News
Wouldn’t be Summer Without It
Family reunions, company picnics, and concerts on the lawn; they’re all synonymous with the summer season! It’s finally time to drop the backpacks, pencils and other trappings of the school year and pick up the bits and pieces that memories are made of. Whether it’s an event, tournament, summer festival or trade show, there are tons of bright and sunny ways to make your mark! Here are just a few of our faves here at The Dunstan Group!
Tanks and Tees:
Sun’s out, guns out! There’s likely not an occasion, event or other happening that can’t be marked with a quality tee or tank from The Dunstan Group. From buttery soft cottons and tech tees, they’ll highlight your logo or brand name in style!
Water Bottles:
Yes, you CAN take it with you! And in the hot and humid weather of summertime, you probably should! So, why not have them take along their favorite bottle with your brand along for the ride? And yes, ALL of the most popular water bottle styles and colors can be had and imprinted with your logo, brand and colors!
Visors and Caps:
Go as custom as you like here! With practically every single detail available for customization, your one-of-a-kind cap or visor from The Dunstan Group will be just that. Labels, logos, colors, stitching, fabrics, and even the interior seam tape. Just ask!
Can Koozies:
One the ever-popular, year-round products gets serious attention this time of year. Custom can koozies can be as simple as one color on foldable foam, to all-over color and wrap-around design, or neoprene with custom colors, accents and stitching. They’ll reach for yours every time!
Sunglasses:
Colorful and fun, and boasting your brand, of course! Sunglasses come in all sorts of color combos, with imprint space for logos, brand names and contact info, if you like. Always a hit at events, festivals and outdoor spaces, there’s a style certain to match your brand persona AND your marketing goals.
Work on you tan and work on your brand this summer. Can’t help with the first, but The Dunstan Group is your year-round cool spot for branded merchandise and apparel. Give us a call to begin the conversation!
Sure-Fire Marketing? It’s in the Bag
Name retention, brand recognition? As a business, event or non-profit, you want your name on the lips and minds of every potential customer, client or donor. That’s why you’re marketing in the first place, right? The good news is, you can earn that and more with the convenient and affordable promotional power of logo’d bags from The Dunstan Group.
Sound too good to be true? Let’s run some numbers on promotional bags. Unlike a business card, consumers keep bags for an average of seven months, for an average of nearly 6,000 impressions over its lifetime. Promotional products have proven staying power, too. Most customers remember the advertiser who provided the product, more than half have a favorable impression of the advertiser, and many say they’d likely do business with them, too. Hard to argue with those numbers!
But that’s not all printed promotional bags can do:
The ultimate user-friendly promotional product. The Global Advertising Specialties Impressions Study showed 83% of consumers kept a promotional bag because they considered it to be useful. The second most cited reason was the bag’s attractiveness.
Schwarzenegger doesn’t have this much Total Recall. A full 85% of recipients said they could clearly identify the advertiser that gave them the promotional bag. And better still, 40% said they planned to do business with the brand after receiving the bag.
Making the most of the money. Dollar-for-dollar, it’s tough to beat the cost-per-impression of branded merchandise and apparel. At an average of 6/10 of a penny per impression, promotional bags and other products make a lasting impression that has real ROI.
And you don’t just have to read about it here. Contact The Dunstan Group and let’s get a handle on how to put cost-effective, measurable promotional products to work for your business, project, or organization.
Make Your Brand Stick Out
You’ve spent time and money on your brand’s logo. Whether you really like it or outright love it, you want your clients to do one thing: remember it! Stickers from The Dunstan Group are a creative, inexpensive and easy way to get your brand name and logo in front of existing clients – and potential new ones. Stickers can be as simple as one color on white, or as elaborate as full color, die cut models in virtually any size! The best part is, you’ll surprise yourself with the many out of the ordinary ways you’ll find to put them to use!
Events
Indoors or out, stickers are always a hit at festivals, concerts, trade shows and other events. The cooler the better, too. A sticker commemorating the good times had at an event will align your brand with a memory they’re not likely to forget. Stickers create recall that lasts!
Product Launch or Expo
Whether they’re current or future fans, if they’re into your brand they WANT your logo! Give them an easy opportunity to represent your brand on their car, cooler, window, sports equipment, etc. Stickers go the distance!
Packaging
Don’t let an envelope or package leave the building without your brand stuck to it. Every piece of correspondence is an opportunity for the recipient to instantly recognize you and your logo. Decorate a box with stickers, use them to seal a letter or envelope. Everyone will want to know what’s inside!
Reminders
Move over handbills and cards, stickers are the ultimate promotors. Got an event coming up? Put it on a sticker. Distribute stickers. Brace yourself for the crowds. Voila! OK, it’s not that simple, but “save the date” and “coming event” stickers are easily moved to notebooks and planners to get YOUR event on their calendars!
Easy Self-Promotion
Turn ANYTHING into a promotional opportunity with stickers. Dropping donuts in a client’s break room? A sticker inside the box let’s them know who’s thinking about them. Networking event? Buy a round for your table with YOUR company logo stuck to the longnecks. The options are endless.
A great-looking sticker is a fantastic marketing tool! Don’t just limit your logo to the company stationery or office door. Ask The Dunstan Group how to put the power of stickers to work for your brand!
Bullish on Small Business
You know The Dunstan Group is a big fan of small business and Charlotte, but we still take notice when someone else recognizes what an incredible place this is to work and play! Starting and maintaining a business is a tall order, and a WalletHub survey released this week says Charlotte’s one of the best cities for getting the job done.
Overall, the survey ranked Charlotte the seventh best place to start a small business, ahead of Raleigh, Atlanta, Nashville, and other cities we often compare and contrast. Better still, Charlotte comes in second place among cities with the highest average growth in number of small businesses. Not a bad place to be!
“It is such a good place for small business because Charlotte is not a city it’s a community,” says Josh Jones, partner at Jones and Hedges Custom Builders. “If you do great work, you build great relationships and you give back, the community responds is such a positive way.”
It’s all about those relationships. Knowing that you’re in a city that’s primed for opportunity, and has the people willing to support your effort… that’s the kind of intangible you can’t measure in a survey.
“Charlotte has always been a city that embraces innovation, and that’s still the case today,” Center City Partners’ Adam Rhew told us. “Our city, and especially our urban core, has a network of entrepreneurs that support, encourage and challenge each other. And we’re lucky to have a thriving population that value authentic, locally-owned, small businesses.”
WalletHub.com, a personal and small business financial website, compared startup opportunities, resources and support in the 150 largest U.S. cities. According to their website,WalletHub measured 16 key metrics, ranging from small business survival rates, the availability of affordable office space and education of the local workforce.
Check out the entire survey, methods and metric here: https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-to-start-a-business/2281/#luke-pittaway
Interested in starting a relationship that’s all about YOUR small business? Let’s talk! Give us a call here at The Dunstan Group and we’ll show you how branded merchandise and apparel works big time for small business.
Best of the Best
What a way to start the weekend! The Dunstan Group wants to give BIG congrats to all of our clients and friends who made the list of Charlotte Magazine’s “Best of the Best” awards. Sure, it’s an honor to be nominated, but winning sure feels good, too!
Link: Charlotte Magazine 2016 “Best of the Best” Awards
We all love lists, and the “BoB Awards” is one that’s always fun to see – and be a part of. And, truth be told, we’re proud to be working along with the teams, businesses, restaurants and charitable organizations chosen by Charlotte Magazine and its readers!
Editor’s Choice:
Hickory Tavern
Woo Skincare and Cosmetics
24 Hours of Booty
Olde Mecklenburg Brewery
Luisa’s Pizza
Hilliard Studio Method Core Class
Voters Choice:
Bicycle Sport
Carolina Panther’s (best twitter feed)
Diamonds Direct
Blackhawk Hardware
Clean Catch Seafood
Andrew Roby Construction
Hilliard Studio Method
Charlotte Ballet
Again, congratulations to all the winners! We’re looking forward to seeing even more of you on the list in 2017. Want to see what it’s like to work with a winning team? Start with a call to The Dunstan Group for branded merchandise and apparel that’s the choice of these 2016 “Best of Winners”!
Tee It Up This Season
It’s finally golf season here in Charlotte. Nestled comfortably somewhere between the NBA playoffs, the NFL draft, and just before school lets out for the summer. And when the pros roll in for the Wells Fargo Championship, they’ll be sporting nearly as many brands and logos as a well-greased NASCAR team. That’s some expensive marketing real estate, for sure. But even after the network cameras pack up and the MetLife blimp drifts quietly on to the next tournament, we’ll still have hundreds of local, club, and charity golf events remaining on the calendar. And you don’t need to be Al Czervik to get noticed out there! Here are the best bets from The Dunstan Group to tee it up on the course this season!
Tees and Golf Balls: Can’t play without these essential elements! Golf balls and tees can be easily personalized with your company, event or brand logos. A spot on choice for productions of any size, they’ll use these every time they hit the links!
Umbrellas: Rain or shine, umbrellas come in handy. Available in personal sized, collapsible models to the pro-style size they carry on the tour, they’ll be throwing shade (in a good way!) or staying dry and showing off YOUR company colors!
Golf Towels: Guaranteed to be used over and over again, they’ll wave your company or event colors long after the event with these branded golf towels! Available in a range of sizes and a rainbow of colors to match your budget, theme or brand.
Shoe Bags: Want to really step it up a few notches? Embroidered golf shoe bags are sure to be a hit. A one-of-a-kind “thank you” gift, presentation, award, or a great bachelor party golf outing gift for your groomsmen, too!
Caps and Visors: No limits on how “pro” you can go with customized caps and visors from The Dunstan Group! From great-looking caps with event or company colors and embroidered logos, to full-on, one-of-a-kind, YOUR-label-on-the-hat-band custom, ask us how to make it happen!
Phone Chargers: Chargers make it easy for friends, clients and participants stay connected while they play, and STILL have enough power to post pictures from your event! Branded with your company or event logo, and available in a range of sizes and colors, too!
We can’t control the weather for your golf tourney, but we CAN guarantee they’ll remember your company, brand or event long afterward. It all starts with a call to The Dunstan Group for the best in branded merchandise and apparel!
Making an Introduction that Lasts
We read a great story in this week’s Charlotte Observer all about a chance introduction between a pair of basketball fans and Hornets hot shot Kemba Walker. Sure, most folks would be awed if an NBA star knocked on their door, but the crux of this story is how the meeting matured into a real relationship. You can’t guarantee what will come from any particular introduction, but with a little planning, your brand can make an impression that lasts!
Read: How 2 Kemba Walker Fans Became Kemba Walker’s Friends
Here are just some of the logo’d products from The Dunstan Group that get noticed, and keep your brand or business on a client’s radar:
Business Cards: Yes, in this digital world there’s still space for the tried and true business card. Think bigger and more bold than just the basic contact information. Is this a space for a coupon or other call to action to keep yours from getting lost in pocket full of paper at your next networking event?
Stationery and Letterhead: The Dunstan Group can design, format and print your letterhead to create that look that says, “open me first!” Think about the volume of mail YOU get every day and the envelopes that attract your attention. Make the most out of the opportunity to reach your clients, sponsors and friends.
Presentation Folders: Full color custom, logos, raised lettering, texture, matte finish, gloss… the eye-catching choices are endless when it comes to pocket presentation folders! Perfect for trade shows or conventions, reports or pitching that new client, product or service. Mated with your business cards, stationery and other printed materials for a complete, put-together look.
Cups, Mugs and Drinkware: A calling card that sticks around well beyond the introduction; coffee cups, mugs, drink ware and water bottles are some of the items clients will use in and out of the office. Choose budget water bottles to cover a big event, or a brand name bottle or cup with your brand and logo as a “thank you” gift, employee award, or team-builder.
Signage, Stickers, Banners and More: New to the neighborhood? Welcoming a new product, service or employee? Banners, stickers and signs are a great way to share the news. Want something really out of the ordinary? We can custom die cut materials in one-of-a-kind shapes and sizes, just ask us how!
Want more great ideas? Start with a call to The Dunstan Group and let’s talk about your next project!