By Jennifer Rice
Managing Editor
With a client list that includes union, signatory contractors and individuals that serve in the building trades, Heidi Thorne appreciates and understands her client’s concerns in wanting to use U.S. and union-made products when promoting or marketing their businesses.
“They want to show solidarity and support for people in the trades, and so do I,” Thorne said. With more than two decades in sales and marketing, she has established herself as a promotional product-marketing consultant and carved a niche into the U.S. and union-made products market.
With a large database of U.S. and union-made vendors, Thorne’s website, www.usaandunionmadepromoshop.com provides hundreds and hundreds of promotional items for anyone looking to support U.S. and union-made products.
If you’re looking for mugs, T-shirts, magnets, pens or towels to imprint with your logo and name, Thorne’s website has what your looking for and probably things you’ve never thought of.
Recently, a client announced they were looking for something different to put their logo on. Thorne suggested an item she had seen while researching vendors at a trade show – the EcoSphere.
“It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever printed on,” Thorne said. For starters, it’s a water globe, but not your typical water globe. Inside is a self-sustaining ecosystem complete with microorganisms, small shrimp and algae, all existing in filtered seawater.
“I enjoy finding exciting, new things for my clients,” she said.
To find just the right vendors, Thorne attends trade shows and researches databases. She gets samples and talks to suppliers. “I do the homework so clients don’t have to. I’m responsible for knowing what a vendor’s capability is,” she explained.
Some U.S. and union-made products are priced higher than non-U.S. items, and her clients understand and appreciate that because they know in return for their purchase, they are supporting union and American workers.
“Certain clients don’t mind the extra cost because their values are in supporting the economy and U.S. and union-made products,” Thorne said.
Thorne also has a blog, www.promowithpurposetoday.com, that compliments her website. She writes several times a week on various topics such as how to use promotions more effectively. “Social networking is a big chunk of what I do. People in the event industry are very social on the networks,” she said.
As with most businesses, last year, Thorne had to re-evaluate her marketing strategy to address the slumping economy. What she found was 20 percent of the organic searches via Google that came across her website were looking for some variation of U.S. or union-made products.
“That was a huge wake-up call for me,” she said. By noticing the trend in that direction, she was encouraged to focus more on that niche market.
“I always encourage people to buy with purpose and with their values. I want people to think about what they are using to promote themselves and not just buy anything,” Thorne explained.
Along with her promotional company, Thorne is awaiting the publication of her book. You guessed it – the topic is promotional products. Speaking engagements and conferences round out the rest of her year.
“It’s been a crazy, crazy year, with lots of things going on,” she said.
But she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jennifer Rice’s e-mail address is Jen@foxvalleylabornews.com.