The Redbows Promotional Gifts Blog

We were with a client this week who runs the marketing operation across several company divisions. They are looking at pooling all their corporate gifts purchases into one large buying lot to get the prices down, plan logistics better and improve the use of promotional merchandise throughout the group. This is a great idea as it also helps to simplify the logistics process for a promotional gifts company life Redbows. We use our warehouse facilities to stock and then distribute the branded gifts, to depots and sites around the UK. The whole ethos is one of delivering better customer service across the supply chain. It just takes a little planning in the set up stage but once complete can cover any type of corporate gift, from pens and mugs to clothing and document wallets – everything a business would need to market itself.

Today is World Book Day and as I packed my son off to school dressed as Willy Wonka from the Chocolate Factory, complete with wig and glasses, I wondered how many schools are investing in bookmarks. We can sometimes take it for granted, but reading is one of the most important skills children learn at school and we have seen several invest in materials to help reward and incentivise this. Promotional Bookmarks and Promotional Bugs are just two of the low-cost promotional items that we supply from the Promotional Gifts Store and they make ideal handouts and giveaways for children. Branded with the school logo and/or details from their own communications programme, bookmarks and bugs can be fun and come in a range of colours, materials and a host of print options. They say its the taking part that counts but fingers crossed my son comes home with the ‘Golden Ticket’.

The promotional gifts industry continues to expand its supply of recycled promotional items. Within the last year we have seen environmentally friendly product alternatives become available for almost all the standard corporate gifts lines we supply. Within the recycled products section of the Promotional Gifts Store we offer a wide range of items made from ‘green’ materials. The best priced also feature within our Essential Gifts Store – recycled promotional items collection. There are actually two types of ECO promotional gifts. The first is made from recycled materials such as plastics, denhim or paper such as money or newspapers and even old car tyres. Examples of this type of product would include plastic mugs, coasters, mousemats, keyrings and pens. Wooden-cased products also fall into this category and include pencils, pens and flashdrives that use wood for their barrels or outer cases which has been farmed from sustainable sources. These woodlands may also be FSC certified. From overseas markets we are also seeing bamboo offered as an alternative casing, especially for flashdrives. The second category of ECO promotional items can be classed as those made for the green thinking client rather than offered to tap into a growing trend. Solar powered calculators have been around for a long time off course but now we are seeing more solar and even water powered products. Off course fuel-cell powered devices are many years away but there are also some interesting green promotional gadgets coming onto the market such as a fuel-cell powered remote control car which could be ideal for executive and more upmarket promotions. What we are also seeing is the general cost of recycled promotional items falling as they become more popular but also as manufacturing volumes and processes become more efficient. Recycled promotional items are definitely here to stay but there are few suppliers and websites like the Promotional Gifts Store that can offer true alternatives to those everyday essential corporate gifts and promotional items.

When we think about corporate gifts, we often think about essential promotional products likes pens, mugs and other desktop items. However, the world of corporate gifts is not just focused on products that you would find in an office. Often some of the best corporate gifts are those that your clients carry around with them and use in their spare time away from the office. Promotional Golf Gifts are just one collection of such items. Now in the spring and summer months off course many clubs and organisations run corporate golf events and it is not uncommon to find one or more companies sponsoring or hosting these and providing the participants with a range of branded golfing gifts like golf balls, golf tees, pitch forks and clothing. What few people realise outside the golfing world is that golf is a year long passion for most players. During the winter months most will either still venture out onto the golf courses or at least head down to their local driving ranges for practice. Now this means that any branded promotional golf gifts you supply, especially the really useful ones, stand a chance of being used, seen and even relied upon – just what you want in a corporate gift – repeat branding exposure. Off course for the more fair weather players some of the indoor golf items we supply, like putters and practice pitches may also have the same effect. The point is that the UK has a lot of corporate golfers. The sport is one of the fastest growing keep-fit hobbies and linking this to promotional gifts will provide you with plenty of opportunities to get that all important share of a client’s attention.

Personalising promotional pens takes some planning. Now personalised pens are one of the most commonly seen corporate gifts around. We supply thousands to organisations, businesses, charities and clubs across the UK. Aside from choosing which promotional pens to run with (plastic, ECO plastic, wooden, mechanical, multifunction, ballpen, rollerball, inkpen and so on), there are several other factors that need to be taken into account. Primarily, what to imprint and where to put it! Seriously, the limiting factors that come into play with promotional pens are that you can imprint on the barrel and sometimes the pen clip itself. Given that there is a limited print area for both of these, combined they present a large area for promtoing your organisation and contact details. The key is to draw out the area on paper and then consider what to print where. A lot depends on your marketing message length and the length of your website address if you want to include this. Most clients seem able to strike a good balance, and with the right choose of imprint and pen colours to achieving a striking combination. It all just takes a little planning if you want to achieve the best personalisation.

What makes an essential corporate gift? When we recently refurbished the existing Redbows website we thought long and hard about where the website should fit into our on-line marketing strategy. Being neither a full blown database-driven website nor a micro-website or portal, just what purpose should the updated website serve? And so we thought about our customer base and the market place. Just what do people want at this moment in time – the answer was simple. To keep it simple and give the best possible value for money offers and promotions. So this is what the website now provides under the tagline ‘Essential Corporate Gifts‘. The website provides access to our best offers in pens, pencils, rulers, keyrings and other promotional gifts – all at the lowest possible prices and formed in such a way as to form the ‘essentials that every marketing manager needs to have at their disposal.

We recently finished a facelift update to the original Redbows website. Launched over five years ago it has served us well but the problem arose of how to tie it into our current family of websites and micro-websites / portals. The answer was simple. We started the company to sell ‘essential corporate gifts’ – everything that a marketing person needed to have to hand and all at the lowest possible costs. So that what the Redbows website has become – the home of our Essential Corporate Gifts collections – all priced to bust the market place, whilst providing the best possible quality and choice. The Promotional Gifts Store remains the largest of our websites and daily responds to hundreds of requests for information from our large product base. Overtime we expect to develop more micro-portals to provide clients and visitors alike with more specific data on product set areas and greater ‘behind-the-scenes’ information on print techniques, manufacturing processes, advice and tips.

The other day we were asked what gifts we would put into a start-up gifts pack for new businesses. Off course the hardest part here is determining a gift selection that would fit most budgets. So we decided to start with a small spend of £250 and see just where this could take us. Now for this sum you really want to get to the highest possible volume of products whilst still trying to ensure that the items you give out have some longevity. When you look solving the problem from this point of view promotional pens are the one item that hits you head on. Whether you opt for plastic or frosted plastic pens makes little difference to the overall spend. Promotional pens are ideal for start up businesses who need to get their name, brand and contact details across. They offer a great print area – the barrel and in some instances the pen clip themselves. Off course another great attribute is that promotional pens also come in a range of colours and can generally take an imprint from one to four colours. So our recommendation for a start-up business would be to opt for plastic promotional pens – the perfect business start-up gifts.

We have just been updated our promotional stationery products – yes it is that time of year. This is one of the best collections we offer for clients looking for a range of desktop giveaways. Stationery are must have items in an office and ones that few people really give any though to. What a missed opportunity to have your brand and imprint on dispay 365 days a year in a form of subliminal advertising that always gets results. So what sort of promotional products are we talking here – well they range from everything from adloops to wallets. A personal favourite of mine are the paper pads as they offer such a wide choice.

Well if doodling whilst you are on the phone is good why not turn to our promotional paper pads and blocks? We have been doodling here for years – you should see the paper pads filled with notes as we discuss our promotional items with clients. What we love most about the pads we use – which are generally the A2 or A3 type is that we have them logo printed and full of useful information such as calendars, dates, conversion ratios whilst still leaving plenty of room for – doodling! If you want to give your clients something really useful that will get your name onto their desktops then I would really recommend using this very innovative, time-tried promotional product. You can literally print what you want on them and off course use them as a mousemat as well.