Arlington, TX-based Engraving Concepts, which provides laser cutting, engraving, and metal marking services, is celebrating its 50th year in business. This year also marks 3 decades of the company representing the Epilog Laser brand. Along the way, Engraving Concepts has also added other made-in-America equipment: TYKMA/Electrox, Kern Laser Systems, and Direct Color Systems.

12 IN.

Height of the trophy

4.6 POUNDS

Weight of the trophy

2018
The E! People’s Choice Awards trophy undergoes a redesign. Previously a more traditionallooking art glass piece, the new design is meant to honor the E! logo—and it’s trademark exclamation point!—and offer a more abstract, sculptural take on trophies.

Word of mouth will always be a major aspect of any awards and personalization professional’s marketing toolkit, but if the last year has taught us anything, it’s that getting online is no longer negotiable. Retailers who do not communicate with consumers via social media are missing a huge opportunity to build relationships with new customer groups, capture additional sales, and grow brand recognition. But with everything running a shop requires, adding to it all the Tweets, posts, ads, and more can feel like a full-time job—on top of all the other full-time jobs required to run your business! That’s where social media management tools come in.

The holidays are nearly here! No matter how much you love this time of the year, it is hard to deny that there is additional stress in the workplace. Customers need gift items personalized at the last minute. Requests to engrave gifts purchased elsewhere become common. Questions like “Do you gift wrap?” surface more often. And with all of the sales offered by big box and online stores, the customers think nothing of asking you for a discount or better price. Frustrating, isn’t it? But as customer service professionals, we continue to smile and treat each customer with respect.

The National Design Awards program seeks to increase national awareness of the impact of design through education initiatives. It is presented by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, which is the Smithsonian Institution’s museum of design.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I developed what I considered to be a brilliant plan to make the shopping experience with our company more enjoyable for our customers. It was a plan to increase sales and grow our customer base. I called it “Plan A” as a joke, never imagining I might need a Plan B or a Plan C.

The average U.S. data breach cost $8.64 million in 2020—and small businesses can be targets, too

Think your business isn’t on hackers’ radar? Think again. Cybercrime has a wide reach, and anyone with data is a potential target. Check out some of the common cyberattacks used to gain access to data and dollars.

It’s almost impossible to run any business nowadays without using computers, the internet, online ordering, and social media. And although technology has increased customer bases, markets, and product availability with new levels of speed and interaction, technology has also brought its own problems—or rather new levels of speed and interaction for the ancient problem of honest merchants guarding against thieves and scammers.

The White family has been personalizing awards and gifts at their shop, Atta-Boy Awards in North Pole, AK, for 45 years. Offering quality service at a fair price, Atta-Boy Awards has gotten an extra boost from the owners’ dedication, creative ideas, and positive outlook.

Everyone is familiar with the old saying, “time is money.” The quotation is attributed to a 1748 letter titled “Advice to a Young Tradesman,” written by Benjamin Franklin. His original quote was “remember that time is money” and was meant as business advice. That particular piece of advice seems as relevant in 2021 as it must have in the 1700s.