YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Stephanie Shapiro, owner of Sherman Creative in Youngstown, is fond of saying her company can put a company’s name on pretty much anything.
The best-selling products include the typical promotional items such as T-shirts and pens, but more unique items such as umbrellas, cornhole boards and lint removers are also available.
“You literally can put your logo on anything you can think of,” Shapiro says.
Sherman Creative, a local distributor of promotional merchandise, has navigated significant industry changes to sustain its growth. Founded in 1996 by Bruce and Carol Sherman, the company transitioned ownership to Shapiro in 2018.
“I bought the business and we worked together for five years,” she says.
Shapiro had been working as an independent distributor before purchasing Sherman, so she knew the industry and its challenges.
“I needed to learn their business. It was a lot different than mine, and they had a lot of relationships I needed to foster,” she says.
With a staff of three, including a social media marketing and invoicing specialist, Sherman Creative offers a wide array of promotional items and apparel.
The company is a preferred vendor for Youngstown State University and works closely with other local organizations such as Mercy Health and Southwoods Health.
“We are a marketing arm for YSU,” Shapiro says. “We help them market their departments or whatever they need.”
Shapiro says most of Sherman’s clients are large local businesses, but they also work with many small businesses.
Malinda Ferko, a customer success specialist at Sherman Creative, joined the company three years ago without prior experience in the industry. “I knew nothing about the business. I was a stay-at-home mom at the time,” Ferko says.
With a degree in business from YSU, Ferko adapted and now plays a crucial role in customer relations, which she says helps Sherman to gain an edge over the competition.
“You need a networking personality. You need to foster new relationships but also your existing clients,” she says. “We’re their one-stop customer service person. They’re only dealing with us, so having that relationship is key.”
The promotional products industry has seen many changes, particularly with the advent of digital order management systems. Sherman Creative adopted a new system before the Covid-19 pandemic, enabling the company to transition seamlessly to remote work during lockdowns.
“Prior to that, everything was paper and Bruce had orders stacked up to here on his desk. It was the funniest thing,” Shapiro says.
The new system allowed the company to continue operations without interruption and maintain efficiency, “and we never came back,” she says.
Today the office is used as a showroom and meeting space for clients.
Besides helping clients choose the right products for their needs Sherman also helps design logos and create artwork.
Recently the company had to modify YSU’s mascot, Pete the Penguin, to create a template for a Pete the Penguin stress reliever.
“Some customers are really creative and will already have the idea in their mind,” Shapiro says. “But you may have someone in another department who doesn’t know what they want but they think they want to do something with tote bags. So, we put together a presentation with 50 tote bags.”
Creativity and adaptability are crucial in the promotional products business, where competition is fierce, especially from online companies, Shapiro says.
“People will go online and search for a microfiber cloth and see one for 15 cents and get drawn in,” Shapiro notes. But she emphasizes the importance of quality and attention to detail, which can be lacking in online orders.
“There are a lot of little, tiny details in our business. So, they’ll get a thousand cups with the name spelled wrong,” she says.
A common problem with the online distributors, Ferko says, is that the image will come out blurry because the file the customer uploaded was too small. “And then you’re going to call them and what are they going to say to you? [Sherman is] 100% customer satisfaction,” she says.
Shapiro says Sherman uses a tool called Vector Artwork to maintain image quality even if they need to enlarge the size of the original file.
Summer is always a busy time for Sherman Creative because companies are hosting golf outings and businesses are gearing up to promote themselves at local events such as the Canfield Fair.
But Shapiro says the industry has been booming the last couple years in general.
“People are going out again. It’s similar to what happened with travel. More people are going to trade shows, more people are out and promoting,” she says.
Sherman experienced a few issues with getting inventory in the early days of the pandemic, but Shapiro and Ferko report they haven’t had a problem securing products for a few years.
Community involvement is a core value for Sherman Creative. Shapiro and Ferko are both actively engaged in local initiatives, including United Way and Streetscape.
“I was always involved in the community but not like I am today,” Shapiro says. Owning a business, “makes you realize the community is really important. Everyone has to support each other.”
Looking ahead, Sherman Creative plans to continue cultivating relationships and giving back to the community.
The company has applied for Women Business Enterprise certification from the Government Services Exchange, which could open new opportunities. “There are contracts that are given based solely on that,” Shapiro says.
As businesses increasingly seek to promote themselves postpandemic, Shapiro says Sherman Creative is well-positioned to meet their needs and contribute to the economy.
“I love it here. I just feel like it’s a great place to be,” she says.
Pictured at top: Malinda Ferko and Stephanie Shapiro stand in the Sherman Creative showroom with a box of promotional items.