OnFulfillment Blog | Marketing Fulfillment (6)

We are now officially halfway through 2023. That seems like a good time to pause, reflect a bit, and take a look back at how the year has unfolded so far.

In the first installment of this “product fulfillment vs. marketing fulfillment” blog series, we described the differences between these two approaches and discussed why one might be superior to the other under certain circumstances.

For the next several weeks, we will dive deeper into this topic and explore how product fulfillment compares to marketing fulfillment with respect to specific activities such as storage, pick-and-pack operations, support and flexibility, and software and reporting. In this installment, we will focus on receiving.

Promotional product fulfillment seems fairly straightforward—it’s the process of managing the distribution of promotional products or branded merchandise for the purpose of increasing corporate visibility. It helps businesses effectively distribute their branded merchandise to target audiences, enhance brand visibility, and create a lasting impression.

These promotional products can be virtually anything—a pen, a polo shirt, a backpack—imprinted with your company's logo, wordmark and/or marketing message, distributed to prospects and existing customers as part of marketing, advertising or retention campaigns.

Frequently during meetings with prospective clients, we find customers comparing us to larger product fulfillment vendors such as Amazon as they attempt to understand exactly what we offer.

This leads to a longer discussion about product fulfillment vs. marketing fulfillment, what these two disciplines have in common, and more importantly, how they are different. Invariably, the conversation zeroes in on order processing fees, receiving costs, freight tables and shipping materials—and why those costs are so different depending on the vendor.

We were in a meeting several weeks ago with a potential client looking for help managing their event materials and logistics. As the meeting evolved, it became clear that, for the customer, the issue boiled down to choosing between two basic options: