Archive for the ‘Promotional Pens’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

7 Things To Remember When Preparing For A Trade Show

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

A successful trade show experience takes planning and proper execution. But even with a solid plan, people sometimes get caught up in the details and forget the major factors that are important to trade show success. Keep this basic outline in mind when preparing for your next trade show to maximize your results.

1. Start planning early. Printing brochures and customized products can take time, especially if there is a delay or a problem with your order. Custom graphics and displays also take time to create, and you don’t want the results to look rushed.

2. Decide on an objective. What do you hope to accomplish through your exhibit? Establish how many leads you would like to generate or how many customer contacts you would like to make. Determining this goal in advance keeps your staff focused. It also helps you plan how many supplies to order and how you will handle follow-up tasks.

3. Choose your location carefully. Be sure to reserve a booth in location that serves your needs best. If you want to capture the most walk-through traffic, you don’t want a spot that is away from the beaten path – you want the prime real estate in the center. If your business lends itself to longer, one-on-one conversations or demonstrations, you may want a spot in a quieter corner where your customers are not bothered by an endless stream of traffic.

4. Appearance counts – in more ways than one. Exhibits should be eye-catching and appealing. They also need to incorporate high-visibility elements so that visitors can easily find your booth. You don’t need to blow your advertising budget, but banners, graphics and racks should all look professional. You also need to set yourself apart from hundreds or thousands of other exhibits. Lay your items out in unique and innovative ways that don’t look cheap or gimmicky.

5. Dress appropriately. Decide what your staff should wear to best represent your company. You might prefer the formality of suits or the more relaxed look of logo-printed polo shirts. Customers may dress casually at trade shows, but they expect exhibitors to look polished and businesslike.

6. People expect takeaways and promotional items. Make sure yours are good quality so that they last and work well. To increase interest in your stand, provide quality items that serve a purpose or solve a problem. Not only will people be happy to take them home, they will be sure to use them for months or years.

7. Not every prospect will become a customer right away. You can set aside premium products for those who make a purchase at the show, but all visitors should be treated as though their time is important. Courtesy and a low-cost promotional item can go a long way to generate a relationship with a prospect.

They might not be qualified at the moment, but you don’t know what their situation will be by next year’s show. Make sure they have a positive experience with you. If your item is memorable, for instance, an extremely comfortable pen, they will be sure to remember where they got it.

By Dan Toombs

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Promotional Pens | No Comments »

Promotional Pens Just Keep Getting Cheaper – That is When You Know Where to Buy Them

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Where do you think the best prices for promotional pens would be?

The large promotional gift suppliers who send you lots of glossy catalogues perhaps?

No. Larger traditionally run promotional gift suppliers may have purchasing power. But whatever advantage they get from this they lose quickly as the majority are quite top heavy.

How about the small promotional pen suppliers working from home?

Again, usually not. Though they do not have the pre-internet overheads, they usually do not have the purchasing power that the larger firms do – at least for the time being. Most also do not have the skills to promote themselves with the content necessary to be found by the major search engines. This leaves them with unnecessary out dated marketing expenses.

So where should you look for promotional pens? Online of course! Don’t just purchase your promotional pens from an international promotional gift supplier because they bombard you with literature and sales reps. Someone has to pay for all the bling and that someone could be you if you use such an old time supplier.

The companies that will offer you the lowest prices are those that have actively embraced to internet marketing methods to promote their businesses. They offer content online so that you can find exactly what you are looking for when you require it.

Think about it… If you are looking for Parker pens, Senator pen, Prodir pens – you name the pens… these brand name manufacturers charge each pen distributor about the same amount for their pens.

If your supplier is still using old school marketing techniques or – as is often the case – they have too many people doing the job of one, this will affect their pricing.

If on the other hand your supplier only promotes themselves with promotional merchandise and free advertising online through blogging, article marketing and social networking, they will not have to charge as much for the same pens.

Every now and then I read the blogs of competitors complaining that these online suppliers are somehow devaluing the pens they sell by selling them at insanely low prices.

No, they sell them at reasonable prices for the times! Catch up.

This is true for any business. If you are not taking advantage of real time online marketing, you will not be able to compete with those who are excelling at it. A little effort could keep the prices down and your customers much happier.

By Dan Toombs

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Promotional Pens | No Comments »

Getting The Best Results from Your Promotional Conference Folders (Don’t Forget the Pen)

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

There are a number of ways to get excellent results from your made to order promotional conference folders. It mostly comes down to what you are trying to do! What is your message and how do you want your target audience to see you? Promotional leather folders are the most expensive but they are not for every audience and would be a waste of money in the wrong hands. PVC folders are often seen as trendy and eye-catching but again they are not for everyone.

I have been in the promotional gifts industry for over 20 years. In fact, I spent four years working for a company that manufactured these memorable gifts. In this article I would like to show you which promotional folders will get you the best results.

Promotional Leather Folders

Good quality leather folders are not as expensive as you may think. They look and feel fantastic – they even smell great. Leather folders are often given away on high end conferences where the attendees would definitely appreciate such luxury. They are also given away often by law firms, finance companies and as top of the line incentives.

Before going to the expense of such a nice folder, think – “will the recipients appreciate this folders? If the answer is yes, you cannot do much better.

PU Leather-like Folders

These are the low cost versions of the leather folder. Often substantially less expensive, they still look fantastic and last a long time. They are perfect for clients when you are on a budget but still want to five away something memorable and nice. They are also excellent for in-house use. Give a PU folder to each of your sales staff printed with your logo and help them have that professional appearance that is so important in closing the sale.

PVC Folders

These are the least expensive but PVC, which was so out of style a few years back is now offering a trendy new look. You can choose from many bright colours and designs. Young people and followers of popular organisation will love using these folders.

Most promotional conference folders are not supplied with a pen. Some have a cheap pen that is nothing to write home about. Almost all folders feature a pen loop. It is a very good ideas to ensure this pen loop is filled with a matching pen!

Leather and PU folders look great presented with stylish metal gift pens. PVC folders should carry a pen that matches the outer. Check out the pen selections by Prodir, Senator and Lecce to find the perfect pen for your marketing requirements.

By Dan Toombs

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Promotional Pens | No Comments »

4 Important Steps to Take When Purchasing Generic Promotional Gift Pens

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Have you ever noticed how many nice looking, good quality pens there are on the market. Many of these pens you have known since childhood such as Parker, Waterman, Cross and Lamy. Others may look fantastic but they are unknown to you. There are some very good deals to be had with these generic brands but why not play it safe. Order straight from a catalogue and you could be very disappointed when you promotional pens arrive.

Remember, the pens you use to promote your business could have the opposite effect if you do not choose wisely.

Following are five steps that I take when purchasing stock to supply my customers. Not every supplier takes such steps so why not take them yourself. You may be very happy you did.

Shortlist Pens You Find Appealing

Look online or in printed catalogues to find five or six pens that are within your budget and look great. Take your time with this. There are a lot of pens out there so it is not something you should take five minutes to do.

Ask For Samples

Personally I love it when people as for samples. It means they have allowed themselves enough time to get it right. They can see them pens for themselves before having a large batch printed or engraved with their logo and details.

Test Your Samples

It is not enough to just ask for samples. You have them so write with them. Write with each for a day and ask your colleagues to do the same. Generally speaking, if you like writing with a pen, your customers probably will too.

I remember about ten years ago when a major brand brought out a new pen. I had never had any problems with the popular brand but for some reason all of the refills in the new pen were faulty. With the major name brands you are usually quite safe but you never know. Regardless if good reviews you may have read, it is always a good ideas to try pens for yourself.

As Ronald Reagan once said, ‘Trust but Verify.’

Confirm How the Pens are Supplied

Just because a metal gift pen looks like it should be supplied in some sort of a gift box, does not mean it will be. Personally I feel gift pens always look better presented in some kind of gift box. It’s a gift after all. Gift boxes – if not supplied with the pen – can often be ordered separately.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Promotional Pens | No Comments »

How to Find a Good Promotional Pens Supplier

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

You may be wondering how I – a promotional pens supplier – could possibly be writing an article about how to find a promotional pens supplier. Will it not just be self promotion? Will it not be biased information?

No! You can judge any promotional pen supplier by these criteria and you will be glad you did.

The following should be tested and noted before proceeding with an order.

Response Times

How fast is the supplier’s response to your enquiry. Gone are the days when next day quotations were acceptable. Your supplier should be responding within an hour. If they know their products well, they should have no problem answering your enquiry very quickly!

Artwork Assistance

When I started in the promotional merchandise business, artwork was a really difficult issue. Most pen manufacturers could not accept artwork – logos etc. – digitally. Instead we had to send colour separated bromides or film to the manufacturer for printing. This meant starting with high quality colour separated vector artwork and printing it first onto bromide or film.

Are any of those printing terms foreign to you? Fear not! A good supplier should be able to assist you with your artwork to ensure it is perfect for printing. Even if you only have a poor quality jpeg or gif of your logo, it can be redrawn in perfect vector eps format for printing for next to nothing. In fact, it is usually thrown in.

Samples

The best way to ensure you are happy with a pen is to test it. All good suppliers should be more than happy to send you the samples you want to see. Plastic pens are usually free of charge where more expensive pens may be chargeable at cost.

Selection

A good supplier will feature all of the major brands and also some of the not so well know brands. Often they will also import their own line of pens but that is not essential to being a good supplier. The most important thing is that they offer a good selection so that you have plenty of interesting and good quality pens to choose from.

Price

Price is of course and issue for most businesses. Generally speaking, online suppliers will be less expensive than more traditional suppliers. That said, you never know. Check around for price but remember if they don’t get the other four things right, you could be asking for trouble.

By Dan Toombs

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Promotional Pens | No Comments »

Choosing Promotional Pens for Business

Friday, October 29th, 2010
Promotional Senator Pens

The very popular Senator Akzento Pen

With the economy and business world in the state it is today, it is often hard to market your company and get your name out there. Companies have tried everything from business brunches to banner ads, but results are often short lived and difficult to track.

Have you ever thought about using promotional pens?
Sure, it’s just a small writing utensil, but something as simple as a promotional pen can open up the world of business like no other. Think about it… promotional pens and gift pens have helped to promote both big and small brands from Coco Cola and Google to local restaurants and gyms.

Just think about the possibilities.  At your next job fair or exhibition, offer good quality promotional pens with your company’s name and contact details on them and you’ll leave a lasting impression with everyone who takes one.

Good quality plastic and metal pens are an ideal way to promote your company. Just having a potential target customer carrying around your pen is a plus for any company because no matter where they go, as long as they have that pen with them, it stands as an instant reminder of who your company is and how they can contact you.

Not only are these smooth writing pens good for promoting businesses, they are also a great way to promote charities charities, schools and churches.
It is usually a good idea to use better quality pens and not those cheap promo pens you find in banks and betting shops. Low quality pens that do not have long writing lives can give the wrong impression about you and your brand.

I recommend looking at the plastic pens manufactured by Senator, Lecce, Prodir and Roubil.  These pens look and write fantastic and will give a good impression. If metal gift pens are of interest, check out the pens manufactured by Cross, Parker, Lamy and Waterman.  Lamy is one of my personal favourites.

Your first step should be to ask for samples.  Write with the pens you think will represent your brand in a good way.  Ask your work colleagues to do the same.

Generally speaking, if you like writing with a pen, chances are your customers will too. The sample stage is therefore very important but it is a stage that many people leave out. If you want to get the best results with your promotional pens, you need to take the time to know what it is your are buying!

By Dan Toombs

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Promotional Pens | No Comments »

How to Recognise Promotional Gifts that Grab Attention and Get Excellent Results

Saturday, October 9th, 2010

Have you ever used promotional gifts to promote your business or organisation? Did your supplier offer you advice on which gifts would achieve the best results?

Every day I am contacted by people who ask what is the cheapest pen they can have printed with their logo or if there is a really inexpensive mouse mat available that can be printed in a hurry.

I am all for saving money but if you really want to get great value for money you need to consider what your customers will think of you when they receive your imprinted gift. Is it useful and of good quality?

I have been in the promotional merchandise business for over twenty years and I have seen trends come an go. One thing that has not changed, however, is that useful promotional gifts work the best. Gimmicky gifts may be fun to give away but they do not have the same staying power as gifts that people need and use regularly.

If you work in an office, look around your desktop. What do you see?

Chances are you will have a desk clock, a mouse mat, a good quality pen and of course the necessary stationery products such as rulers, paper clips, note pads and pencils. These are the products that we need and use daily when we are not taking a break with our favourite work time beverage. Do you use a promotional mug given to you by a supplier?

If your customers are not office based they could find other products more useful such as all weather jackets, tape measurers, travel mugs and umbrellas.

It is important to remember that promotional merchandise does not need to be expensive to be positively effective. That said, you do not want to be seen as cheap by offering your customers a tacky biro that dries up a day after they receive it.

I recommend asking for samples of products you think will benefit your customers. Look for promotional products you know they will want to own and use. These can be low cost products such as a good quality promotional plastic pen or more executive promotional products such as digital photo frames.

You may choose a few low cost gifts that all of your customers receive and some nicer desktop products for your top clients and employees.

Once you have chosen your gifts, please allow yourself some time to get the design right. You may choose to use that stylish catalogue design that represents your company so well and have parts of it printed on mugs, mouse mats and pens in brilliant full colour. Full colour designs are nice to look at and really get results.

Or you could decide to simplify your multi-coloured logo so that it can be engraved on a promotional metal gift pen. One thing is certain – get the design right and people will like looking at it more.

Useful – Eye-catching – Attention Grabbing gifts can promote and build your brand for months if not years. Choose your gifts carefully and thoughtfully and you will enjoy excellent rewards.
 

By Dan Toombs

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Promotional Pens | No Comments »

The Promotional Harrier Pen is Put to My 3000 Word Challenge

Monday, September 27th, 2010
Promotional Harrier Pens

Promotional Harrier Pens are excellent value for money.

Today, like every day, I write four blogs in freehand with a different promotional pen. Gone are the days when I would just type my blogs out and post them to the net! I want to truly experience every promotional pen that I sell and today it is the promotional Harrier Pen’s turn to be subjected to my 3000 word challenge.

Harrier pens offer exceptional value for money! The pen I am using today has been in my samples room for at least one year and it writes perfectly well. With a starting price of only 30p per pen printed one colour I was not sure if it would meet my challenge or not. It did and it far exceeded my expectations.

Having been in the promotional pens industry as long as I have, I know and understand that in order to be able to promote one low cost pen over another, you need to write with them for an extended amount of time. Today I have actually written in excess of 4000 words with the Harrier pen and it is showing no sign of giving in. In fact, true to the manufacturer’s claim, this pen should have months more writing life in it!

I really like the Harrier ball pen. It is the perfect low cost personalised pen for exhibitions, trade shows and direct marketing campaigns. Hand your top customers a handful of these pens and your logo and details could be all over their office for months. As they are so inexpensive you could ensure they always have a new supply.

Imagine each of your customers’ desks with logo printed pen pots full of Harrier pens printed with your logo and contact details. You may choose to take advantage of the fact that these white barrelled pens are available with ten different popular translucent clip colours. Printing your logo on Harrier pens and with a rainbow of clip colours would be very eye-catching and a fun way to promote your business.

The promotional Harrier pen has a good quality plastic black ink refill. There is a massive 45mm x 20mm print are on the barrel and a 20mm x 5mm print are on the clip. This is one heck of a lot of pen for the money!

I recommend doing just as I have today. Order a few samples of these promotional plastic pens and write with them. Ask your work colleagues to do the same and find our for yourself why I am so impressed with these promotional pens!

Don’t worry about fast lead-time requirements. The promotional Harrier Pen can be printed one colour on the barrel in just 24 hours! You’re going to love these pens.

By Dan Toombs

Posted in Budget Pens, Promotional Pens, Promotional Plastic Pens | No Comments »

Promotional Pens-Capped Pens Are Still Very Popular

Sunday, September 5th, 2010
promotional capped TopStick Pens

The TopStick Pens shown above are low cost budget capped pens.

A few months ago I received an enquiry for 20000 capped promotional pens. Enquiries like this do not come in every day and I was intrigued as to why she insisted on capped ink pens.

The woman said that she held social media training courses nationwide and hated the sound of people clicking their pens.

“It is okay when it is just a few people, but when you have a crowded audience of pen clickers the resulting click, click, clicking can be very distracting!” She said laughing.

Push button ball pens are no where near as loud as they used to be but she seemed to have a little insider knowledge and only capped pens would do. The good news is that there are many makes available from budget capped pens to eco friendly and midrange capped pens. Promotional capped ball pens usually offer nice large print areas for your logo and details.

My customer decided to go a bit upmarket and chose the Parker Vector Rollerball pen. These promotional pens look fantastic printed in full colour. She had her own logo and a few popular social network brand logos printed on her pens along with her contact details.

As Parker Vector pens offer a wrap around print area, she also used this space to print a discount code for recommending future students. Anyone who recommended her classes to others would receive a free copy of her book on social marketing. The recommended new students for the one day course would receive a 10% discount.

No, she did not order 20000. In the end she decided to go for Parker brand quality rather than quantity. My customer ordered 2500 to test the water with the view to ordering more in the future.

Guess what! She has just placed a repeat order and she loves the pens. She gave them away to each of her students along with a good quality note pad. The referral offer has been a tremendous success.

For those of you who do not want to go to the expense of the Parker Vector, look into the Bic Grip Rollerball. I really like this pen and it is a fraction of the cost of the Parker. Bic also produces a range of low cost capped stick pens that are available in a large selection of cap and barrel colours.

I recommend really taking some time to look at what is available to you. One of my favourites is the new EnviroStick Pen by Lecce Pen. This capped stick pen is manufactured out of used Tetra Pak cartons. It is the only eco friendly pen manufactured out of 100% recycled products. Even the refill is biodegradable.

Do push button pens drive you crazy? Have you ever considered capped promotional pens? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment.

By Dan Toombs

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Capped Pens, Promotional Pens, Promotional Plastic Pens | No Comments »

Promotional Pen Questions-How Do I Get the Best Value For My Money?

Friday, September 3rd, 2010
The Airy Digital full colour printed pen

The Airy Digital full colour printed pen can even be printed full colour on the clip.

Promotional pens are an excellent way of getting your logo and company details into your customers hands and minds. Whether you are looking for low cost plastic pens or executive metal gift pens you need to know what you are looking for to get the best value for your money.

Before letting you in on what you should do, let’s take a look at some of the not so good advice I have seen in articles, blogs and other media.

Order From The Large Corporate Promotional Gift Companies

This advice is often seen written by, you guessed it, the large corporate promotional gift suppliers. Most of these companies built themselves up before the internet was around. They sent out thousands of brochures and catalogues which smaller suppliers could not afford to do.

One of these large companies ceased trading in the UK this year and rumour has it quite a few are not doing very well.

Why? Because all promotional gift suppliers are now working on a much more level playing field. You are much more likely to get better service and prices from the smaller internet based, tightly run promotional gift suppliers. Many bring in their own range of pens and print them in house. A lot of the owners of internet based suppliers used to work for the larger promotional gift supplier and have learned from experience how to run their businesses better.

How could the large dinosaur gift suppliers of the past compete with that?

Let’s look at it another way. If you purchase a quantity of promotional Parker Jotter pens from one of the larger suppliers you will pay more. They have higher over-heads and will continue to be more expensive unless they can downsize very quickly.

This is proving to be easier said than done.

Leave it all to a Sourcing Agency

Many companies still leave the sourcing of their promotional pens to sales promotion agencies. This is a very expensive chain of supply. Any good promotional gifts supplier should be able to help you with any design issues and sourcing at a fraction of the cost.

It is so easy to find promotional pen suppliers online these days that it is unbelievable these agencies still handle promotional product sourcing for their clients.

I have actually been told on many occasions by agency staff that they want to purchase pens that they can mark up 100%. Don’t fall into this expensive way of purchasing promotional pens!

Keep You Design Simple

Simply keeping your design uncomplicated will not necessarily get you the best value for your money! Yes it is often cheaper to print in one colour on the barrel but pictures sell better than mono coloured worlds and logos. The best pens can be printed in multiple colours and even in full colour.

So then, what should you do to get the best return on your promotional pens?

Shop around for price
Ask for samples and compare quality
Look for pens with large print areas so no one need squint to read your message
Look for pens that can be printed in multiple colours if your logo looks best in colour
Take some time to test your samples before placing an order.

It is really that easy. At the end of the day you are looking for excellent results more than you are a pen! A company that can offer you your dream – your perfect promotion – is the company you should use for promotional pens and gifts.

By Dan Toombs

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Full Colour Pens, Parker Pens, Promotional Pens | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

  • You are currently browsing the archives for the Promotional Pens category.

    • Compugift on Facebook.find us on facebook
    Compugift on Twitter.follow us on twitter
    Compugift RSS Feed.subscribe to our news feed