Promotional gifts

[fenton]

What do people think of promotional products. i.e pens. mugs. note pads, key rings. Is it a good idea to have them with your name and logo on to help promote new business. Should we give them out to companies when cold calling for new business will it help build good working relationships??.

 

[Shaunyboy3383]

It's ok. Dont expect it to do much good in terms of sales though, but it adds a nice touch when you can give them to clients or potential clients.

To be honest it wont really do much good in building relationships as everyone does it. The best you can hope to do is just keep your name and number in front of them so that if they do need you they might call.

One of the best gifts i ever had was a rubix cube, it was great i used to keep playing with whenever i was on the phone to somebody or having a moment of thought. I never bought from the company but it stayed on my desk and i always remember the company who provided it. So it did have some success but not a lot!!!

Separate note - I offer a range of promotional products as a bit of a side line, if you are interested id be happy to quote for it.

 

[garethparkin]

I think if you are going to use promotional products in this way you should always bear in mind the item you are going to use - ie ensure the product is likely to stay around for many weeks, months or even years. One of the most effective products is promotional mugs - unless they get dropped these tend to hang around business for years. Make them look good and they can be a prized possesion on anyones desk. Check out ideasbynet.com they offer a great range.

 

[borobabe]

I think it can work ok if you choose the right item to send. One of the latest trends is to send a personalised helium balloon, I like the idea of that one, and they dont cost too much to do.
I have been doing basic promotional items such as pens, mousemats etc for a year or so and will be moving into doing mugs but mainly for the gift market. I hope they still prove popular!

 

[SimonCh]

The idea of a promotional item is to help people remember your business, hopefully with the aim of getting them to buy from you.

Things to consider:
* Pick a product that they'll use regularly. (obvious examples are mugs etc)
* Pick a product that ties in with your business.
* It must be cheap enough for you to be happy giving it away
* But good enough quality (as well as useful enough) that the customer won't throw it away.


The best promo item I ever got? A tape measure, given to me by a tool-hire company. Meets all the criteria above.

 

[stato77]

If you are an online company, then mousemats are the way forward plus they hardly cost anything to send out and don't break like mugs

 

[Delboy]

mousemats are 10 a penny, but persoanlly they end up in the bin as i have a propper gel rest one, my uni advise us all to use them and so do lots of compainys (as it helps stop carpel-tunnel syndrome)

anti stress items are perfect though... or something you can fiddle with! i dont like mugs as they end up sitting in the kitchen and never really being looked at...

 

[NW Law]

anyone know anyone who does reasonably priced printed carrier bags and car air fresheners?

 

[Chris Kaday]

I am not a great fan of promotional gifts but do agree mugs are good. We had them in the company for all client meetings and gave them one on the way out. People would kill for a BBC breakfast mug but ours did not have quite the same cache lol

Chris Kaday

I think if you are going to use promotional products in this way you should always bear in mind the item you are going to use - ie ensure the product is likely to stay around for many weeks, months or even years. One of the most effective products is promotional mugs - unless they get dropped these tend to hang around business for years. Make them look good and they can be a prized possesion on anyones desk. Check out ideasbynet.com they offer a great range.

 

[garethparkin]

I agree that mugs with a BBC logo on or a pic of a cherished celebrity are more eye catching than say joe blogs's engineering company - however I think if you can think outside the box and come up with a clever angle as per we all try to do with viral marketing ie youtube then any company can have a success with promotional mugs - we are the largest supplier in the UK of promotional mugs and have done many great campaigns which have proved successful for our clients.

 

[Jon0_FZ6]

I've always thought of the usual suspects pens, mugs, mousemats, etc when thinking of promotional gifts or merchandise but I've recently found out just how competative and developed the industry is.

I have featured a local business called Keylogo on my website and they have literally thousands of products that can be branded. When researching their business to create the feature I kept coming across new ideas I'd never thought of and with a bit of imagination you could find something unique that is ideally suited to your business or the campaign you are trying to get across.

how about calculators for accountants, piggy banks for mortgage brokers, usb flash drives for IT companies, inflatable neck cushion for travel agents etc .

I also really like the post-it notes, memo pads or deskpads as an idea. Who doesn't need paper on their desk to scribble numbers and notes on?

you can order a full colour catalogue from Keylogo for free.

 

[reggiemental]

We just had a standard mailer sent to us by a local recruitment agency. No pen, no coaster, no post-it notes but . . . a book of 10 first class stamps!! Now that I like!

 

[Jon0_FZ6]

that's genius. and it cost them probably similar to what it would've cost to do a folder or a fancy pen or something like that. brilliant.

 

[stato77]

anyone know anyone who does reasonably priced printed carrier bags and car air fresheners?

Don't go for bags, not very eco friendly lol

 

[jamesbiggin]

As a promotional Gift supplier - I would advocate the use of these, but really there are several considerations before making a decision :
1. The Industry you are in (and therefore the type of things your clients would use) - manufacturing, office based, techy etc....there is no point in a perfume atomiser for guys on a building site!
2. The budget you have - £1000 could allow you to get a single nice exec desktop item that you can see every time you visit your client....or the same money could be spent equally well on a set of 3 more budget items...a pen, coaster and mug.
3. What have you seen your competition do - ask around discretely as to the type of items that your clients like...you could then find a complimentary product if you are worried it wont be replaced by yours...or you could try and get the next best thing - flashdrives are a classic...you can see buying patterns change from "we just want a flashdrive" to " we need to have a large memory flashdrive to ensure our clients keep this one".
4. Have a look through a brochure - we do our own hard copy brochure - 96 pages of ideas...which can also be viewed online (steel-city.co.uk) - chances are what you like is going to be something your clients will like - you know them best.

I hope this is decent advice....I could go on...but I wont!

 

[jamesbiggin]

NW Law - if you are looking for promotional bags - it is right that polythene carriers are not in the Eco range of products...please though consider Jute and cotton shoppers (bags for life) - very popular...and also paper carriers....let me know if that helps...or get in touch via steel-city.co.uk

 

[Figaro]

I was really impressed with a company who dealt with tool and machinery hire. They sent us all lucky dip lottery tickets once!! They're only £1 each so that's pretty good.

That and some fancy pens. I hated companies who just sent us crap pens that didn't work. And remember to keep your existing companies sweet, bottles of wine and chocolates etc at chritmas.

 

[jamesbiggin]

If someone is looking for a new idea - I have one that I am putting together info on - fantastic personal touch product....not overly cheap, but could be a great wow factor...would prefer to discuss on PM basis as I have not put this out there yet...so PM away if you want....and I will go through it.

 

[Minuteman Press]

We produce promotional pads, which include our contact details and products. Always a great response.

The pads are circulated in offices (as are the pages), seldom thrown away and of use to everyone.

Importantly they stay with the client and are a cost effective marketing tool. We use them regularly where we provide pads with orders and our sales folk dish them out when cold calling.

Peter

 

[ezeg]

Fridge magnets
Magnetic business cards
Magnetic calenders
These are on view for a long time, very cost effective
Contact me for price samples

 

[flimsy]

What do people think of promotional products. i.e pens. mugs. note pads, key rings. Is it a good idea to have them with your name and logo on to help promote new business. Should we give them out to companies when cold calling for new business will it help build good working relationships??.

Hey,

It's really a good idea as we know that we have to have advertising, marketing, and sales in order to stay in business. Well, you can pick from various products like promotional pens, promotional clothing, mugs, etc.. which fits to your business.

 

[layer]

I never get the promotion gift aound plaza and big store and so on....
i will be impressed with their company if i get one,Aha Aha...
Promotion can make people remember your business,i think.

 

[Stationery-Direct]

Mousemats & Drinks Coasters are a cost effective way of getting your name out there whilst being useful to your client, we do a lot of both with 2009 calendars printed on them.

Deskpads are also a good idea, again with 2009 calendars printed on them.

Hope that helps

Regards

Damon

 

[profitxchange]

The the Calendar is really returning with a vengeance. However, to really work they must have eye catching images, ideally with a short commentary superbly reproduced.
What other medium could keep your name in front of your chosen decision maker 365 days a year for a cost of around 5pence/day?
All too often calendars are bought on pure cost, research has shown their effectiveness is seriously compromised if cost of purchase is the only criteria.
Return on investment, should be the real measure and that comes a year later! On average calendars are looked at 1500 times a year. That's advertising on the cheap!
Present them to your recipients as a valued gift not an advertisement.

I have no connection with any calendar co! There are really only 3 worthwhile calendar co's in the uk! but their ranges cover every option.

 

[simonr]

Similar to calendars... wallplanners. I've been given two this year and if it wasn't for the fact that we work on an academic year, not a calendar year (so we bought ours in July) I'd be now staring at adverts for someone every time anyone asked about our company availability or any time any of us wanted to know where any of the others was....

S

 

[computaguy]

We provide a arange of printed pen drives. Useful, used a lot and valuable enough to stay in people's pockets.

 

[nateski]

having promotional tools are great, ive had a promotional products business, but just handing them out and doing nothing else is crazy - top tips for using promo products

1) make them relevant to what you do
2) make sure they benefit your customer
3) always follow them up with a call to arrange an actual meeting
4) or take them with you to leave after a meeting
5) cheap gimicky promotional gifts means cheap gimicky company
6) use them wisely - target who you give them too
7) record the results post gift, who ordered? who started buying from you? etc


hope that helps!

 

[printedeasy]

Promotional printed magnets?

We offer some great prices and turnaround times for these, and produce them all in house!

For example: 5,000 business cards magnets = £473 + VAT (inc delivery)!

Printed easy

xxx

 

[E-wholesale]

Sure, it can help you to build good working relationships

 

[Splash_Promo_Matt]

Good to see so many of you using promotional products - my top tips for producing a brief for promotional products are;

Before I start:
Do I know exactly what I want or am I open to alternative ideas?
Do I source myself or use a promotional products specialist?
Do I have my logo/message in high resolution format for branding

Brief specifics

1) When do I need the items for?
2) How much do I want to spend in total?
3) Have I considered the essential legislation relating to product safety, testing, shipping and the cash flow implications of paying up front.

 

[Alvin McCoy]

Promotional gifts have more to do with brand recall than anything else.

Their purpose is to act as subliminal messages that get imprinted in a prospective customer's subconscious mind, and studies have shown that they can ultimately influence a purchase decision.

 

[Peppa-Lou]

I have my own promotional merchandise business and my advice would be the same as many people on here have said. Pick something people will want to keep.

I spent 20 yrs as a PA and had loads of things sent to me. The cheap pens would go into a draw, but the funky items, they would stay on my desk. I still have a stress penguin from many years ago.

I gave out some lovely pens last year, 3 days later someone came back to me asking for another one. Apparently his wife had seen it, taken it work to use, then someone had taken it off her desk. Within 2 days it had moved through at least 3 people - it was a lovely pen!

I get alot of people asking me for cheap and cheerful, which is doable, but, if your spending the money you want to make sure that people will keep your items and use them.

One of the best things I ever gave out was a lipstick pen. The amount of people who wanted it, it just looked so cool.

I have had business cards printed that are actually ice-scrapers. People will keep them in their cars. Same as tax disc holders.

Give someone something they or their PA/Secretary can use. Most bosses will ask their assistants to search for things for them, so get your name onto the desk of the PA/Secretary so next time their boss asks - they have your details to hand.

 

[ShawnHeum]

Good to see so many of you using promotional products - my top tips for producing a brief for promotional products are;
.................

Yes it sounds good. When a person or any corporates go for the customized promotional gifts, they should focus on that part.. its a basic plan. Before one month ago I was finding some ideas about corporate gifts, that time I found Adgiftdiscount, a top UK supplier on-line shopping site. It helped me.

 

[Roline]

Promotional gifts, business gifts and promotional products, are merchandise items that are recognized with a symbol and are applied in communication and advertising programs. They are publicized to endorse a business, event, product and company image. These categorized products are generally embossed with an establishment's name, motto or symbol, and distributed at meetings, and trade shows.


There are lots of special events during which, these categorized business products, can prove to be a crucial in form of publicity. In actuality, these items can also be custom-made, to go well with both the occasion and the company. The various events, where these gifts and endorsement products are widely used are briefly mentioned below.​

 

[KELKEL]

Andi ideas/advice what promotional gifts would work for an online company (like mine) whose potential customers all ladies not corporate companies?

 

[PerfectP]

Depends how much you want to spend really.
For instance if you want to spend ££'s then a handbag, with a design and your website/logo. Keepsake boxes are also very nice or what about personalised pillow cases?
If you want to spend £'s then washbags/toilet bags/makeup case/car sunscreens/purses/umbrellas/mobile phone cases/mousemats/mugs/coasters

If you want to spend <£'s then what about a bookmark/fridgemagnet/keyring/luggage tag/letter opener/ruler/glass cleaning cloths.

All of this can have your logo/website/contact details on.
Drop me a PM if you want anymore detail.

 

[shellynary]

What do people think of promotional products. i.e pens. mugs. note pads, key rings. Is it a good idea to have them with your name and logo on to help promote new business. Should we give them out to companies when cold calling for new business will it help build good working relationships??.

Pomotion gifts have many , such lanyards , gift bags etc .



B/R
Shelly

 

[saryfang]

Depends how much you want to spend really.
For instance if you want to spend ££'s then a handbag, with a design and your website/logo. Keepsake boxes are also very nice or what about personalised pillow cases?
If you want to spend £'s then washbags/toilet bags/makeup case/car sunscreens/purses/umbrellas/mobile phone cases/mousemats/mugs/coasters

If you want to spend <£'s then what about a bookmark/fridgemagnet/keyring/luggage tag/letter opener/ruler/glass cleaning cloths.

All of this can have your logo/website/contact details on.
Drop me a PM if you want anymore detail.

I do agree with you, the traget budget is very important, and also the target people who will use it.

 

[shellynary]

promotion gifts have huge qty

 

[Splash_Promo_Matt]

Andi ideas/advice what promotional gifts would work for an online company (like mine) whose potential customers all ladies not corporate companies?

What did you go with in the end? Were the items well received?

I hope it went well!