Let me begin with a question for my fellow entrepreneurs. Do you believe that the tiniest detail can make a big impact on your marketing?
I’ve learned that to be true. And I found that answer with promo hats a couple of years ago, after coming across a blog. Promo products are a big deal in the USA. But I never thought promo hats and apparel reigned over the promo products market. I’ve been looking into consumer studies by PPAI (Promotional Products Association International) since realizing the impact of promo headwear.
One of PPAI’s recent studies highlights that nearly 73% of US consumers want to receive promo products from brands occasionally.
Why I Started Using Promo Hats
Because I didn’t want to invest too much in promotional products right from the get-go, I decided to source good quality hats for customization. I used them for my seasonal campaigns first, and noticed that the spend goes up further when I buy blank hats and then customize them for marketing with a specialist. That led me to think about how I can minimize my investments further.
I eventually tried and tested 3 ways to do that.
- Spend on wholesale hats orders
- Get the hats customized from the source itself for added cost benefits.
- Capitalize on pre-season wholesale deals (buy very early)
This was the point where I found CapBargain. Remember when I said that I’d read about promo hats in a blog, which encouraged me to test that out? That blog was by CapBargain. It was a full-circle moment when I realized this.
Obviously I decided to give the brand a shot, and got these in return:
- Started saving 2.5x more on hats procurement and customization
- Earned a permanent discount on all my blank hats orders with CapBargain
- A solid rapport with their customization team to design hats flawlessly for my promotions
- Industry-relevant branding and promotion tips from their experts
- Increased customer loyalty and retention for my brand
- Overall improvement in sales and foot traffic at my store every time I use promo hats in my campaigns
CapBargain
It’s a treasure chest for small-medium brands like mine! CapBargain had a reasonably easy-to-navigate website with a fantastic selection of blank headwear. We’re talking everything from baseball caps to flatbill snapbacks and even those funky slouchy beanies that can be customized.
The company only sold, and still continues to sell, OTTO CAP hats. So I started looking into the hat manufacturers themselves. OTTO CAP claims to be the big cheese of blank caps and custom headwear in the USA. And CapBargain is the only store that I found to have the best prices on hats from OTTO CAP.
So I talked to one of their customer representatives. Being an entrepreneur myself, I asked them why they are cutting their profits short by offering products at lower prices than their competitors. The answer was humble and felt genuine. CapBargain was founded with a vision to supply the finest promo headwear for all kinds of budgets. Their markup was based on the hats’ features and functionality, and not completely on the quality. The company says every hat from OTTO CAP is top-quality, but some of them are made of better, costlier materials which demand a higher mark-up. So essentially, a small business can get blank hats wholesale from CapBargain at great quality for a price that fits into their budget.
I’ve purchased 5 panel trucker hats, 6 panel trucker hats and even a couple of dad hats during the SuperBowl season. They’ve even got those fancy performance hats that serve fitness brands both as merchandise and in promotions. They’re all customizable. And customization is where CapBargain truly earned my loyalty.
CapBargain’s Customization Expertise
I like blank hats that I can have customized by a specialist by personally being a part of the whole process. CapBargain gave me that feel and considerably cut the amount I spent on sourcing blanks and then having them customized by a third party. It took a lot of time out of my schedule.
Their customization services that’ll knock your socks off. Want your logo embroidered? No problem. Full-color prints? They’ve got you covered there as well. It’s like having a personal hat designer at my fingertips. Their Customization Team is professional enough to actually understand my needs exactly as I envision them. They drop samples that instantly impress. After placing many orders with them, they even sent me customized samples free of cost saving me even $25 at some point. They love customers who appreciate their business.
Entrepreneurs always look for that sweet spot between quality and affordability. I have no qualms vouching for CapBargain, for hitting the bullseye here. Their competitive pricing means you can stock up on promo hats without straining your wallet. Free shipping on orders of blank hats over $129 is a plus. I can get a truckload of blank hats delivered to me without paying a dime for shipping. But it saves me even more if I get it customized by their team. They know what could go wrong with a design on a particular hat style, and they have the best workarounds for technical design issues that may pop up. That’s true customer service if you ask me.
Customer Service Is Outright Superb
In my experience, good customer service is worth its weight in gold. CapBargain’s team deserves a medal. They’re knowledgeable, friendly, and always ready to go the extra mile. I was not a branding expert when I first bought from them. They could’ve easily coerced me into expensive purchases and customization, and I’d have given it a shot. They didn’t. Instead they told me not to rely on promo hats alone, and that their hats truly work best as a tool that builds emotional connections between my brand and its customers; as a key component of a holistic marketing strategy.
They also taught me how I can minimize my investments by choosing a pricier hat style (Yes, pricier than the style I initially wanted), which had a better bulk discount for the same quantity I wanted. Their tier-pricing system is what I should’ve looked at. Not the per-piece price. The more I buy, the more I save. And for some styles, the price is just extremely competitive. The Customer Service team is patient, and won’t make dumb pitches for upselling needlessly unless it considerably benefits me as well. Their goal was to enhance my experience as their customer, and not to squeeze more out of me.
The Proof is in the Pudding: Results
Now, you might be thinking, “Sure, this all sounds great, but does it actually work?”
Since I started using CapBargain for my promotional hat needs, I’ve seen a significant boost in brand recognition.
People love free stuff, especially when it’s useful. A high-quality hat with my logo on it gives me more impressions than what a bigger investment in social media marketing campaigns can get me. I’ve seen people wearing my promo hats in my region many months after the campaign ended. Those are impressions that help my brand stay in memory. I’ve had customers tell me they still wear the hats from campaigns I ran over a year ago.
To wrap it up, CapBargain has become my one-stop-shop for all things headwear. The combination of quality products, competitive pricing, and stellar customer service made me want to give the brand something back. So this here is my pitch to you, fellow entrepreneurs, into giving these guys a shot. They’re worth it.Also, in marketing, sometimes it’s not about reinventing the wheel. Sometimes, it’s about finding the perfect hat to put on that wheel. With CapBargain, I’m sure you’ll get there.