Why promotional products?

Have you ever wondered why promotional products are used as a form of advertising? The fact is consumers avoid advertising so companies have to figure out creative ways to reach their clients without annoying them. The advantages of using promotional products are as follows:

1. Selectivity: the product distributed directly to target customers;
2. Flexibility: the product can be distributed through several different means;
3. Frequency: items are usually kept for a long period of time; which in turn drives repeated exposure;
4. Cost: items are affordable compared to other forms of advertising (repeated exposure drives down cost per impression);
5. Goodwill: people like to receive gifts and many gifts are functional;
6. High Recall: with promotional products there is a high recall of the advertiser’s name and message;
7. Supplementing other media: low cost and repeat exposure- message can reinforce appeal or information provided through other forms

Check out what we did for one of our clients!

Client: iTAN (www.itansolariums.com)

Problem: iTAN came to us needing a promotional shirt that their employees could wear and that represented the benefits of vitamin D in tanning. They were interested in a high quality fashion forward t-shirt that was more fitted and that represented the high quality brand that iTan has established.

Solution: Since iTAN needed an employee t-shirt one of the considerations that had to be accounted for is that the shirt would be washed many times; iTAN needed a shirt that would be long lasting and a shirt in which ink would never crack or peel. We recommended that iTAN use an American Apparel t-shirt with discharge ink so that the employees could wear a fitted t-shirt that was soft to touch and would look better with every wash.

Analysis: The shirts that iTAN used were a great success! The shirts still look great after months of use and their customers now associate vitamin D with the experience of tanning. Since the success of these shirts we have done multiple different promotional products for them!

Check out iTAN's review of us on Yelp!

We have many promotional products that can work for your company in many different ways, contact us to figure out the best fit for your company! Visit www.consuul.com for more information!

What does it take to be a part of the Consuul Family?

A Consuul family member is someone who is pursuing their passion and excels above all others in what they love to do. They are leaders, trendsetters, and exemplify the characteristics of a champion. Below are some commonalities of the Consuul family that combine attitudes and ambitions with other attributes to achieve success.

Björn Laubach - Speed Racer - Family Member for 1 year

Alexander Goll - Speed Racer - Family Member for 1 year

Love what you do! All members of the Consuul family really love what they do. They consistently demonstrate an enthusiasm that turns into a burning, white-hot desire to achieve. Without passion, it is difficult to maintain the drive it takes to be really successful.

Blair Giess - Surfing - Family Member for 3 years

Commit to learning the fundamentals! Achieving success comes with having to learn new techniques, mastering skills, developing new strengths, and obtaining new knowledge. They constantly work on what they learn through repetition and practice.

Lukias Cook - Snowbaording - Family Member for 1 year

Pursue specific goals and plans! Family members combine their passion and commitment to training, and formulate a thoughtful plan to improve performance. All the desire and commitment in the world doesn’t do anyone any good without a clear goal. Make your goals measurable and attainable, and set realistic benchmarks to track your progress.

Cheyne Walls - Photography - Family Member for 5 Years

Demonstrate Dedication! The first three characteristics prepare us for the fourth characteristic; Dedication. Life is a series of tests: we have to pass each one to go on to the next. As future champions move higher on the mastery scale, the falls get more painful, the defeats more serious. A Champ learns how to get up after every fall, and move even closer to excellence.

Jason Bulger - Pitcher for Anaheim Angels- Family Member for 2 years

Maintain your personal network! No Professional today makes it to the top alone. Every one of them surrounds themselves with a support team. The strength of others is crucial to achieving the goal of Family member status.

Elizabeth Hansen- Model- Consuul Family for over 1 year

Sophie Kish - Model

Enjoy your zone of discomfort! Do something every day that scares you a little --- not something life threatening, but something that causes enough discomfort that it gets you accustomed to pushing the envelope.

G- Dancing is A Sport- Consuul Family Member for 1 Year

Below is a list of Professionals that are all recognized as being apart of the Consuul Family.

The Consuul Family

SURFING

Tyler Smith

Andrew Walker

Johnny Norris

Ben Cohen

Blair Giess

SKATEBOARDING

Cayden Riebe

SNOWBOARDING

Brandon Borenstien

Gabriel Essner

Lukias Cook

Jason Essey

Max Putzulo

PAINTBALLING

Oliver Lang

BASKETBALL

Parker Morales

PHOTOGRAPHY

Cheyne Walls

VIDEO-OGRAPHER

Lenny Castaneda

MODELS

Elizabeth Hansen

Sara Hernandez

Sophy Kish

Natalie Hegneuer

Brook Ridenour

ENTERTAINERS

The Platt Brothers

G- Dancing is a Sport

Bill Brogden

HAIRSTYLIST

Alina Mackinson

DJ’S

Erik Till

Dj Bow

HOCKEY

Stephen Campbell

Sean Riley

BASEBALL

Jason Bulger - Angels

CONSTRUCTION

Ryan Ekedal - Ekedal Concrete

MUSIC ARTISTS

Cashis - Shady Records

Alex Bigman - Fight Fair

SKYDIVER

Josh Bittner

Speed Racer

Alexander Goll

Bjorn Laubach

Matthias Jakob

Do you have what it takes to be apart of the Consuul Family?

Top 10 Tips When Putting On Your Own Fashion Show

To put on a great fashion show, you need proper planning, enthusiastic promotion, and successful execution. We have put together some helpful hints from what we have learned through our past experiences of putting on fashion shows and collaborating with some of the best venues, models, clothing companies, and DJs in San Diego.

A GREAT VENUE: Choosing a venue can be the most difficult choice for throwing a successful fashion show. Obviously, several factors can go into picking a good venue, such as location, price, and availability. Aside from the obvious factors, look for venues that have a lot of open space - a runway and dance floor are two qualities of a good place for a fashion show. The last thing you want is a small crowded space that makes it difficult for your guests to view the show. If they do not have a runway, you can look into renting one for cheap from local party rental companies. Ensure that the venue will work well with large groups. For example, Stingaree in downtown San Diego was very accommodating to our large group by offering everyone on our guest list free cover and great drink specials.

Picture at Fluxx Night Club in San Diego.

COLLABORATING WITH OTHERS: The best way to cut costs and promote your event is by collaborating with other companies to take part in the fun. Whenever you have a large event and a lot of people are involved, there is a good chance that companies will be looking to help and share costs to get the exposure. We hooked up with Revolt In-style Magazine to cover the fashion show and do a two-page spread; Cali Party Bus provided the transportation which made it a true VIP experience; 4th Estate did all of our Video and Photography; Hip Hair in Pacific Beach did all of our models hair and make-up (which looked amazing); DJ TILL of Starry Eyed Music provided the hottest tracks and kept people dancing. In the end, it was a team effort from all the parties involved that made the night such a memorable experience.

Picture features Alina Mackinson, owner of Hip Hair in Pacific Beach.

DOCUMENTING THE EVENT: A fashion show can serve as a great opportunity to get content for future promotions and marketing material. It is important that you have pictures and video so that your one night can reach a much larger audience than just the people that were able to attend. We worked with 4th Estate Productions who gave us all the footage to put up on our Facebook and website, we used the pictures for our clothing ads, and our fashion show videos are on YouTube with hundreds of views. This gives us credibility when we go to stores and show them the recent things that we have been doing to promote our line. I would say that investing in getting professionals to come out and document your show is as important as putting the show on itself.

Picture features 4th Estate Production in action.

CLOTHES: Presentation is everything when showing your line at a Fashion Show. Every clothing owner has their favorite pieces, but it's important to have good variety throughout the show from start to finish. If you are going to be repeating the same design in different colors, then try staggering them with other designs so people do not get tired of seeing the same thing over and over. Although it is great to have a lot of pieces in a show, you do not want to repeat everything in every color because people will get bored. One thing that worked great for us was teaming up with EC Star, a girl's fashion line; they brought in several dresses and skirts that added a completely different look to the show and appealed to female audience who were pleasantly surprised to see more than just t-shirts!

Picture features EC Star Clothing newest dress!

SPICE UP THE NIGHT: Aside from the show, we have found that providing additional entertainment can go a long way when putting on a event. Whether it be a special host, go-go dancers, a live performer, dance act, or live artist, there are several options that will add a little spice to a great night. For example, we invited The Platt Brothers (voted Best Live Comedy in San Diego) to perform in our first show who came and did a dance performance wearing all of our Consuul Gear. When getting feedback about the event, people said that they were the biggest hit!

Picture Features The Platt Brothers live performance at Consuul Fashion Show.

MUSIC - Music has an amazing power over our minds and bodies and it can even evoke emotions within us. Also, it can really make or break the mood at an event, especially in a nightclub environment. Think about what your clothing represents and find a genre of music that would seem fitting for your show. You may even want to have different music for different pieces. When we did our Consuul Fashion Show with other clothing companies, DJ TILL worked with each one to choose the right music to identify with their clothing. From hip-hop to rock, and electro to house, each style of music helped brand the clothing, set the tone for the evening, and keep things interesting.

Picture features DJ Till - Starry Eyed Music and Consuul Printing and Design

ORGANIZATION- This will help you save time and money when putting on the event and will show the people that come to your event what type of work ethic you have. The last thing you want is to invite your entire network of professional colleagues, friends, and family and have a disorganized mess that drags on or ends anticlimactically. A fashion show should be planned at least a month ahead of time to book the venue, get other companies involved, and spread the word to the models and people that will be attending. On the night of, it is important to put together an itinerary so that the people involved can see the timing of everything. No one person can do everything! For example, we had people in charge of running the buses, setting-up decor, getting the models ready, and prepared for clean-up. This ensures that everything goes according to plan and will lead to the ability of having more successful shows in the future.

ACCESSORIES - Accessories can be surprising in how they can turn an average outfit into something show-stopping. When you throw on a belt, scarf, or funky bracelet, you can turn the same old look into something great. For example, even though our line was comprised of 26 different shirts, we used hats, jackets, shoes, pants, and more so that people could really imagine themselves wearing our stuff on an everyday basis. It also can bring legitimacy to your brand by associating it with the industry's top leading fashion suppliers like New Era Hats, Creative Recreation Shoes, and LRG jackets. Accessories really do work and will bring your show to the next level!

Picture Features matching hat accessories for Tripp Apparel and Consuul Clothing

PROMOTING THE EVENT: It is important to promote the event and get the right people there to ensure that all the hard work that goes into putting on the Fashion Show pays off. Some ways to do this include posting flyers up at the venue, making a Facebook event, and sending out invitations to local editors and retail store owners. You might want turn to a promotion company that can assist you in putting out the word. We turned to our friends in Starry Eyed Music and Encore Entertainment who have a vast network of party-goers who helped spread the word.

MODELS: Your models can be the biggest seller when it comes to having a fashion show. For many people, they represent the first impression that will be what people remember when they think about your show and clothing. Small things can go a long way, such as having professional hair and makeup, ensuring that the clothes fit before hand, and having entertaining models go a long way. For our shows, we encourage the models to do something fun at the end of the runway. For example, we had our models blow kisses, dance, or use props when they went down the runway. It kept the crowd's attention and they were always excited to see what was going to happen next!

Picture features Bill Brogden..Consuul's Top Model and Entertainer

Our Fashion shows have been some very memorable experiences recently because they were so much fun. Aside from the great memories, they have served as a great way to increase web traffic, spread awareness, and increase sales and exposure in the fashion world. We hope that these tips help you in planning your next fashion show and wish you the best of luck. Please feel free to contact us if you are looking for extra support or looking to collaborate with someone on your next event!

Add A Creative Look To Your Brand

One of the most important things you can do for your brand is give it a unique look. You may have awesome designs and a deep culture behind your brand, but how is your clothing going to stand out once it's on the shelves of a store? It all starts with getting creative with the additional options and finishing touches you can add-on to your clothing.

When clothing lines come to Consuul with their ideas, we want to help their clothes and brand stand out from the competition. Creating custom hang tags, screen printed neck labels, embroidered, and sewn on labels greatly enhances the overall appearance of clothing and the consumer's perception of the brand. The additional unique features on a garment is what creates diversity in clothing and will be what consumers remember about your brand.

Consuul specializes in creative ideas and unique printing and are experienced in helping new clothing lines stand out in a competitive retail environment. We're here to help you! If you are ready to step up your brand to a professional level and appeal to the world, Consuul will take you to the top!

The Importance Of Search Engine Optimization For Your Brand

Have you ever dreamed of owning your own clothing line? Maybe you have already taken the leap and started branding your own clothing amongst your friends. Starting a clothing line is very competitive, and one of the most important things you can do is have your company's website catch the eyes of your target market. In order to do this, you must have the knowledge of proper internet branding, more commonly known as SEO or search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site or a web page (such as a blog) from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results, as opposed to other forms of search engine marketing (SEM) which may deal with paid inclusion. The theory is that the higher a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site what is called "web presence".

Tips For Improving Your Website's SEO:

~Monitor your web traffic

~Use keywords throughout your website

~Link back to yourself

~Create a site map

~Avoid Flash

~Use Image Descriptions

~Social Media Distribution

~Link to other websites

~Create a blog

~Video marketing on You Tube

Creating a strong presence over the internet should be the first step to building your brand. Ultimately what you are trying to create is a place for your consumers to stay informed on your latest products and be visual attracted to your website. Creating banners for your homepage which offers promotions is an excellent way to grab the attention of the people viewing your website. The banners can then link to other product pages throughout the site and this will increase your SEO. Starting a new brand takes endurance, but with the proper internet marketing and SEO, we can guarantee you will see an increase in traffic for your website!

For assistance with graphic design, please contact sales@consuul.com, and our professional team of designers will be happy to take your website to the next level!

Good Luck!