During a time when most news articles or broadcasts are grim, covering COVID-19 and the turmoil it has uprooted in our world, we yearn for uplifting news, inspirational stories, and a promise that there is light at the end of this tunnel.
Within the promotional products industry, especially, this unprecedented circumstance has greatly affected businesses and jobs. However, there are many industry change-makers who have rallied together to bring positivity and hopeful words to those facing hardships, including the hosts of the PromoCares podcast.
Although PromoCares has been around since 2017. It has greatly shifted during this time to shine a light on topics such as mental health and what business owners can be doing now to support social good programs.
“For every negative message out there, we want to share a positive message,” said Roger Burnett, founder of Social Good Promotions and co-creator of PromoCares. “It’s important to focus on what makes your distributorship unique. That’s what people will count on when they come back to work.”
The overall focus of PromoCares is based on supplier and distributor giving programs. In each episode, the hosts feature cause-marketing case studies and stories about organizations that revolve around purpose-driven work. PromoCares inspires others to becomes bridges for positive social impact through best practice sharing, collaboration, and sharing inspirational stories about giving back to others.
We try to shine a light on the goodness that is already there,” explained Karie Cowden, founder of Connect the Dots Promotions in Phoenix, and who has been involved with PromoCares since 2019.
Laying Down the Tracks
“Can promotional products change the world?” That was the question Roger asked when the concept of PromoCares came to fruition at the 2017 PPAI Expo in Las Vegas.
Now, with more than 7,000 listeners and 53 episodes later, the PromoCares podcast has become an incredible outlet for suppliers and distributors to share stories on how they support local causes.
“I realized we didn’t need to create an engine to get people to do good things, that was already happening. We created an engine to help them share their stories,” he explained.
Stories like Melinda Bowden’s, who founded PromoHits Promotional Marketing in Bluffton, Ohio. Melinda shared her story on the podcast about the 5% give-back program her business adopted in 2018. Although she was a one-woman distributorship, she was able to give back to many community organizations. It just proves that you don’t have to be associated with a large corporation to support local causes.
Or how about Denise Taschereau, Fairware co-founder and a board member of PromoCares, who discussed the adoption of purpose-driven strategies to sell promotional products and the ways those interested might look to get started.
“It’s hard to get people to be humble enough to tell their stories,” Karie mentioned. “I always like to ask the question ‘When did you start having this fire inside to start giving back?’”
The Framework for Success
In the past, the podcast’s hosts would chase down the stories – digging to find narratives of people doing good within the industry. Today, those people are reaching out on their own, with a fiery drive to share their purpose in hopes to inspire others to do the same.
The future of PromoCares is shifting towards a video-enabled podcast, with the first one recently posted.
“We strive to share aspirational content,” Roger said. “Video format is a better way to convey the emotions of the stories that we were uncovering.”
Karie added, “people crave connection.” This is exactly what this podcast offers to the industry – connection, hope, and a promise to help change the world with promotional products.
PromoCares is now included with your SAGE Total Access membership! You can access the PromoCares podcast in the Newsstand area of SAGE Online, SAGE Web, or SAGE Mobile. To learn more or listen to the inspiring episodes, click here.
If you’re a supplier or distributor and want to get involved and showcase your charitable efforts, reach out today.
PromoCares Board Members:
Roger Burnett, Promise Maker, Social Good Promotions
David Shultz, VP, commonsku
Danny Rosin, Co-President, Brand Fuel
Tony Wavering, President, PromoHunt and BidPress
Karie Cowden, Founder, Connect the Dots Promotions
Mandi Rudd, Owner, Brand Energy Marketing
Denise Taschereau, Co-Founder, Fairware
