The fourth quarter has a way of moving fast.
One minute you’re heading into fall. The next, you’re trying to figure out holiday gifts, planning a January trade show, ordering new company gear and wondering what happened to the rest of the year.
If custom hats are anywhere in your plans for the end of this year or the beginning of next year, now is a good time to get started.
Planning ahead gives you more options, more time to work through the design and a whole lot less rushing when your deadline gets close.
Here are a few things your company should be thinking about heading into Q4.
1. Team and Client Gifts
The end of the year is a natural time to thank the people who helped make it happen.
That might include:
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Employees
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Customers
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Vendors
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Dealers
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Sales reps
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Partners
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Contractors
There are plenty of corporate gifts out there, but a great hat has one big advantage: people actually wear it.
Instead of another generic promotional item, you can create something that feels like a real piece of branded merchandise.
A premium leather patch hat, embroidered hat or custom Authentic Press hat can work as an employee Christmas gift, client appreciation gift or part of a larger year-end gift package.
And when the hat looks good enough to wear outside of work, your brand gets a little extra mileage too.
2. Put Your Remaining Year-End Budget to Work
Depending on how your company handles its budgets, you may have marketing, apparel, event or promotional dollars remaining before the end of the year.
Q4 can be a great time to put some of that money toward projects you already know you’re going to need.
Instead of waiting until January to order new hats for your team or an upcoming event, get the project moving now.
That could mean ordering:
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Company hats for the new year
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Customer giveaways
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Employee gear
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Trade show merchandise
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Sales team apparel
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Dealer or distributor gifts
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Event merchandise
Even if you don’t need the hats immediately, getting the design and ordering process started early can put you in a much better position going into the new year.
3. Start Planning for Q1 Trade Shows and Conferences
January, February and March events always seem far away, until suddenly they aren’t.
If your company has a trade show, conference or industry event coming up early next year, Q4 is a great time to start planning the merchandise for it.
Custom hats can be used in a few different ways.
You can make hats for your booth staff so your team looks consistent. You can create limited-edition hats for customers or VIPs. You can use them as giveaways or incentives to get people into your booth.
Or you can turn the hats themselves into part of the experience.
Bring the Hat Bar to Your Booth
For larger trade shows and company events, Authentic Leather Patch Company can bring our mobile hat bar directly to you.
Instead of simply handing someone another giveaway, attendees can choose a hat and patch and watch their hat come together at the event.
It gives people a reason to stop at your booth and they leave with something they'll actually want to keep.
If you're considering the mobile hat bar for an early-year event, Q4 is the time to start talking about dates and logistics.
4. Refresh Your Company Hats for the New Year
January is a natural reset.
New goals. New projects. New hires. Maybe even a new look.
It's also a good opportunity to take a look at your existing company hats.
Are people still excited to wear them?
Or have you been ordering the exact same hat for the last five years?
A new year doesn't necessarily mean changing your logo. Sometimes switching the hat style, leather color, patch shape or decoration method is enough to make the same brand feel completely different.
You might try:
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A new hat style or colorway
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A larger custom leather patch
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Side or back embroidery
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Puff embroidery
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Premium foil
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Branded or embossed leather
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A limited-edition company design
You don't always need a complete redesign. Sometimes you just need a fresh version of something that already works.
5. Don't Forget Customer Appreciation
Holiday gifts don't have to be limited to your employees.
Your best customers helped make your year possible too.
A custom hat can be a simple way to say thank you to key clients, accounts or partners without sending the same gift everyone else sends.
This can work especially well for companies in industries where hats are already part of the culture, construction, agriculture, ranching, hunting and outdoor brands, breweries, automotive companies, real estate teams and plenty of others.
And it doesn't necessarily need to be positioned as a Christmas gift.
A simple year-end customer appreciation package can stand out even more.
6. Spring Events Start Earlier Than You Think
Trade shows aren't the only events worth planning for.
If you have something happening during the first few months of next year, Q4 is a good time to start thinking about it.
That might include:
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Golf tournaments
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Fundraisers
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Company retreats
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Sales meetings
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Hunting or outdoor events
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Festivals
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Races
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Rodeos
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Conferences
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Product launches
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Customer appreciation events
Starting early gives you more freedom to create something specifically for the event rather than simply ordering whatever you can get at the last minute.
7. Plan for New Hires and Onboarding
If your company expects to add employees early next year, don't forget about branded gear.
A good onboarding package can include a hat alongside shirts, jackets and other company merchandise.
For field crews, construction companies, sales teams and outdoor businesses, the hat may end up being one of the most-used pieces of gear you give a new employee.
Q4 is a good time to establish what your standard company hat will be so you have something ready when new people come on board.
8. Finally Try That Hat Idea You've Been Thinking About
Maybe you've had an idea sitting in the back of your mind all year.
A different hat.
A bigger patch.
Something with foil.
A new embroidered design.
A premium customer hat.
A completely different approach to your company merchandise.
Q4 can be a great time to experiment because you're not necessarily working against an immediate event deadline.
At Authentic Leather Patch Company, we can produce hats using several different decoration methods, including our traditional laser-etched leather patches, embroidery and Premium Authentic Press options featuring foil and branded leather.
If you're not sure which direction makes the most sense, that's something we can help with too.
The Biggest Advantage of Starting Early
It's pretty simple:
More hat options. More time for design. Less rushing.
Hat availability can change. Colors sell out. Designs sometimes need revisions. Event dates don't move.
Giving yourself a little more time makes the whole process easier and usually results in a better finished product.
So before Q4 disappears, take a look at what your company has coming up over the next six months.
Team gifts?
Customer appreciation?
A trade show?
New employees?
Spring events?
Fresh company gear?
If hats are part of the plan, now is a good time to start the conversation.
Tell us what you have coming up and we'll help you figure out the hats.
