Fiesta medals are all the rage – and we’ve got the Top 10 ways to have a successful medal season!
For years people in San Antonio have been collecting Fiesta medals. And if you are going to be selling the medals – then you must know the secrets to sales success! Medal collectors and Fiesta fans will line up to get a free medal – but if you want them to support your organization and buy your medal – then you need to know the best ways to design and market a medal that will ensure success.
Fiesta medals can be one of your largest fundraisers for the year – so our goal is to help you sell out quickly and reach your fundraising goals. Celebrate Excellence has been designing and manufacturing the top San Antonio Fiesta medals for years. With over 1 million medals made – we are your San Antonio medal design experts. And we are here to help you have a successful medal season!
So let’s look at your “Top 10” for Fiesta medal sales success:
10) Have some fun with your logo!
If you are a business or organization with an established presence in San Antonio and a well-known logo, then have some “Fiesta fun” with your logo! Your customers are already aligned with your brand – so show them you are participating in San Antonio’s party by adding some sparkle and fun to your logo. Ideas include dressing up your company mascot in Fiesta garb; modifying your logo slightly during Fiesta to show your “party” side; adding glitter to the colors in your logo; turning your company name or logo into something pertaining to Fiesta. Make your medal prominent on the medal — just add one or a couple of Fiesta items to the medal. Fiesta colors with easily seen and recognizable logo are a great way to promote your business without losing your brand in too many Fiesta items!
These medals will be worn year after year and will continue to promote your name in our community!
9) Find your niche group!
If you are making a personal Fiesta medal – a great way to have medal success is to create a medal that like-minded friends will want! Ideas include creating a medal for a club you are in; taking a hobby and turning it into a medal; making a medal for friends/colleagues that are in the same group. People with the same interests will be excited to have a medal that promotes their personal likes! One of the most popular medals of 2017 was one made for dog-lovers. Another medal that was highly sought after in past years was one the represented Pokemon. People have made medals that include Elvis, Madonna, cats, video games, high school reunion groups, sports teams, dancers – the possibilities are endless!
8) Use San Antonio culture!
San Antonio culture is strong! For instance we have the Chupacabra, the Ghost Tracks, Donkey Woman and more city lengends. We’ve got amazing landmarks such as the Tower of America, the Alamo, the River Walk, and the Missions. We also have many traditions such as ballet folklorico, NIOSA,and night parades. There is no end to ideas that will have mass appeal. Recipe for success: Take your Fiesta medal ideas and sprinkle in some San Antonio culture!
7) Make a memorial medal.
Memorial medals are always popular! Here are some ideas for you to consider:
- marking the anniversary of a building or an organization
- dedicate a medal to a loved one who enjoyed Fiesta
- recognize your group who gave their time and service in protecting our community or our nation
- dedication for a new building
Memorial medals are a great way to show your love and support and will be cherished by those who receive or buy them.
6) Use a cute pun, parody or emoji! People love puns!
- ” ‘I hate tacos,’ said no Juan ever!”
- ” ‘You guac my world, Girl!’ “
- “Mex-i-lent!”
See you like puns, too! So create a fun Fiesta-themed pun around your group and they’ll all “taco bout your medals, too!” The hardcore medal collector looks for fun and visually appealing medals to add to their collection.
Parodies make people feel like they are “in” on the joke. Dress yourself as a super-hero. Put your mascot on a popular TV or movie set. Add movie themes to your medal. We like to think of trends over the last year and make medals that incorporate those trends.
And emojis are a great way to put yourself right in the middle of the Fiesta medal action! Family, friends – even pets can star in your medal production!
5) Support your cause or charity.
Choose a cause that is dear to your heart! One that others you know support, that’s an excellent place to start planning your next Fiesta medal. People will buy medals if they support a great cause.
If you are a non-profit – remember you have a built in buying base from people associated with your organization. But you are competing for Fiesta medal collectors who aren’t affiliated with your group – and those buyers are looking for interesting, different, fun or innovative medals to add to their collection. So make your medals appeal to a broader audience by incorporating one of the items mentioned in this article. And consider using one aspect of your cause as the main theme – many times a simple medal that is visually appealing has more impact than a medal that has too much going on!
4) Think heavy metal!
Another great way to increase your Fiesta medal impact is to add more metal to your medals! You can do this by adding a header bar or danglers to your medals. A header bar gives you another imprint area to caption your message or to recognize a special year or sponsorship. Danglers add excitement and fun to any medal – danglers can be whimsical or can have your company logo, the year, or – again, your sponsor’s name. Fiesta medals with danglers are always sought after because they have greater visual impact and are unique.
3) Make it move!
For a really fun and unique medal – consider adding a kinetic feature to your medal. Kinetic features offer movement to the medal – spinners, sliders, gyro pieces, hinged openings, spring action pieces – all are great ways to make your medal exciting. And Fiesta medal collectors are always looking for those special medals that are many times more toy than medal! In recent years we have even seen sound and lights added to Fiesta medals. Kinetic features can include unique things such as a ball chain – to emulate a military dog tag. Making your medal serve an additional function also increases its appeal. Consider a Fiesta selfie photo frame or bottle opener. Or add an O-ring to use your medal year round as a key chain!
2) Market your medal!
It’s vital to promote your medal! And, because of their rising popularity, medal information is ubiquitous! So you need to market your medal through any channel available. We provide our customers with a .jpg or .pdf of their medal artwork so they can begin letting friends, family and colleagues know when and how to order their medals.
Email the image out to everyone you know and take pre-sales orders. Create a flyer to post around work or school or your neighborhood.
Post the medal and the “how to purchase” information on all of your social media accounts – Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, Mastodon, Etsy, etc. Also – there are a great number of Fiesta medal fan pages on Facebook – search “fiesta medals” and then post a photo and information on how, when and where to buy your medals.
If you are a non-profit – you can sell your medals through the Fiesta Store. If you are law enforcement, fire or first responder – Celebrate Excellence has a showroom where they will sell your medals and give you back 100% of the proceeds.
Follow Fiesta medal fan pages so you can get information about Fiesta medal trading events – these begin in December and run through the week before Fiesta begins. Trading events allow you to buy a table to sell your medals and to walk the event trading and selling medals. Not all trading events get good foot traffic – so try to check out how busy the event was in previous years before you commit to purchasing a table. When visiting a trading event – ask other traders which events they are going to again this year.
Pin Pandemonium, the first official event of Fiesta, is a great place to buy and trade medals. You can only sell there if you purchase a table. Go to the official Fiesta website to learn how to buy a table for this event.
Most importantly – remember to wear your medal everywhere you go! When someone asks you where you got it – be sure to have it ready to sell!
1) Order your medals early!
The number one way to have a successful Fiesta medal season is to order your medals early. “The early bird gets the worm” is absolutely true with medals. Fiesta medal fans are already looking for medals – and many of them have Fiesta medal budgets. Once they spend that money, they begin trading to get medals they want. We strongly suggest that you avoid the last minute medal rush and have your medals in by the end of December. You are ready to hit the road selling in January and have 3-4 months to sell out. If your medal is popular and goes “Fiesta viral” – you have time to order more.
Also, all custom Fiesta medals are manufactured overseas. The last few weeks of February is the time for the 10-14 day Asian New Year. Factories are closed — and re-opening after the long holiday slows medal production. Many of our customers came to us because they didn’t get their medals from other vendors in previous years. The Asian New Year and order delays were the reasons they were given. Be sure to check to see if your medals are being shipped before the Asian New Year and via air freight – not ocean voyage. Ocean transportation means the medals will take 8-10 weeks after production to land in the USA. And then there are other potential delays such as longshoremen strikes.
Once Fiesta starts – a very small percentage of medals are sold. Fiesta medal buying and trading is really the “pre-game” event to Fiesta. Be sure your medal is designed, manufactured and delivered to you months before Fiesta begins. It’s the best way to have a successful Fiesta medal season!
For more information see our Fiesta medal videos:
- Marketing your Fiesta medals – click HERE
- Making money with Fiesta medals – click HERE
- Making family memories with medals – click HERE
- Promoting your message into the community – click HERE
If you are a first-time Fiesta medal buyer, watch our “Fiesta Medal Design Video”:
