Justin Reynolds - Red Tomato | Promotional Products Agency

The Only Event Planning Checklist You’ll Ever Need For 2023

by Justin Reynolds | Mar 4, 2022 | Business Resources, Events, Marketing Tips

Successful event planning involves many elements coming together smoothly. Sometimes, it’s easy to overlook steps or deviate from your ultimate event goals. So, to help you, here’s your comprehensive event planning checklist. This checklist aims to ensure success before, during, and after your event.

Here is your complete event planning checklist to ensure everything is successful before, during, and after your event.

Pre-Event

Firstly, set Goals: What are your event goals? Why plan the event? What outcomes do you expect? Use our Define Your Goal worksheet to create attainable goals.
Secondly, identify your Target audience: It’s crucial to identify the event’s target audience. After all, knowing which audience will help you achieve your goals is essential.
Next, Establish a Budget:While crucial, determining a budget can be hard. When creating your budget, be detailed. Include the item, description, quantity, estimated cost, and actual cost. If you need help, here are some tips for creating an event budget.
The fourth step involves Crafting a Program: This step combines the first three checklist elements. Create an event agenda that adds value to your target audience and lets you reach your goals while adhering to your budget.
Then, focus on Speakers: Now you have your program, you can recruit speakers. Source speakers who are industry experts and can captivate an audience.
Lastly, consider Sponsorship: Are you hosting the event alone or do you need sponsors? Sponsorship can give your event more reach and another engagement dimension. If required, reach out early in the planning stage.
Marketing
- Start with the Website: Create a simple one-page website with all essential information for potential attendees.
- Then, initiate Social media campaigns: Market your event using paid social media campaigns. Consider using Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Sponsored InMail for your target demographics.
- Additionally, consider Giveaways: Giveaways can promote your brand and event. Consider holding a giveaway of a free event ticket and a branded product as a prize.
- Also, don’t forget about a Press release: Don’t forget about promotions outside of your network. Reach out to different publications to market your event to a wider audience.
The venue choice is crucial. Secure a venue that meets the needs of your target audience and the event’s goals. Here are some factors to consider when choosing a venue for your event:
- Permits: What permits will you need? Are they easy to get?
- Number of guests: Will your venue accommodate the target number of attendees?
- Room design and furniture: What is the vibe you will be creating for your event? Is it more relaxed and casual or more of a formal environment? Knowing this will help you determine which venue is best.
- Parking: Does the venue have enough parking to accommodate the estimated number of attendees?
- Logistics: Will you and your team be able to move in and out all of the equipment needed for the event quickly and without issues? What about music and sound for the different presentations?
- Location: Is the venue in a location that is easily accessible by your attendees? If not, how will you make it accessible?
Equipment: Before your event make a list of all of the equipment (and backup equipment) you will need to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Handouts: What will be in the welcome back for each attendee? Will there be different items for different days of the events?
Gifts: What promotional merchandise will your brand be giving out to attendees? How is it helping your reach your goals and engage with your target audience? Will you have different branded gifts to give out each day of the event? Will your company be holding any giveaways or competitions to engage attendees even further?

Day of the event

Organise event staff: The morning of the event should begin with a (brief) group meeting with the entire event staff. The purpose of this meeting should get them excited about the day to come and to ensure they know their responsibilities.
Set up attendee registration and entertainment space: This is your attendee’s first impression of the event, so you need to set the right tone from the start.

Post-Event

Clean up: Your staff will be exhausted by the end of the event, but it’s important to respect the venue you used and clean up every piece of the event.
Thank you letters or gifts to staff and volunteers: The event wouldn’t have been possible without them and you should thank them for all their hard work.
Thank you presentation for sponsors: Also, prepare a thank you presentation for sponsors: If your event had sponsors involved, you should prepare a presentation with the final numbers and KPIs for the event, and what those results mean for those brands.
Follow-up engagement plan with attendees: How will your brand further engage with attendees even after the event is over?
Debrief with key stakeholders to review goals and plan for improvements: Upon the completion of the event, you should plan a meeting to discuss with the organization team the following:
- Overall feelings about the event
- Did the event reach your goals?
- What can be improved upon for the next event?

Top 10 Best Welcome Gifts for New Employees in 2024

by Justin Reynolds | Feb 4, 2022 | Business Resources, Marketing Tips

Everyone loves a good first impression. Welcome kits are an essential part of onboarding new employees to your team. Including branded gifts in your kits can encourage company loyalty, make new staff feel part of the team, and be a great way to make a first impression!

This is the crucial period when a new hire will learn more about a company’s background and processes, and interact with the rest of their team. If they haven’t already made an impression, this is the time they will either affirm or form new impressions based on how their first few days go. According to a study, a strong onboarding process can improve new hire retention by 82% and improve the productivity of employees by 70%.

Learn more about the different trends in welcome gifts as well as our curated picks for every situation as we deep dive into how you can create a memorable onboarding experience for new employees.

Elevating the Onboarding Experience

In 2024, the best new employee gifts are all about personalisation and creating memorable experiences. Generic gifts are a thing of the past and may even point to you being an outdated company that’s not in line with the times. It’s time to ditch those one-size-fits-all gifts of mugs and pens. Give your employees experiences not things — foster team building and team spirit through gift certificates for rock climbing or cooking classes.

Personalisation matters. It’s more than just knowing what their name is and printing it on their desk. It means going that extra mile to discover what hobbies or interests they have outside of work and incorporating that into their welcome gift box. Being acknowledged is something all people crave and making your employees feel valued from day one can go a long way.

Red Tomato’s Selection for New Hires

The customer experience is at the heart of everything we do at Red Tomato. For 2024, here are some of the new employee gifts that you should be adding to your radar:

Promote Health and Wellness —Show appreciation for your employee’s well-being with a wellness kit. Items like a bean bag, neck pillow, and blanket are perfect for unwinding during break sessions. Encourage an active lifestyle with items like a pace pedometer watch, an active t-shirt, and a sipper bottle.
Go Grreen with Eco-Friendly Picks — Display your commitment to sustainability by choosing reusable products packaged in eco-friendly materials. Items like a pen in a bamboo box, a spirit level & bottle opener, and a 100% cotton tote are great additions to your welcome employee kit.Support Local Products — Aussie products are high quality, environmentally safe, and great to include in your welcome kits. Choose from a selection of items like a customised whiskey glass, a bamboo cheese board, an artisan leather memo pad, 3D engraved artwork, and more. Wear that Aussie pride by giving back to the community and supporting local.
Embrace the Season of Spring — Whether it’s a picnic or an outdoor getaway, we’ve got you covered! Soak in the beauty of nature and outdoors with curated items of spring-ready essentials. Our Spring Collection contains gifts such as picnic blankets, lunch bags, wide-brim hats, garden kits, and camping chairs.

From Practical to Personal: A Range of Options

There are many gifts to choose from whether they are practical or personal. Here are our diverse picks for new employee gifts:

Gift cards or vouchers — Gift cards will always be popular due to how versatile they are. There is a gift card for anything and everything. Whether these vouchers are for the nearby coffee shop next to your office building or that hip new cycling studio perfect for after-work cardio.
Ergonomic desk accessories — Desk accessories that are practical and ergonomic are great not only for your employees’ productivity but also for their health. Things like a laptop stand, ergonomic mouse, ergonomic keyboard, footrest, wrist rest, or seat cushions are picks that nobody will say no to.
Snack baskets and treats — A curated basket of snacks and treats is always a safe choice, perfect for employees needing a quick snack during break times. Swap out the food for healthier picks such as granola bars or wheat biscuits for a healthier option.

Tech-Savvy Onboarding: Gadgets and Gear for New Hires

Long gone are the days that people use pen and paper for most of their day-to-day work. Laptops, smartphones, and other apps have taken over the workforce, especially for those working remotely. Giving tech gifts to new employees that are functional and innovative are signs that your company pays attention to what they need.

Gadgets That Impress: Enhancing the Onboarding Experience

Impress your new employees with these gadgets that will surely make their onboarding experience memorable.

Personalised Airpods — Let them listen to music and participate in video meetings in style with their own Airpods, personalised with their name or initials.
Fitness Tracker — Exercise is the best antidote to stress. Encourage your new hires to stay active and healthy with a fitness tracker that will become their workout buddy wherever they go.
Noise-cancelling Headphones — Those with a budget can invest in good quality noise-cancelling headphones. These headphones can block out noise and outside distractions while they work, leaving them focused and locked in during meetings.
Charging Port or Powerbank — A charging port or powerbank can become a lifesaver for new employees when their smartphone is low on battery. Choose one that is compact and easy to carry around.

Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Gifting for New Hires

There’s a growing trend of sustainable consumption everywhere and companies are no exception. Research states that 50% of employees prefer being a part of companies that value sustainability. Show your commitment to an eco-friendly future by giving sustainable gifts for new employees.

Eco-Conscious Choices: Red Tomato’s Commitment to Sustainability

We take our commitment to sustainability seriously at Red Tomato. Check out our sustainable new employee gifts to add to your welcome kit:

Premium Sushi Set — Impress sushi lovers with this premium bamboo sushi set containing a board, two sets of chopsticks, ceramic holders, and a bowl.
Eco-friendly Bamboo Lamp — Light up your desk with this foldable desk lamp made out of bamboo. It also doubles as a wireless charger for your mobile devices.
Bamboo Golf Accessories — Get ready for a hole-in-one with these eco-friendly bamboo golf accessories containing 6 tees, a divot tool, and 2 ball markers in an organic cotton bag.

Red Tomato’s Success Stories: Memorable Onboarding Moments

Here at Red Tomato, creating lasting impressions matters as much as delivering great products. We have helped countless companies in creating a meaningful onboarding process and here’s what they have to say:

“We have been working with Red Tomato for a number of years now in producing our Welcome Kits for new starters and other sales merchandise and they have been an absolute hit. The team is professional, friendly, and efficient and the result is a high-quality product that always receives great feedback. Highly recommended!”

Trang Trinh

“Wonderful company to deal with- the promo packs we received were created and shipped super fast and the quality of the products we received was excellent.”

Vanessa Taylor

Case Studies: Memorable Moments Crafted by Red Tomato

Our client Hologic was in the middle of moving offices when they decided that they wanted to gift their employees a welcome pack to celebrate this business milestone. They browsed through our welcome pack catalogue and personalised it, handpicking items like a branded USB hub and hoodie. It was a great addition to their office move and something their employees appreciated.

Choosing the Perfect Gift: A Guide for Employers

Picking the perfect gift is no walk in the park. Everyone has their definition of what a perfect gift is, but at the very least, a good gift is a memorable one. Here are some of the gifting considerations to give your employees a welcome to remember:

Personalisation — Adding a touch of personalisation matters. Whether it’s a handwritten note, a curated gift basket, or branded items reflecting their department, your employees are sure to appreciate being valued for their individuality.
Audience — Most people think of new employee gifts as any item that includes the brand’s logo. You don’t need to include the logo in all items since the point of these gifts is to show your gratitude.
Company Culture — Pick gifts that will align with your company’s values and overall work environment. Think of your company culture as a compass and the employee gifts are tools that will aid them in their journey with the company.
Budget — A higher budget can buy you more gifts, but more doesn’t always mean better. Curating a well-made employee welcome kit is still possible no matter the budget.

Beyond Welcome Packs: Elevating Your Gifting Strategy

It can be tempting to follow what other companies do, they are called ‘tried and tested’ for a reason. Doing something different can feel scary but they can also pay off. Consider what your company values and how you can tie it with a gift. A design studio may consider giving their new employees a caricature drawing of themselves. An adventurous marketing team may enjoy a gift voucher to an escape room that doubles as a team bonding activity. The only limit is your imagination and your willingness to go outside the box!

Conclusion

In 2024, redefine your approach to welcoming new hires with Red Tomato’s curated selection of gifts. Elevate your onboarding experience and create lasting impressions that resonate throughout your employee’s journey with the perfect welcome kit.

To learn more, speak to our Red Tomato team today.

5 Promo Marketing Ideas For Your Online Events

by Justin Reynolds | Aug 13, 2020 | Brand strategy, Event Merchandise, Events, Marketing, Marketing Tips, Promo Products, Sales tools

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has challenged businesses all over the world.

New physical distancing norms have affected events, seminars, product launches, trade shows, conferences, and live interactions.

We know that it can be tough to devise alternative ways to reach and re-engage event attendees, especially with the restrictions and limitations in place.

However, there is a way.

Through promotional marketing (or ‘promo marketing’), you can continue to spark brand awareness and stimulate engagement with your audience, even if you have to shift your events to an online format. In these unprecedented times, finding innovative promo marketing ideas to spark brand awareness and stimulate audience engagement has become crucial.

Here’s how.

Webinar gift bags

Because physical gatherings are limited right now, online conferences and webinars play a big part in organising events for your business.

But just because you’re not in person, doesn’t mean they have to go empty-handed! You can have physical event merchandise delivered straight to your clients. To promote your brand further, you can encourage people to take photos of your event’s promo products and share them for all attendees to see.

See more promo marketing event ideas here.

Direct Invite Mailers

Invites are essential if you still want to run events. But, as you know, digital invites can get lost or ignored. So, get extra creative by sending customised invites using promotional materials or printed direct mailers.

Try ignoring an invite printed on a mug or a fancy printed card that arrives in the post. These will capture attention and ensure no one forgets to log in.

Exclusivity for sign-ups

To attract more attendees and increase excitement, you can put together a branded hamper or “swag pack” full of promo marketing goodies for the first 50 or 100 people to register for your online event. They’ll love the exclusivity and probably share the pack on their socials for everyone to see.

Involve interactive games

In between sessions, you can interact with online event attendees by hosting mini-games like “Spin the digital wheel”, “the best comment competition” or an opportunity to enter the draw by submitting their details on your site. Your branded promo items can then be used as prizes for winners.

Tutorial collateral

If you’re running an educational event online, then you can send them a pack in the mail with all their learning materials, some pens, a pad and even a few promo items gifts.

As you can see, promotional marketing is an avenue your business can take to increase participant engagement using the power of tangibility – even for an online event.

Do you need some ideas? Here are some suggested promotional materials you can tailor for your business.

But what return does promo marketing really offer?

See for yourself here, by using our Promotional Marketing ROI Calculator.

Want to build your own promotional marketing campaign to increase sales?

No worries. We can guide you step-by-step through our free Plan A Promotion service.

Our team can be an extension of your Marketing department. Leave it to us, and we’ll come up with a creative and tailored solution for your business.

At Red Tomato, we take your marketing strategy to the next level by providing you with innovative promotional products that serve a real purpose – elevating your brand and increasing your returns.

Contact us directly to discuss your promotional marketing strategy and we’ll work on getting you only the right products for the right clients at the right time!

Phone: 1300 776 733
Email: sales@redtomato.com.au

How to Excel at Event Merchandise

by Justin Reynolds | Sep 25, 2019 | Brand strategy, Event Merchandise, Events

Events and merchandise have long gone hand in hand. With our comprehensive event merchandise guide, we aim to help you navigate through creating a successful strategy. Think of the last few events you attended and chances are the first thing that comes to your mind is the merchandise you took home like that personalised A5 notebook, that t-shirt printed right in front of you, or your favourite stubby holder that you still proudly use for those coldies.

Creating a successful event merchandise strategy is both a science and an art that requires a careful process that enhances your brand and messaging through interactive designs; visual concepts, creative copy and taglines, product sourcing, development, design and distribution.

Having an award-winning team of experts at your side during this process guarantees your items will not only be beneficial during the event, but they will also bring along benefits beyond the duration of the event that your brand and your bottom line will appreciate.

Top 3 Benefits of Event Merchandise

1. Custom event merchandise extends your event’s brand value.

Driving brand awareness far beyond the date of the event is number one because your event merchandise gives your brand continued exposure for a long time. Keep in mind that attendees wear and/or use your merchandise, this creates an implicit but powerful endorsement of your brand.

2. Custom merchandise is a valuable way to engage more with your audience.

Event attendees are there because they want to be there. This simply means they have interest and passion that they want to show by attending and by expressing it through the merchandise they receive. This is the perfect opportunity for your brand to engage with a willing audience and provide them with the means to express their support for the event and your brand. It’s a unique chance to commemorate the event long after the date has passed. This solidifies the connection between your brand and your audience. Think ROI of the event way after the event has finished. Brand exposure and brand loyalty. Marketing gold.

3. Merchandise can also be a significant source of extra revenue.

Most of the time event merchandise is given away as a promotional tool to attract customers and to drive brand awareness. However, a well-designed item that is useful and attractive enough to be sold might bring in some cash. The key is to create products that people want, creating an even better experience for attendees. Why not think about personalising your merch at the event for a truly memorable takeaway?

The Process of Creating Merchandise that Rocks

Live events are a fantastic opportunity to boost the emotional connection your brand has and needs with your audience. This in-person kind of engagement is highly valuable and should be addressed through a careful design process.

It doesn’t matter if your brand is B2B or B2C. Recent studies show that both types of customers are looking for the same things when it comes to selecting a brand and making a purchase. The convergence of B2B and B2C sentiments towards brands has created a new B2E (‘E’ for everyone) environment where marketers need to compete and thrive (some also refer to this as H2H- Human to Human).

In 2018, our experts created and launched the Kids Summer of Racing merchandise campaign for that year’s Victoria Summer Racing Event. The items created for the event proved to be an effective branding tool that will continue to be beneficial for a long time. Beyond a 2019 APPA award for the campaign, this case exemplifies that following the process described below will boost your brand reach, awareness and engagement significantly.

Concept

Conceptualisation takes place even before you start developing your event merchandise strategy by strategically selecting what events your brand needs to be a part of. This will help you better structure your budget in order to get the most out of each event, whether it’s just one per year or more throughout the year.

Once the event or events have been chosen, invest the necessary resources into each one, taking into consideration that each different event varies in scope, audience type, theme and maybe even location and other variables. So don’t create a one-size-fits-all plan, instead personalise each event’s plan.

With this in mind, add your brand’s identity, message, values and a generous portion of creativity to design an interactive and engaging event merchandise concept that resonates with your audience and creates a unique experience they will cherish and remember.

Planning

As the conceptualisation part of the process gets its finishing touches, you must start planning the execution of your event merchandising plan. During this phase, your team of experts must consider everything from providers, testing, delivery times, distribution, packaging, presentation, etc.

As much as designing and picking the right items is important, designing how you’re going to hand them to your audience is also crucial. Plan an interactive and engaging experience that goes beyond just handing out goodies to all those that pass by your booth. In other words, make both the merch and the experience attached to it memorable. Plus, make them connected to each other in a synergistic way.

Execution

Once everything is in place, execute your strategy from designing the items and the experience to placing orders, tracking and receiving them, to planning out the day of the event and having a plan B for everything in case anything goes wrong. This is one of the most important reasons for having a team of experts backing you up all the way, so they can ensure everything goes as planned.

Our event merchandise experts are here to help you. We’ll dig deeper to understand your brand in order to create merch that’ll rock your audience’s socks off! Set up a meeting here now.

New Clients Onboarding: Blow Their Minds with a Welcome Kit

by Justin Reynolds | Aug 30, 2019 | Business Resources, Marketing Tips, New client onboarding, Sales tools, Welcome kits

You’ve just finished celebrating a new client signing with your team. Amazing, right? But what actions do you take between that glorious contract signing and the actual project kickoff?

Many companies neglect a proper client intake system, missing a significant opportunity to boost their reputation and revenue. The optimal way to maximise this period involves a properly branded and customised new Client Welcome Kit.

You stand as an expert in your industry and you will carry out your client’s job well. Now, let our experts guide you in creating a new Client Welcome Kit that’ll distinguish your company from the crowd.

Make the Welcome Kit Informative

Intended to delight your clients and foster happy customers, every Welcome Kit should also serve as a tool to ensure they possess all the necessary information to work with you.

welcome kits for new clients

Right after signing a contract or reaching an agreement, send a 2- or 3-page PDF containing crucial information about the work you’ll do for your client. Create a master version that you can swiftly customise for each client and project.

This “brochure” should act as part welcome wagon, part client roadmap, and part FAQ. Keep it simple, easy to read, and engaging so your client feels compelled to respond to it.

Keep It Fun

Once you’ve got the informative part of the Welcome Kit taken care of, it’s time to make sure it’s fun. A Welcome Kit for clients should contain items that are designed, selected and customised to be fun in a way related to their industry, to the project and/or to their company’s style. (check out here some popular options)

Be original, but also be mindful of culture, values and other factors that might touch on different sensibilities. Make them age-appropriate and consider how your client will use it on a daily basis, which takes us to the next point.

Make Sure It’s Useful

Promotional merchandise has a long useful life expectancy and makes your brand stay in your customer’s mind for a long time. But they have to be useful.

Take into consideration everything you know about your client (think about using the buyer persona method) and let’s come up together with items that’ll be present in their everyday life in a useful manner. Something useful covers everything from a daily planner, a pen, and a hat, to more specific items that might be used for work or daily life as a meter of some sort, a light, and so on.

Deliver with Class

Of course, regular carrier delivery works most of the time. But you might want to take things up a notch, depending on what your client would appreciate. A special delivery service, a great looking package that is original and might be useful too, or even just delivering it yourself might make more of an impact and reassure your client they’ve picked the right company.

Benefits of using welcome kits for new clients

Going the extra mile by surprising and delighting your client has plenty of benefits, including:

Reinforcing your client’s decision to work with you.
Managing their expectations.
Easing your client into a new process.
Surprising and delighting your client.
Reinforcing your brand in your client’s mind.

And much more. Now that you see the benefits and understand that a new client intake system is crucial, contact us to let us take care of the entire process for you and make sure the items you include are there to make a difference.