Posts Tagged ‘printed pens’

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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

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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.

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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

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Promotional Pens – Which Plastic Pen Brands are the Best for Promoting Businesses?

Friday, January 7th, 2011

You only need look at a few promotional pens websites to see that there are literally thousands of different promotional plastic pens on the market. Some are of exceptional quality while others leave quite a lot to be desired. When purchasing promotional pens it is a good idea to ask for samples. Pictures in catalogues or online can be deceiving.

That said, there are a couple of pen brands which I would like to highlight here that are usually a safe choice. These are the pens that you can order comfortably knowing that they are of good quality and rarely let people down. If you do not order pens often, these brands may not be known to you. But anyone within the promotional merchandise industry will know and trust these popular plastic pens.

Senator Pens

The very popular Senator Super Hit Pen.

Senator Pens

Senator is a German brand with offices all around the world. These pens are of superior quality and look fantastic. Senator offers many styles and are most famous for their plastic options such as the Super Hit, Challenger, Dart and Sunny pen options.

Senator Pens are made for the promotional market. Unlike Bic and Pilot pens that are mainly sold in the retail sector, Senator pens are made for logos with nice large clips for printing and several print areas on the barrels.

Prodir Pens

Prodir Pens are manufactured in Switzerland to the highest standards. These plastic pens are hard to find outside of Europe and the UK but a good supplier should be able to supply you if you happen to work elsewhere.

Prodir guarantees that each of their pens will write up to 5000 meters. Having written extensively with these popular promotional pens I believe they can.

Prodir DS7 Pens

The Prodir DS7 Pen is a favourite at trade shows.

One thing I really like about Senator and Prodir is that their pens are made to order. You do not need to order stock pens. Instead you can choose the colours of the barrel and trim to better compliment your corporate branding.

Generic Pen Brands

Knowing the promotional pen industry as I do, I can certainly tell you that I prefer Senator and Prodir pens to promote my own business.

That said, you may like completely different pens. I strongly recommend looking around and ordering samples of the pens that interest you whether they be brand name pens or not.

When choosing promotional plastic pens, it is important to first check the print area available to you. Is there enough space to print everything your want to print?

Once you have shortlisted a few pens that look like they could do the job, order samples and test them. Have your work colleagues do the same. If you test pens for yourself you can decide which are the best for your marketing purposes.

By Dan Toombs

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Promotional Pens * What are the Best Pens for Promoting Your Business?

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

Looking for the perfect promotional pens to promote your business should take a few days if not weeks. Sure you could just look for a company that can supply good looking pens in a few days. Most good promotional gift suppliers can do this for you.

Allow yourself a little time to source the best, however, and your promotion will be much more spectacular.

I would like to tell you about two different types of customers I come across regularly: the rush buyers and sample requesters. You may be interested to learn that the rush buyers enquire much more often.

These rush buyers have usually waited until the last minute to order. They purchase their pens from a picture and rarely have time to see samples before ordering. More often than not, the end product still looks great but…

They could have so much better!

Personally I really like dealing with the customers who request samples of the promotional pens that interest them. There is no better way to ensure a pen is perfect for promoting your brand than to see it and write with it.

The sample requesters usually spend a lot more time talking on the phone and asking for advice and suggestions. I have been in the promotional pen industry for over 20 years so I encourage the conversation.

Often they ask what type of pens they can have within a certain budget. I am then able to recommend the pens that will serve them best.

The best pens will be down to what you are trying to accomplish but will always be of good quality.

Promotional plastic pens can often be manufactured to order. Senator Pens, Lecce Pens and Prodir Pens all manufacture excellent quality plastic pens that can be made to compliment your corporate branding.

You can choose the colour of the barrel and clip from a selection of stock colours. Some even have additional trim colour options that can really look great.

Promotional metal pens are great executive gifts. It is important to find a good supplier if you do not have time to see samples. The quality of metal pens can vary greatly but this is not always obvious from a catalogue picture.

Many companies use promotional plastic pens to attract new customers and keep their existing customers thinking of them. They then order more expensive executive pens for their top customers.

Allow yourself time to see and try the pens that will be representing your company and you can expect excellent returns.

By Dan Toombs

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Posted in Promotional Plastic Pens | No Comments »

Promotional Pens – 3 Things to Avoid – 3 Things to Do

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

Promotional pens are the most popular promotional products in the UK. Pens are needed by everyone and are used daily. Printing your logo and details on a good quality promotional pen is therefore a very good idea.

I have been in the promotional gifts industry for over 20 years and would like to offer you advice about purchasing promotional writing instruments so that you get the best return on your promotional product investment.

Avoid:

1.) Avoid trying to find the cheapest pens. Every day I receive enquiries from people asking which pens are the cheapest pens we offer. You can purchase pens for a few pennies each but they will not write for long.

If you are trying to promote your business on a tight budget, please consider purchasing fewer pens that are of good quality. Give your customers pens that don’t write well and you could be sending the wrong message.

2.) Avoid rush buying. There are a lot of pens that can now be printed and dispatched in 5 days, 3 days – even 24 hours! That said, you will have a lot more pens to choose from if you order a few weeks before the pens are required.

Allow yourself time and you can really get the best value for your money. Some popular pens such as Senator Pens and Prodir Pens can actually be manufactured to order in the barrel, clip and trim colours of your choice to better compliment your corporate branding.

3.) Avoid purchasing pens from a sales rep. You will find that purchasing pens online will save you a lot of money.

Do:

1.) Ask for samples. Plastic promotional pens samples should be free of charge. A good supplier will send you samples of each of the pens that interest you.

2.) Test your samples. There is no point asking for samples if you don’t test them. Remember the most important part of the pen is what is on the inside. Look for pens with large good quality refills. The longer the pen writes, the longer it will promote your business.

3.) Order promotional pens! I love promotional gifts that are useful. Give your customers a gift that they can use and use regularly and you are likely to receive a much larger return on your investment.

Logo printed pens literally get you you contact details and message into the hands of your target customers. That cannot be a bad thing!

Especially when you are lucky enough to find a supplier who sells so many promotional pens they can sell them at greatly discounted prices!

By Dan Toombs

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Posted in Promotional Plastic Pens | No Comments »

Promotional Pens Bring in Sales but We Don’t Need Every Customer

Friday, December 24th, 2010

Fact – There are some customers who are not worth the trouble.

You know the type. They are the customers who make you work on ridiculously low margins, then expect the world from you. Then after you supply they complain – just as predicted.

You may think I have a personal grudge agains a disgruntled customer but I don’t. In fact luckily such customers are far and few between. But I thought I would talk about this type of customer today with regard to targeting your customers with promotional pens.

Promotional pens are made to promote your business and ultimately increase your sales. They do this exceptionally well but their success is hugely down to you. Promotional pens are tools that help you get to your goal of building your business but not every customer you send them to is worthy of your time. They could actually stop you from seeing the business growth you hope to achieve.

When we first start up in business or when times are slow, it is human nature to take on every bit of business possible. But as our businesses prosper, we can and should be more choosy about who we decide to do business with.

Bob – a friend of mine from school found himself in a rather unfortunate position which you may recognise. Like me, he is in the promotional gifts business and I would like to share his story.

Bob was contacted within days of doing a mail shot with his catalogues and a promotional pen by a woman working at a major sales promotional agency in London. She requested about fifteen pen samples from his catalogue which Bob sent out that day.

After three days he contacted her to see if she liked any the samples. She asked if he wouldn’t mind resending them as she had asked for samples from about fifteen different suppliers and had forgotten to label which pens were from which supplier.

Now most people would walk away at that point but Bob was hungry for business and did as she asked. After several weeks of back and forth discussions, she phoned to say that she would like to use his service but that he needed to bring his prices down by 30%. He was working for next to nothing but agreed.

He supplied her with a pre-production visual which she wanted amended. In fact she requested nine amendments in total and cost Bob hours in time that could have been spent working with clients and seeking out new customers.

By the way, the ninth amendment request was not her last. It was simply when Bob said enough was enough and he moved on.

Suddenly he had much more time to do his own marketing – sending out promotional pens and catalogues to prospective clients. He also had much more time to work with and keep his better customers happy.

These are the customers that it is important to service. Most people are reasonable and appreciate good service. You can only give them the service they deserve if you are not wasting time with the difficult customers.

So send out your promotional pens, meet new clients and treat them well. If a customer becomes too difficult for their own good, recognise this and move on. Your promotional pens will then serve you much better.

By Dan Toombs

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Promotional Pens * Why You Must Consider the Print Area

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

Promotional Contour Pens

We can now print much larger on the Contour Pen. This is a UK favourite!

Logo printed pens are available in thousands of different styles and price brackets. Given the large choice, it is often easy to choose a pen without realising its negative attributes. Just because a promotional printed pen looks fantastic and writes great does not necessarily mean it is the best pen for your business marketing.

Take Steve Lindley, for example. Steve approached a business gift supplier looking for a unique and good quality promotional plastic pen to use at an exhibition his business was planning on exhibiting at.

He found an amazing value plastic pen and returned to the office, pen in hand to show everyone in the marketing department.

Everyone loved the pen too. The dark green trim colour matched the perfectly and it appeared to be a lot of pen for the money!

Steve was asked to prepare the logo and design to be printed onto the pens. He also ordered 10000 of the promotional pens. They had five exhibitions planned that year and it would be good to purchase in bulk and save money.

Business being business, Steve became busy with other work and put the design off. He realised that he had plenty of time as the exhibition was not for few weeks. In the mean time, promotional pen suppliers ordered in the 10000 of the German made pens to ensure they were ready to be printed when the artwork arrived.

When Steve eventually got around to the design work, he set the logo and contact details. He also decided to add the company strapline and then emailed the design to the supplier.

Unfortunately, Steve was very disappointed with the response he received. Within a couple of hour of sending design to his pen supplier he received an email from the supplier’s design team.

The pen only had a 35mm x 5mm print area.

Although the company logo would fit nicely into the space, it would be impossible to print all of the other details legibly. There simply was not enough print space to do so.

Steve tried to blame his supplier but the print area of the pens were printed in the suppliers catalogue as well as online. He simply did not bother to read the information.

There was, however, another print area on the reverse side of the pen that could be used for the additional details. This meant additional expense but it was really the only way forward.

Had he known what he wanted to print before he chose and ordered the pens, his supplier could have recommended a better pen for the job. Pens often do not have large print areas but some have a lot more space than others

Such problems can happen often when people do not consider what they need printed and choose a pen accordingly.

It is essential that when you are using promotional pens in your marketing, that you consider not only the style and quality of the pen but whether it offers enough print area to carry your message.

By Dan Toombs

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

Promotional Pens are Effective Marketing Tools

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
Promotional Contour Pens

Promotional Contour Pens are a UK best seller! We sell them for less.

Did you know that one of the least expensive ways to promote your business is with promotional gifts?

It’s true – many studies have looked into the effectiveness of promotional products and statistics show they get excellent results for relatively little spend!

This is especially the case with promotional pens which are both useful and portable. Good quality logo printed pens will literally get your contact details and logo into your target customers’ hands.

Promotional pens have a proven track record with companies in almost every business sector. From restaurants hoping to promote their location to IT companies selling their wares and services, printed logo pens get the message out.

If you are on a tight budget, you will be happy to know that there are literally hundreds of good quality budget pens available. Notice I stressed ‘good quality.’ There are also a lot of bad quality budget pens on the market that could do you more harm than good.

I therefore always encourage people to ask for samples and test pens before placing an order.

Promotional plastic budget pens are very popular at exhibitions, trade shows and conferences. I could recommend hundreds of generic plastic pens that are of excellent quality. If you are looking for name brands, you can’t go wrong with the pens manufactured by Prodir, Senator, Lecce and Bic.

If you are looking for executive gift pens for your top clients and employees, check out the range of pens manufactured by Lamy – a personal favourite. You could also go more tradition and look into top brands such as Parker, Cross and Waterman.

Most promotional gift pens are supplied in presentation boxes but not always.

I think nice gift pens look better presented in a nice case so you may want to confirm that your gift pen of choice does before placing an order. Of course, presentation cases, if not supplied as standard, can be added to your order.

There really are so many nice pen to choose from. It would not be possible to describe them all here in one article. Take some time to find the best online and by all means compare prices.

Promotional pen suppliers with websites dedicated only to pens are usually going to offer the lowest prices on the most popular pens.

If there is one bit if advice I hope you take away with your, it is that you really test your samples pens. Pass them around the office to your work colleages and get their input.

If you really like a pen, chances are your customers will too.

By Dan Toombs

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

5 Tips For Promoting Your Business at Exhibitions

Monday, November 15th, 2010

In my business I attend my share of exhibitions. Not just shows that are based around the promotional gifts industry but also those of my customers. I have seen a lot of good ideas over the years and here I would like to share seven that, if implemented, will lead to a more successful exhibition.

Promote the Exhibition in Advance

Do everything you can to reach out to your customers and those you know will be attending the exhibition. Traditional ways of contacting your target audience such as the telephone and mailshots still work but as time goes on, increasing numbers of people will be turning to social media networks to promote big events.

Do you have a Twitter account yet?

On the day of the exhibition you can continue to tweet special offers and reasons to visit your stand. What a great way of keeping people informed.

Use Promotional Products on Your Stand

Staff should wear embroidered polo shirts or at least badges with your company name on them. Try to colour-coordinate your promotional clothing and business gifts with your corporate colours.

When choosing which gifts to hand out, think about what gifts you would want to own. A good quality heavy-duty bag will always go down well. Promotional pens and mugs are also useful gifts that people love.

Use Trained and Friendly Staff

Make sure that your employees are knowledgeable and ready to speak with attendees. They should not huddle together in groups of two or more. Instead they want to be standing near the aisles, with a smile on their face ready to engage visitors.

Ask passersby what it is there business does and invite them onto the stand. Try to show them how your products and/or services are the answer to one or more of their problems.

Ensure that you listen to what those problems may be before throwing your information at them.

Small Stands Often Work Better

The last exhibition I attended was a real eye opener. One of the exhibitors had spent thousands on a massive exhibiting area. Their stand seemed empty. Another exhibitor had chosen a small open sided stand and their stand was full of people.

Don’t just exhibit on a large stand for the sake of looking big. Often a smaller stand filled with interested people will look much better and be a lot less expensive.

Follow Up Sales Leads in a Timely Fashion

Did you know that three-quarters of sales leads generated at exhibition are never followed up? What a waste! Often when they are followed up it is simply too late.

Try to devise a way of categorising sales leads on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the hottest of leads. It is never too early to jump on those hot leads. In fact you should be on the phone as soon as you get back to the office.

Call your target customers while their memory of you and your products is still fresh and they are still writing with your promotional pens and drinking from your personalised mug.

By Dan Toombs

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Posted in Promotional Plastic Pens | No Comments »

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