365 Days of Drinkware

How to best use drinkware comes down to a million different factors, all kinds of whys and hows and whats that could be written about endlessly (or at least as long as a certain writer has a functioning keyboard and keeps getting a functioning paycheck). Answering these whys, hows and whats of the drinkware world is important, to be sure, but it's also important to keeps the whens in mind.

Time is something that typically gets attention in marketing writing in very specific ways, such as "16 Ways to Improve Your Rush Service" or "Fall Styles You Need Now!" It can also be useful to think about it in a more abstract way however, scanning along the calendar and your client's business cycles for business opportunities you might otherwise be missing. This is an especially relevant tactic with drinkware, a product category that is both massive and easily salable all year long. If your drinkware sales are lagging at certain sections of the year, or maybe you'd just like to be selling a little more, take a look at your yearly timeline and think: Are there important sales points in time that you could be missing?

HOLIDAYS
If you aren't already hitting holidays with your drinkware programs, it's definitely something you should consider. The Christmas season, with its emphasis on both gift-giving and hot beverages like coffee and cocoa, is an obvious choice, but there are plenty of other worthwhile holidays.

"We sell a lot of stuff related to Earth Day, whether it be our items made of biodegradable plastic, or if the the color is green and they're just using it because cups are re-usable," said Jill Feuer, customer service manager for Gordon Sinclair, New Hyde Park, N.Y. She also mentioned the company does a lot of appropriately colored cups for both Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day.

Jim Kelley, national sales director for Xpres LLC, Winston-Salem, N.C., seconded the value of Valentine's Day, and mentioned Halloween as well. "We see a nice volume around Valentine's Day, and we see it around Halloween when people put candy in the mugs and drop those off on people's desks," he explained.

NEW PRODUCT SEASON
Are you aware of when your favorite suppliers begin offering their new products for the year? If not, you may be losing out on a major sales opportunity. Said Feuer of Gordon Sinclair's spring season, "The spring is kind of a bonus, because that's when most of our new products come in. People just want something new, so just about everything sells in the spring," she explained. "Whether it be a serious coffee mug or a single-walled mug that has a grip on it, they all go. The spring doesn't seem to have any preference whatsoever. Everybody just wants whatever's new."

BUSINESS MEETINGS
Related to you knowing your suppliers' schedules, do you know the business calendar of your most important clients? Do you know when they have their big corporate meetings, when they launch new products, what they do for holiday parties? Keeping up on these company gatherings can give you more windows to sell drinkware otherwise might be missing.

Whatever the event, Kelley emphasized being creative with your drinkware. He noted that filling your drinkware with candy or other desired items was just as effective as a general sales-call leave-behind or gift as when it's a holiday treat. He also offered the interesting tip of using mugs to mark seating arrangements at a business meeting or dinner by printing the drinkware with a picture of the appropriate person's face, then placing it at the appropriate spot on the table.

It's also important to remember that corporations do more than hold meetings and corporate dinners. Fundraisers, safety and incentive efforts, and fitness programs are all events that are reasonably common within the corporate and professional world. Dan Norris, president of Starline USA, Grand Island, N.Y., noted the strengths of drinkware in the fitness world, citing their year-round salability.