When Amin Siddiqui launched a lanyard company from his bedroom in 2007, he hoped for it to someday make a name in the promotional product industry. Now, ImprintID has grown and evolved into a full-service, promo and branding business with an impressively vast catalog of available products. From tech to apparel, drinkware to bags, PPE to its highly sought-after, original lanyards, the company’s offerings and capabilities continue to grow, even in these restrictive times.
Tiffany Poledor joined the team as Marketing Coordinator in January of 2020—just in time to get her footing in the business’s operations and growth plans. And then to see everything change.
As pandemic realities took hold, tradeshows and other businesses they often catered to no longer needed high volumes of lanyards. Events were shifting online. And soon, many companies found their goods held up in overseas production with shipping issues, making fulfillment difficult. Fortunately for ImprintID’s customer base, their orders were still on track. That’s because the Virginia-based company had already put in fail-safes, fortified their digital footprint, and actively adapted their day-to-day operations, just in time to meet the moment.
When Poledor started, the company was already focused on growing the business’s online presence. “This kind of jump-started us into those plans,” explains Poledor. “We had to learn how to cater to the new digital tradeshows, how to attract new customers digitally.”
So how did they do it, without losing the personal touch their customers look for? To start, they combined an in-person customer care experience with a digital platform, similar to virtual doctor’s visits. “We set up a full sample room in one of our offices, so if we were at trade shows and they have a ‘live’ option, people can ask to see things on camera. Then, we can physically bring it to the camera and show them in further detail,” explains Poledor. This hybrid approach wound up working. Orders for ImprintID’s high-quality goods continued being placed and their passion for great customer service was still able to be front and center—even through virtual interactions. Check out the video below for product inspiration.
Remaining a leader as consumer’s needs change
Pre-pandemic, ImprintID’s flagship product was also its first: the lanyard. They’re a go-to for anyone wanting to brand experiential moments. But when everything shut down, so did most clients’ need for lanyards. “With Covid, lanyards did definitely take a hit because there aren’t many in-person events going on,” explains Poledor. “But also with Covid, we changed up our PPE and antibacterial products, and soon our main attraction shifted and became our custom printed masks.”
Swipe through the ImprintID online catalog, and you can see why these masks have garnered so much interest. From face shields to gaitors, traditional 2-layer adult masks to cooling, 4-layer children’s masks—ImprintID has them, and they can customize them in your branding with over a dozen base color options, all at highly competitive prices.
“From the quality to the design work that we can provide, our customers give feedback and they love them all!” reports Poledor.
Customers have also loved knowing their products would still arrive fast—even amid a global pandemic. Factories, warehouses, and shipping channels were all facing new challenges, and while ImprintID was able to quickly implement work strategies to keep orders moving, some consumers were growing cautious about getting time-sensitive items from overseas.
Fortunately, the company was well-positioned to give their customers a reliable, even faster alternative. “We have an American-based factory,” says Poledor, “so we have rush production for masks as well. We also expanded what we were capable of doing in our U.S. factory, which certainly helped us.”
The team reconfigured its fulfillment approach—spacing out factory employees and also limiting them to one or two socially distanced people per project. They also tackled enhanced cleaning and disinfecting approaches within the facility itself. By maximizing this backyard resource, ImprintID was able to make sure rush orders still arrived when needed. That meant they were able to continue offering the same, seamless experience and assurance their clients expect from them, even in uncertain times.
“This helped us provide our customers good quality service and keep them updated on their tracking and their shipments,” says Poledor. “And we were able to continue building relationships and trust, with their orders in hand.”
Expanding to new products while staying rooted in community
Growth during a global pandemic may not seem intuitive, but for ImprintID it just felt right.
“We recently released a line of apparel,” says Poledor, “and we’re excited to see where that takes us.”
Knowing the market’s need for high-quality, affordable, branded apparel options, they decided to go all-in. “We’re adding t-shirts, low-minimum apparel, tanks, polos—all of the above! Especially now that it’s spring.” That means ImprintID can now outfit any company, in every season.
With so much growth this year, the team has a lot to be proud of. From shifting to digital, pivoting to new products, to adapting their workflow to center around employee safety—it’s all important, but their impact on their local community may actually be their biggest win of all.
“During Covid, not only did we ensure that our co-workers and employees were safe, we also donated a lot of PPE products to local businesses, shelters, and schools in our area to be able to lessen the impact Covid had on our community,” shared Poledor. “We’re located in Virginia, so we, fortunately, didn’t have severe shortages like New York or other major cities, but we did make sure that where there was a need, that we could step up and provide assistance that could help the community.”
By seeking out needs in their area and supplying donations to help solve them, they practiced action-oriented acts of goodwill. That’s the kind of inspiring work that reminds us all to do more where we can. At ImprintID, Poledor said the company’s senior leadership team reached out, made calls, and figured out what they could do to help, instead of waiting for their phone to ring. “It starts with looking around and being present in your community,” says Poledor, “rather than saying ‘someone else will take care of it.” From hyper-local community work to international sourcing and shipping, what started as a tiny lanyard business sure has expanded its reach. It’s safe to say that ImprintID has done more than left its mark on the promotional product industry: it’s become a trusted leader in the space.
To learn more about ImprintID visit www.imprintid.com.
