines I mentioned (at least for colleges) and bring them to student activities directors. They will happily distribute them and nobody will see them as spam. Don't dorm-storm though, that is spammy (though leaving a few neatly stacked near the entrance of a dorm is fine imo).