Promotional Bottle Openers - Day 2

Continuing the festive look at bottle openers, here's idea 2 for their distribution.

You can use them as an add on sale.

Just leave a tub of bottle openers by the till and price them up well. Remember that the point is to get the items out to the public, not make a huge profit. So price them accordingly.

Better still, make the shape & design unique, eye catching and maybe even a bit of a gimic. Sell these designs for a week or a month with a sign and the picture of another design.

You are advertising a collection of bottle openers. Then sell the next design, then the next design.... You are encouraging your customers to return to buy again and again.

It's like fast food chains advertising ranges of free toys. Get the customer buying this weeks and encourage them back to buy another one. On the way they might buy something else.

Promotional Bottle Openers - Day 1

It's almost the festive season, so I thought I'd take a closer look at the power of bottle openers. You don't have to be a big player with the power of companies such as Majestic Wine to take advantage of today's idea. Everyone from corner shops to nationwide distributers can do with a little more promotion!

If you are a mail order drinks seller then drop a bottle opener into every order. The danger of mail order selling is not getting the repeat business. Someone finds your site, places and receives their order, drinks it and then wants some more.

Where are they going to order from now? Can they remember where they ordered from last time? If they have a promotional bottle opener in their cutlery drawer then with every bottle they have opened they will have been reminded of your name.

Promotional Wildlife Calendars

If you are looking to give your customers something to remember you by next year then a Promotional Wildlife Calendar with photography as good as this is well worth considering.

A batch of 50 wildlife calendars will only cost you £203 and when ordering larger amounts the calendars can cost as little as £2.61 each. With plenty of space for your company details, these are sure to be a hit with your customers and will keep you in the forefront of their mind for the entire year!

Promotional Bottle Openers

If your are dealing with the public and selling bottled drinks, then it's likely that your customers would find a promotional bottle opener to be a handy tool.

If the gift they receive is useful, they are more likely to keep it at hand. And if that gift has your logo on it, then they will remember you for a long time.

Promotional bottle openers can be very useful tools for many industries. As an off-license you might want to give bottle openers away as a sales incentive. For mail order firms, throw in a bottle opener to ensure your customer remembers where they shopped from. And if you are a part supplier, just leave a few bottle openers around the party for guests to pickup and use and then take home and hopefully book their party with you.

From only £1.23 each, promotional bottle openers are easy for people to pickup and use. Get them at the forefront of your marketing campaign!

Promotional Parker Jotter Pens

Just wanted to remind you that there is currently a special offer running on Promotional Parker Jotter Pens ready for Christmas.

The pens now come with a free gift case and they truly are a stylish gift that are sure to impress your customers. From only £2.15 per pen, they might not be the first pen that springs to mind if you are distributing thousands in bulk mailing, but if you are handing out pens to customers or staff as a Christmas thank you then you really should start looking at these pens first.

You can choose a barrel colour to compliment or match your logo, so why not give them a go?

Promotional Calendars - Get Your Quick!

Time is fast running out as the end of the year approaches if you are looking at ordering 2008 Calendars.

Calendars, especially those with attractive pictures, are likely to be placed in an easy to see place and referred to for the entire year. From only £2.61 per calendar, you have an item that will be in front of your customer for an entire year, with your logo beaming back down upon them.

There are a good variety of themes to choose from for your 2008 calendars, from wildlife to scenery to nature. Some are month to view whilst others are two month to view. Either way, they are stunning and bound to catch attention and leave your logo well placed to catch eyes.

Parker Jotter Pens

There's a special offer on at the moment with the Parker Jotter Pens ready for Christmas.

These excellent stylish pens start at only £2.15 each. Even if you only want the minimum order, 100 parker pens will only cost £235 and the special offer for Christmas is that they include a free case.

These are a classic style of pen that everyone will recognise and appreciate the quality of the gift and there's a good choice of barrel colour to compliment your chosen printing.

At this quality and these prices with a free case thrown in - how an you go wrong?

Gifting To Customers

I was speaking to an IT support guy who wanted to increase his business.

His plan was to print and post a load of leaflets. He expected at best 1% response rate. At 32 pence for a stamp, plus leaflet printing, packing etc, he could be looking at £40 per response.

His leaflet was getting an absolute hammering for style, impact etc. So I suggested how about targeting existing customers - making sure they come back and aiming for them to pass on referrals - which is my own business model.

My suggestion was a cheap promotional mousemat. Every time he works on a computer leave a mouse mat or two behind. The one I suggested costs from only 55p. So for about the price of 150 leaflets - enough maybe to get one phone call in, he could have 100 mouse mats. No distribution costs, just leave one with every customer.

What are the benefits? Well, for a start, you are giving the customer something extra. Don't free gifts always go down a treat?

When in a few weeks or months the computers need a bit of TLC - where's your number? Right under their hand. Who are they likely to call? And what when a friend, colleague or associate asks who to recommend? Well your number has been on their desk under their hand.

Maybe distributing 100 mouse mats to existing customers won't bring in the business as fast as sending thousands of leaflets out, but in a few weeks the leaflets are probably recycled. But hopefully the mouse mats are still sitting on the desks. Which is going to bring in most business - 100 mousemats or 1 or 2 phone calls from leaflets?

Promotional Ski Pass Holders

I mentioned a few days back about a shop I'd seen selling plain ski pass holders and suggested that promotional ski pass holders could have taken their place.

Well I've not got my hands on a few samples and they are excellent little products.

A touch smaller than what the shop was selling, but individually wrapped with a strong clip for the ski pass (or any other pass) and a firm metallic belt hook. The lanyard is on a strong spring - the ski pass will simply zip back into position once through the barriers and there's no risk of the wind grabbing the ski pass and the lanyard running out, even on the quickest descent.

In my opinion, for only 59 pence (on minimum order - cheaper on large orders!) these are a great little buy. Suitable for add on sales (as the ski shop had them - in a tub by the till) or give them away as a sales incentive - "Free Ski Pass Holder With Every New Ski Jacket" or whatever.

Either way, I doubt the shop is getting it's current stock much cheaper, so it's a good example of how to use promotional goods as every day goods.

Using Your Promotional Keyrings

So you are buying a batch of Promotional Key Rings, but how exactly can you get them to your public quickly and easily???

Hand Out Key Rings At Exhibitions
They can be small and colourful and great to catch people's eyes quickly and easily (see above!!!). Hand them out, get talking to the public and hopefully make a few new customers!

Include in Business Meeting Packages
Are you arranging packs for training events, seminars, conferences, user groups etc? If so, see what your budget has available and look at some of the more stylish key rings available. Really impress the delegate with this idea!

Key Rings to Staff
The sales force out on the road can have key rings for car keys. Those visiting locations or otherwise using keys can use key rings on company business. Use it as a small token of appreciation and they will be flashing your logo to their contacts.

Key Rings To Existing Customers
If they are being given out to existing customers then impress them - make them stylish & expensive feeling. Give your customers the feeling that you really care about them - not that you are handing out something cheap and nasty.

Key Rings As Sales Add Ons
Offer key rings as an incentive to buy more - offer them free with certain goods or get a range of different key rings made and hand out a different type every week - this encourages the customers to return the following week.

Using Promotional Pens

So you have decided on the product, you have worked out how many you can get printed for your budget, but just how can you get the best out of your shiny new Promotional Pens quickly and easily?

For a start, why not partner the pen with something to use it with? Post it notes come in a variety of shapes & sizes and some can be extremely colourful and eye catching. Why not give them out together to try to capture customer's interest?

If you are giving the pens to golfers, then consider instead a pen on a lanyard. This clips to the side of the bag and is really great - no more lost pencils around the course. No more trying to dig to the bottom of the bag for a pen. It's the sort of gift that when a golfer receives it they wonder why they haven't had one before. If could be in place a long time!

To make it more impressive, order a customised presentation box. Sounds fancy and expensive? Right - it's fancy. Wrong - it's cheap, from only 25p per box! This can really make a pen look and feel more expensive - and more likely to be kept.

Promotional pens are a great tool - but with a little thought they become even more fantastic!

Promotional Items

What are probably the most used promotional item? Look around your house or office or even your car? What promotional items allways crop up?

Promotional Pens. Everyone uses them! From charities wanting donations and companies wanting surveys, both of these add small, cheap promotional pens to the envelopes to encourage you to open the envelope and fill in their survey or donation form.

Go to a hotel and the room is usually littered with pens with their name and contact details. You pick them up, take them home and remember later which hotel you stayed in. Hopefully with postive memories and book their or another hotel in the chain.

Or if you are visiting clients and potential clients, as you visit each person you can leave a pen or two behind so that they instantly remember your visit and your offers. They are more likely to keep a pen to hand than a business card - maybe even leave it on the counter and then their customers see your messages too.

The most basic kind of modern pen is the stick ballpoint, which usually has a cap and is disposable. From the sales representatives who hand out pens at each call or the meeting managers who put out the pens and notepads at customer service programs and seminars, these pens provide an inexpensive way to get the message out. Slogans can be imprinted on thousands of pens for very little individual cost, working for your needs in a very cost effective manner.

Or if you want to reward someone spend a bit more than just a few pence and move up the scale. At the top end promotional pen sets can cost around £40 a time and arrive in presentation cases. These are really stylich gifts that can be given out at those special occasions such as long service rewards etc.

Not all pen sets are that expensive! The Dallas Pen Setis under £7 a time yet still looks stylish and would be welcomed as a reward.

Promotional Pens are well used - and they deserve to be as they are highly versatile coming in many different styles and costs. Have a look now and see what your customers could be keeping handy.

Promotional Items Don't Have To Be Gifts

Whilst paying for some hats and gloves yesterday in a ski wear shop I saw their tub of ski pass holders. £2.50 each for a ski pass holder. Had I been going skiing and not had a couple at home, it was a well placed advert and I might have bought one each.

But it was missing something essential! The ski pass holder was totally blank – neither side was printed. It could so easily have had at least one side printed with their logo, website address or phone number. It wouldn't stop people buying them, in fact one or two might actually want them as they are printed with a logo and not plain.

For only 59 pence each on a minimum order they could have an excellent marketing tool. Customer buy ski lift pass holders and carry with them on holiday an advert of where they bought their ski gear from. Even be cheeky – there's 2 sides to a ski pass holder so get someone else to pay for the printing in return for an advert on the other side!

For an order of 500 holders they would have plenty of adverts being taken out onto the slopes and there's enough cash left there to make a fair profit. Next time I'm near there I'll be armed with a couple of samples!

Choosing Promotional Products

Rather than blurt on with ideas of what to use, here's some thought processes you might like to apply yourself when choosing promotional products.

First, what are you trying to achieve by using promotional products?

Brand Awareness - select a useful product that will be kept by the recipient and used frequently

Setting an Impression - if you want to impress people then instead of function choose items that look good and maybe used infrequently. Top end pens, trophies etc.

Next, who is your audience? Are you giving to staff, customers, potential customers or media? What demographic group do they fall into - high paid executives or hard working employees??? Male, female or mixed? What one group finds useful another group might not. Sending purses to a men's football team won't be any good. Likewise water bottles to a hair dresses probably isn't the best idea!

When are you giving them out? Again, at awards ceremonies you should probably go for less items, each with a high price tag. Choose large items that will allow your logo to be displayed well and come out in photographs. If you are standing in a trade show giving promotional products to passers by then choose something cheap & cheerful that they will retain.

What is your budget - work out what you want to buy and how much you can spend and then see how many your budget allows for. Don't just by the maximum number of pens for your budget - unless pens is what is called for cheap items could just be seen as insulting and give you a bad name!

Getting Best Printing From Mousemats

If you have decided to invest in a set of promotional mouse mats then it's best if you are prepared when it comes to designing the layout. Here's some tips to help you get the best out of them.

1 – Ask what the printable area is. Just drop us an email and we'll be able to tell you what sizes are available for the shape that you want. Do you want standard rectangular, circular or shaped?

2 – Choose a colour that goes well with your company logo. Remember that there can be a slight extra charge for additional colours – prices quoted are usually based just on a single colour print run.

3 – Choose fonts that will display well at the chosen size and will be clear to read and are eye catching. If your company logo already uses an easy to read font then you can use that, else you might need to choose something else.

4 – Show your design to people and ask for constructive criticism. Tell them someone has designed the mat for you (unless they have seen you preparing it!!!) and they might be more open to telling you the truth. Be prepared for their honesty!

5 – Don't brain dump – you don't need your company's history on the mouse mat, just your contact details, name and something to catch their interest.

6 – Add value to the mouse mat – what's going to make them use & keep your mouse mat? Add a calendar; a conversion chart; useful phone numbers or some other useful information that will make them want to keep the mat and use it – they are probably having to replace an existing mat with yours – so make sure they do. If you represent celebrities have their pictures & signatures printed. Anything you can think of to make them prefer your mouse mat over their existing one!

Why Should You Use a Promotional Mouse Mat?

There are many reasons why a promotional mouse mat can be an excellent tool. First, what other promotional material has so much printing space? Umbrellas maybe, but you don't get to see them up close. There's a huge print area, which you see in details.

You can also choose a wide variety of shapes. Rectangular and circular might be standard, but there are other shapes you can play with.

They are a useful tool. If you give someone a reason to replace their existing mat with your mat (a calendar, useful information etc) then they will appreciate the mat and keep it to hand – possibly all day long!

Mouse Mats such as the Brite Mat (as above) are also thin, very light and easily posted or given out at trade exhibitions or conferences. I was recently given 2 stuck together by mistake they are that thin.

They can also be incredibly inexpensive. Even on orders of only 100 you can still pick up certain mats for under 90 pence each – down to 55p each on orders of 500. At these prices you can have loads ready to give out.

Ways to Use Promotional Umbrellas

Thinking of buying a promotional item and not sure of how to use it? Looking out of the window and seeing the storm clouds gathering, maybe today I should look at using Promotional Umbrellas!

Give Promotional Umbrellas To Your Clients

An umbrella is a great promotional gift quite simply because everyone finds them useful, regardless of their age, sex or profession. You can give a promotional umbrella to any client and they'll appreciate the gift and use it as often as necessary. Not only do they see your logo whenever they shelter from the rain (or sun???), but they are also showing other people your logo at the same time.

Give You Employees Promotional Umbrellas

Welcome new employees and thank long standing and hard working employees with an umbrella. Doesn't cost much, they will appreciate the gift and again they are a walking advertisement.

Distribute Promotional Umbrellas at Trade Shows

Large and colorful items are ideal to use when you need your promotional items to stand out. If you expect your stall to have a lot of footfall traffic it may be too expensive to give them to everyone, but as a decoration and gifts to organisers and good leads they are great. Keep the umbrellas focused on the theme - telescopic umbrellas for professional events, golf for beach and golf events etc.

Promotional Umbrellas at the Golf Course

Give golf umbrellas to people you play golf with or do business with on the golf course. They then become a walking advert around the golf course! Or donate some umbrellas as prizes in a local golf tournament.

Give Promotional Umbrellas with Purchases

Increase the value of orders bu offering a free umbrella on certain orders. Pick an item that is high profit but not selling as well as the rest of the range and offer a free umbrella. Or work out the average shopping basket amount, add an amount onto that and offer a free umbrella for purchases over that amount. See if you can persuade people to buy more, whilst becoming your walking advert.

Reasons To Use Promotional Products

Here are 4 reasons why promotional products can make valuable additions to your marketing campaign:

1. Image-building: Any campaign should include creating and maintaining a positive public image. Sponsoring local events (I've already mentioned Golf Event Prizes and running event prizes) is a great way to get your name noticed and show your community spirit at the same time. Get yourself noticed by handing out useful promotional products like branded bottled water, umbrellas and key rings.

2. Prolong the Lifespan of Your Campaign: If you think a campaign that runs for months or even years is too expensive then think again. By using well-made promotional products that will be seen daily and kept for months or years, your campaign will have real staying power.

3. Loyalty-building: What's the difference between you and your competitor? Why should a customer buy your brand and not switch? Keep your customers by giving them gifts. Customers receiving a thoughtful gift are more likely to continue buying from you because:
i) they are looking at your brand name all day so it's on their minds all the time
ii)they know you appreciate their business.

4. They Create Brand Awareness: If the objective of any marketing campaign is to publicise your brand and get your product known to as many customers as possible then promotional products can do this by taking your brand to the workplace or home where they are noticed by many more people than advertising alone may reach.

Promoting Via Schools

It's World Book Day next March, so if your target audience includes school children (uniform suppliers, book shops, toy retailers etc) why not use this opportunity?

Have a look at the Bug Bookmarks or the Character Bookmarks. Either is available for about £250 for 1000 units, less if you buy 2000 or even 5000 units. Get your name printed onto the bookmark and then a couple of weeks before World Book Day (remember that schools will tend to distribute the literature in advance of the day as there is a voucher to spend) drop off batches of the bookmarks at your local schools.

The kids should love the items and take them home for their reading books. And that way they are reminded of you every day.

Being Remembered

I was talking to another parent in the playground yesterday about converting possible leads. His wife sends out written quotes for work, probably competing against a few other quotes. Most of the quotes are going to be around the same price, so who wins the work?

Answer - the person who is most remembered. Especially when the potential customer receives the quotes, 'files' them and then waits. Suddenly time is up and a decision has to be made.

Well his idea is to include a cheap promotional pen with every quote. The idea being that the potential customer keeps the pen handy. They keep seeing the name and when it's time to make a choice your name is already in their mind.

Keyrings, But Not As We Know Them!

I was asked last Friday to think of something new that we could use to tell a shop's customers about their new website. The main aim is not necessarily to get people online and buying, but to get them browsing and back to the shop.

The request was to think of something that could be attached to handbags. Ideally something trendy, shaped and iconic for the shop.

Well anything is possible, but not on a limited budget for a 2 store small outlet. So we're stuck to finding something we can use off the shelf. Finally, after much brain aching, I realised that shaped key rings were the answer.

Two jump to mind straight away. Cheapest is the Adloop Key Ring - a printed band attached to the metal key loop. Failing that, at twice the price there's the Shaped Plastic Key Rings. I bet I know which the shop is more likely to go for!

Getting Your Brand Into The Home

If you are a brand that schools would be happy to be associated with, for example I've seen this sort of thing done locally by Gyms then giving out freebies via the school may often be beneficial.

You can be quite extravagant and give out water bottles or similar, but for mass distribution for a school, something like Bug Bookmarks is a good idea. Not only are these useful for the children, they are fun as well.

Even if you target a school with 1000 children, your order is only going to cost about £250 and most of the children will take the bookmarks home with them, maybe to use in their homework reading. This way, parents will be seeing your advert daily for the life of the bookmark.

They are fun and a lot should be left around homes for quite some time. Give them a go before your competitors get in there!

Promotional Golf Balls

I'm not a very good golfer and often go around the local muni losing a significant number of balls. There can be the odd day when I get around 9 or even 18 holes and not lose any. Last week the tally was 4 balls in 5 holes. Then I gave up.

Why do I tell you this? Well consider this. Quite often there are people searching the rough for lost golf balls. They collect huge bags of balls and these are then sold as 'pick ups' to the players.

How many of these balls go to people who could be targets of one of my websites?

Being a 'careless' player, I only play with cheap balls. But even lake balls can be printed onto, if the quantity is right. So if I had a few dozen Promotional Golf Balls Printed (like the one above) then on every round of golf the more balls I lost the more marketing I'm doing.

Why not give out a few dozen golf balls to employees, friends etc. As they slowly lose them on golf courses your marketing is being done for you!

Promotional Clocks

I'm not sure what inspired this, but yesterday there was a run of people interested in promotional clocks. From wall clocks, to desk clocks to translucent clocks etc. Maybe the hour change last weekend has made people think of clocks!

There is an excellent range of clocks available. The Promotional Travel Clocks do start from £1.20 each. A batch of 200 would only cost you around £270 and are ideal for loads of circumstances. If you are attending a travel show, ski show etc then hand these out if you want to be remembered!

If you want a stylish clock then look at the huge range of Promotional Metal Clocks. From £4.49 each up to quite a lot more. The typical minimum order for these is 25 units, sometimes 50 units.

An example here is the Pebble Clock. From £7.45 each, these would grace any stylish home or office. Well worth the cost as these are sure to go down a treat with their recipients.

Whatever your budget there's probably a clock for you. It's a unique gift that people are likely to keep and put on display. If you blend your design in with the clock then it's likely that it will be kept on display for many years.

Promotional Stress!

Are you feeling stressed by your promotional plans? Then look at the Promotional Stress Shapes. And what could be more topical at the moment then the Stress Wheelie Bin???

Well OK, there are probably plenty of things, it just depends which newspaper you read. But these novel little items are a great tool - especially if you are leading a campaign against wheelie bins (or for them???). From only 83p each, they are a great way to get noticed.

And that's not all there is, why not look at:
- promotional stress hard hats.
- stress football - especially when England are playing! Give them out in pubs showing the latest games.
- stress houses - maybe for those moving house or mortgaging???
- stress widescreen TV - been in that position this week, could have done with one of these the way my TV has been behaving!
- stress computer mouse - for those bad days in the office

And tons more shapes. Have a look at the Stress Shapes pages for more details. Minimum order throughout is 250 units, which means the minimum order for likes of the stress hearts is only around £185.

Busy Season Starting...

The traffic to our website is increasing day on day, which is great. But it reminds me that it is approaching not only a very busy season, but also a season when the post could be going a bit slower.

Most items can take 3 weeks lead time to produce. There are one or two exceptions, which can be rushed through in days, but on the whole most items can take a few weeks. Add to this time for you to send us and agree to artwork layouts and the post going a bit slower around Christmas (and maybe people not being in offices for parties....) and if you are wanting to run a promotion for Christmas, then please get in contact very quickly!

Most orders placed over the next week, up to the end of next week, should be with you by the end of November, but wouldn't want you to be disappointed if your promotional ideas don't work because we can't get your items to you on time.