Good news can be found in the promotional products industry

By Elise Hacking Carr

A recent trip to the doctor’s office reminded me why I don’t regularly tune into the local news.

As we sat in the waiting room together, the other patients and I started typing away on our iPhones to pass time. Morning cartoons served as background noise. The observant receptionist decided to change the channel to something a bit more “adult.” She naturally stopped on a local CBS affiliate news program—it only took a minute to be jolted out of my phone-induced stupor. The specifics of the report escape me (I think I blocked them out), but it was the type of heinous crime that we now come to expect.

Honestly, I’m burned out on bad news. I constantly plead with friends, family members and associates to tell me something good. Guess what? Many of them can’t do it. Unfortunately, this is life and it doesn’t always play out the way we would hope. I know this.

Similarly, your customers want to hear good news. After all, though true, how many times can we read headlines about the turbulent economy, layoffs and bankruptcies? To quote YouTube sensation Sweet Brown, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” So where is the good news? It’s in the new sale you just made. It’s in the new employee you just hired. It’s in the fact that you’re alive and able to read this post.

It’s in our industry if you look for it. I recently wrote a State of the Industry report for Print+Promo, the sister publication of Promo Marketing. In the promotional products section of the article, I talked to Paul Bellantone, CAE, president and CEO of Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), located in Iriving, Texas. While there are challenges to address, creativity, drive and optimism carry a lot of influence. Perspective and attitude are everything.