As a business owner, you know all about your prospective customer… their age, gender, economic and marital status, as well as something about their business (or lifestyle) and personality. Critical information to be sure. But you might not realize that your company marketing pieces must speak to these souls, while also working to overcome a potential buyer’s resistance to making a purchase. Whether you sell a product or service, the rules are the same.

No matter who they are, business person or consumer, everyone needs a reason to buy.

It’s a veritable vegetable patch out there with all the green offerings available. From trade shows to catalogs, you can’t escape this growing trend. But just how has it changed in the last year since it debuted on the promotional products scene?

It’s Getting Serious

For starters, it’s gotten much more serious — or at least, end users are taking their green initiatives much more seriously. It’s not enough for a product to be made of partly recycled materials. Consumers want to know that the products they buy — and the companies behind them — are environmentally friendly from start to finish.

In what might be considered a pre-emptive attempt to monitor itself, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Board of Directors adopted measures to enhance the PhRMA Code that governs interactions with healthcare professionals and their staff. The voluntary code, set to go into effect January 2009, states that interactions between company representatives and health care professionals “should be focused on informing the healthcare professionals about products, providing scientific and educational information, and supporting medical research and education.”

Silly me, I thought they already were.

While the revised code mentions limits on the speaking (and consulting) fees a doctor can receive,

On July 10, the news broke about the PhRMA trade organization restricting the use of promotional products. This story was reported by all the major industry resources, but in addition to presenting the story, we would like to offer further clarification and stimulate dialog on some solutions to this new problem.

Our industry is facing many challenges: higher prices, tighter budgets, increased shipping costs, environmental concerns - and now sales opportunities in a key category are being restricted. Even balloons are coming under attack in California. The economy is so bad that coffee-giant Starbucks announced it is closing 600 stores. As a person of faith, I believe there are always opportunities and ways we can succeed when others may choose to look at the negative.

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