Dec 2, 20183 min read

A Few Ways To Vet Promo Companies You've Never Work For

Updated: Nov 30, 2023

Unfortunately, not all promotional marketing companies are on the up and up, let alone legit. And with new companies popping up every year, it's hard to know how is conducting business in a trustworthy manner. Nonetheless, there are ways to try and weed out the bad apples. Either way, you must make a decision on if you want to work with the company of not.

My tip to you is to submit to all the jobs that you are interested in ... regardless to what company is doing the booking. Once you get a booking, then research if the company is legit or not. It's more efficient to do so after the fact. Doing all that leg work before getting booking can become slightly counter-productive if you don't end up getting booked.

Below are resources that will help make a decision to trust a company or not. Keep in mind that you may not find the companies in all the resources listed below but some companies may. Use this as a starting point in vetting new companies that you are unsure of. The point is to not get carried away with trying to find all the reasons to not trust the company. The point is to be able to assess the risk level of working an event with a company and getting your paycheck.

Secretary of State

Majority of legal companies in this industry are registered with their state. However, you would need to know the company's legit name plus the state the company is registered in. I only work with companies that are registered LLC/Incorations. And these regulations are regulated on a state level. This is a good first step. But some companies have offices in different states so it may be difficult to figure which state the company is registered in so do your research.

Better Business Bureau

In order for a company to graded on the Better Business Bureau directory, the company must apply for accreditation. Not all companies take the time to apply for the Better Business Bureau to accredit them. Sooooo, not all companies are going to be listed. To be honest, many promotional marketing companies are not listed in the Better Business Bureau, but things change as the industry gets more sophisticated. It doesn't hurt to check www.bbb.org anyway. You would need to know the city and state the company is in, in order to see if the company is in directory of the Better Business Bureau.

Word of mouth and reviews

Word of mouth is one of the greatest tools of marketing. The ones you trust in this industry are your best weapons. Ask them if they've worked with the company. Just keep in mind that what they tell you is of their own personal experience so even with that, make sure you use good judgement. Also, check out many of FB groups dedicated to those in the industry to share the experiences and thoughts about different companies. Find one that you like and network.

Job Boards

Sites that allow companies to list jobs/gigs also have a section where people can write a review. This, too, is highly helpful, but make sure you use good judgement with what you read.

Google Them

You'll be surprised at some of the things that pop up on the first page. Just google search the name not their website. An array of search results will appear, make sure the sites you decide to look at are legit voices.

The Company Website And Social Media

They have a website for a reason. Although, their website will not expose if they are a bad apple, it can give you an idea of the personality of the company. Browse through their social media. LURK through the comments. Also, go to the groups on social media and look through the members in the member's section. Usually promos will list in the 'about me' section the promo company they work for. It's worth the effort to find companies this way. But you want to make sure that they are stating that they are a promo or product specialist or event manager, etc. These are people who are on the same side of the fence as you. Whereas there are people who actually work for the actual company.

LURK THE CEO

Meaning, find out what you can about the leader of the company. Google them, find their LinkedIn account, find their Facebook profiles, find any interviews they've done, Youtube videos (and read the comments on those articles or videos), sites like Glassdoor and Crunchbase are great resources for information as well. Cross reference the information in every way possible. I'm not saying stack them. I'm saying research them.