4 Signs that the Promotional Products Industry Will Improve in 2012

Branding Matters
It took several years of people getting caught with their pants down (often literally) on Facebook, but the rest of society is finally realizing what we already know: the world is always watching. When eyes are on you all the time, you need to present the right image all the time. Stories about branding now appear daily in sources ranging from the Washington Post to Forbes, giving the concept cachet among the masses.

Promotional products professionals have been selling this idea for years, the concept of presenting a cohesive image across multiple platforms, but now it's penetrated the collective consciousness. That's good news for marketers who already see the value in multiple impressions, varying touch-points and attaching brands to objects with tangible value. People and companies want to project the right image, and they want help doing it. That makes all our jobs easier, and also ties into the next point...

Marketing Budgets Are Increasing
I first noticed this a few weeks ago, when Pepsi announced they were increasing their marketing budget by $600 million for 2012. This was immediately followed by rival Coca Cola pointing out that it has spent $17 billion in marketing and advertising over the last two years and has no intention of decreasing that in the future. Then on Tuesday this week, The New York Times featured a story on the front page of the business section about increasing advertising budgets among America's top corporations. As the biggest players in America make a point to increase non-television advertising budgets, it signals to the small- and medium-sized businesses that putting dollars into marketing is not only safe, but smart. Marketing departments are primed to promote, and that kind of cultural mood can give even the coldest calls a warm reception.

No One Is Bribing Me
Hear me out on this one. Suppliers often send us samples so we have a tangible product to review, but also because they know that giving people free things works. As the recession deepened in 2008 and 2009, boxes of chocolates and cool gadgets showed up in greater numbers, and lo, it was good. Lately, however, I've noticed a disturbing and horrifying trend: suppliers aren't sending me free stuff. They're buying more ads, which says to me they have more money, and are issuing reports of record-breaking sales numbers, which confirms it.