Nancy Tuttle, namesake of Tuttle Marketing, prides herself on supplying service the internet can never provide.
Photo by: Amy Tucker
Interview by: Dan Mathers
So, you’ve been at this for a bit, right? This year we celebrated our 25th anniversary—started in 1993.
How’d things start out? We’ve always worked in promotional products and slowly gained clients every year. We started with the shopping center industry, and progressed into everything from banks and realtors to insurance companies. Now we’re working with schools, sports teams and even tech companies, plus some regional and international clients. Many people have been with us for 25 years.
Is the business simply putting logos on products? No. We are full-service: we come up with concepts, and we have graphic artists to execute those ideas, like logos and designs for product proofs. We always try to make it personal. You could order for an online retailer, but you won’t be able to see samples of those products or proofs before they ship out. Plus, we take pride in never having missed a deadline in 25 years.
How many products do you offer? We have more than a million products, so we love when people come to us with a concept and we get to execute for them.
Wow. What are some of your most common requests? Still, 25 years later, it’s pens, magnets and drink-ware. Of course, that drink-ware has changed from ceramic mugs to things like Swell and Yeti bottles, but it’s consistent. We also produce a lot of tech-related products: cell phone wallets, pop sockets, earbuds, power banks…. as soon as something hits the mass market, people want to put their logo on it, and we’re there to help them with that.
Any particular products stand out? One of my favorite stories is from my first year in business. I said I could find any-thing, and a client tried to challenge me: they wanted a life-size doll that looked and talked like the CEO of one of their clients. I found a custom doll company, and we supplied them recordings—back then it was cassette tapes—of the CEO on the phone. Sure, the clients never bought it, but it was a great way to prove to myself that I really could do anything.
Is there a particular client for this kind of work? We work with everyone. We work with companies like Krapf buses and Chester County Hospital, and a whole bunch of non-profits like Crime Victims Center, and Unite for Her, plus most of the schools in Chester County.
I assume it takes a good team to handle that much. There’s myself, and then we have five reps who’ve been with me for years: Sue Bullock has been with me 24 years, Jeanne Reith about 17 years, Kathy O’Donnell 12, and Maria Klang and Megan Hickey have both worked five years. They’ve grown their client base because of their amazing service, and they are great representatives, treating this company like it’s their own. They develop relationships and make things more personal than it’s ever possible to do when working online.