The Redbows Promotional Gifts Blog » Promotional Items

Branded Promotional Items

Rob — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:48:15 +0000

When it comes to incentives and rewards what works best – branded promotional items or money off vouchers? Well what has to be considered above everything else are the tax implications. Off course Her Majesty’s Inland Revenue publishes guidelines on how to reward employees and the tax implications of any Benefits in Kind (BiKs) and money incentives. Whilst employees are allowed up to a certain value of incentives each year within their tax bands, including I hasten to add a Christmas party, above their relative bands tax must be paid. This essentially is one of the primary problems with a money off voucher or high street incentive. The other is that they can be ‘one-hit’ wonders. When they are spent or experienced they are gone and with time, forgotten. Off course the same cannot be said about branded promotional items. Firstly, one of the primary advantages of promotional items and branded goods is that they have longevity. Promotional pens, mugs and mouse mats get used every working day and ensure that your brand is clearly and regularly seen. Furthermore as incentives and rewards they can be more personal and selected to suit the strategy behind the promotion. So when it comes to a choice between promotional goods and money vouchers, merchandise always wins. As a marketing and promotions vehicle, branded promotional items are unique.

Selecting Promotional Items and Giveaways

Rob — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:51:46 +0000

What are the top tips when it comes to selecting promotional items and giveaways? People often approach the process of selecting promotional items based on their own likes and needs. A more strategic process can lead to improved results and a better understanding of the how promotional items and giveaways can improve your marketing. The first tip is to think about your objectives and aims? Just what do you want to achieve? Clients often state a range of responses when asked this question. These can vary from attracting new clients as part of a wider lead generation campaign to reward existing clients for their business or employees for their loyalty and a job well done. Once you have a clear boundary around your aims, you are in a better position to set objectives. This is important if you want to fully analyse the results of your campaign because it introduces metrics. Objectives are quantified by volume and time and may be more appropriate to a lead generation campaign than a loyalty program. With your aims and objectives in mind you are then in a position to consider the theme of your campaign and tie in appropriate promotional items for consideration but against a budget. Without a budget this stage of the selection process can lead to dissappointment. There is no point is choosing items whose unit cost is going to produce a spend that is off budget. Better to be realistic and select items that fit easily within 80% of your budget to allow some funds for additional costs like artwork, fulfillment or even an overstocking of the chosen promotional items. We always recommend that clients produce a check list for this stage and then rate the appropriateness of the selected items against the promotion on a scale of say one to ten. You will probably then end up with one or two promotional items that seem the most appropriate. It is now time to move onto other aspects of the campaign like imprint colours, product colours and how to tie into the corporate image. This is just a few of the basics that are important when it comes to selecting promotional items. They apply to any products and giveaways be they promotional pens, promotional mugs or even USB flashdrives. To see the thousands of promotional items and giveaways available from Redbows visit our Promotional Gifts Store.

Promotional Coffee Mugs

Rob — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:08:42 +0000

When it comes to promotional coffee mugs there are now a number of alternative offerings within the promotional gifts industry. This is in no small way thanks to the explosion of coffee drinking seen within the UK during the last decade with the arrival of Costa and Starbucks to name just two of the leading coffee houses. Think traditional British drinks and you think about the great British Cuppa or cup of tea. Since we started to take coffee so passionately on the high street we can now get all sorts of coffee mugs including small and large Lattes, giant coffee cups and mugs. What most of these coffee mugs have in common is that they are made from ceramics (also known as earthenware). Now not that I am traditionalist but I reckon that you can taste a difference when you drink from a ceramic mug as opposed to a plastic one (even recycled plastic) or worst case a paper mug on the go. Also I believe that ceramic promotional mugs keep your drinks warmer for longer. Quite simply they are built to contain the heat and provide you with a refreshing brew. So what’s the tie-in to this autumn? Well as the summer months fade and hopes of another heatwave pass into the distant pass, sales of warm drinks rise – and exponentially. Within corporate and business offices, more time is now spent at the kettle and canteen than the water fountain as people rush for their morning coffee and afternoon teas. If a typical personal has 3 cups a day, that can mean that they can see you advert over 15 times a week. Make your artwork unique and something to talk about and you may also find that it becomes their favourite and that they promote you even more. Promotional mugs are simply more than a promotional gift, they are a necessity not to be taken for granted.

Advertising and Promotional Coasters

Rob — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:11:25 +0000

When it comes to promotional items few have the durability of promotional coasters. This is especially true around this time of year as we approach the autumn and winter months when people turn to their favourite promotional mugs and automatically place them on the nearest coaster. You see the point is that on your desk you probably have just one coaster. It is always there and you see it everday. You probably don’t even have to be using a mug to use it. Sometimes you may simply have a bottle of water or well known brand of energy drink and place it on your coaster. Now the trick with coasters is not to buy too cheap. Sure you can get cheap promotional coasters made from condensed card or paper but what you really want is one that can take a hot mug or cup and not buckle. This means that you almost certainly opt for plastic coasters. Plastic coasters also give other options over say leather coasters. Firstly they can take a very vivid imprint, especially on a solid background colour. Plastic coasters are also generally available in an environmentally friendly, recycled ECO plastic material. So if you want low-cost, cheap promotional items think about promotional coasters. Their unit price is volume dependent and this means that you can get a very inexpensive promotional item to mail and hand out to all your clients and prospects. What’s more you get to purchase for a few pence a very valuable advertising space on their desks.

New Essential Promotional Gifts

Rob — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:41:07 +0000

Well after much work we have almost finished the revamp of our primary Promotional Gifts website. Unlike the Promotional Gifts Store which features numerous product collections and thousands of promotional goods, we wanted the Redbows website to go back to its roots. We wanted to provide a source of the cheapest promotional gifts available and those considered essential for most marketing and promotions managers. Hence the new name for the Redbows website – the Essential Gifts Store. What we have done is made the website display our lowest cost and most popular promotional gifts including pens, mugs, mousemats and many others. We have also added seasonal best sellers such as our chocolate advent calendars. We will add more collections and promotional merchandise to this website over time and see how effective this latest approach is to serving our clients.

Cheap Promotional Items

Rob — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:37:04 +0000

Can you really get cheap promotional items? Well the answer is off course yes but there are other factors to consider. Firstly, let’s talk volume. The pricing of promotional items is volume related; so the more you purchase the more lower the unit cost. Secondly, there are often one off charges like origination (and sometimes a set up or mould cost). You can ‘amortise’ – accounting term – these costs and spread them over your total volume run. So, take promotional pens or promotional mugs as examples. Typical purchase quantities are 250-1000 pieces and there will be colour origination charges. If you opt for more than one colour, expect higher origination charges and therefore a higher overall unit cost for your promotional items. Thirdly, think quality and longevity. How long do you want your personalised mugs or personalised pens to last? The higher the quality, the longer the promotional items will last and be in use for. The lower the quality, the more general ‘wear and tear’ will impact on them. Look at the materials we use in our pens and mugs. Mugs can be made from plastic, recycled plastics, ceramics, earthernware and even china. The imprint can be a single spot colour, photo or CYMK print. All will affect the unit price and longevity of the products. If you consider pens, Redbows supplies personalised pens that include plastic, frosted plastic, recycled ECO plastics, metal and wood from sustainable forests. So when planning your promotional campaign, think wider than simply finding the cheapest promotional items, think about client impact, product quality and longevity, and exactly what you want the promotional item to say about your brand.

Top Three Business Gifts Uses

Rob — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:25:23 +0000

Have you ever wondered what are the three most popular uses for business gifts? Well you might be surprised to know that they include: exhibitions and tradeshow giveaways, employee and client rewards, incentives and brand builders. Not that surprising really but then the promotional gifts industry is essentially based on the simple premise that people like to receive gifts, that corporate and business gifts in particular can help to engender receptive feelings and responses towards a supplier and develop their overall brand image. So what are the most popular business gifts? Well by far and away the prime movers are the lower cost items that can be found everyday within an office environment like mugs, keyrings, pens, rulers and coasters. Off course in these environmentally conscious times, ECO gifts are also rising fast in popularity but so to are more novel ideas as the growing range of gadgets, in particular USB flashdrive variations, shows.

How Much For A Domain Name?

Rob — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:37:30 +0000

How much would you pay for a domain name? We are tracking one down that means something personal to us. The holder offered the domain to us for £15,000 originally and we have been working with them to get to a more realistic value for some time. If we can get this website for the right price we will simply purchase and hold it for some marketing later on in the year but without it our plans can still move forward. The problem these days is finding a decent domian name – one that is relevant, catchy to your business and off course short enough to print onto the smallest promotional items.

Promotional Items To Reward Clients

Rob — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:24:12 +0000

When it comes to promotional items the sky is the limit if you want to reward clients. Prices for promo items run from pence to several hundred pounds. All you have to think about is the quantity and your budget. Right? Well yes and know. You see there are certain promotional items that are the mainstay of the industry. These include pens, mugs, rulers, mousemats and coasters for example. Within these groups you will find a range of priced items and options but more importantly the opportunity to fine tune your marketing. You can choose promotional items that match the promotion you are working on and reach out to your target audience. Take promotional pens for example. If at an exhibition you are probably going to opt for a low-cost giveaway like a frosted pen but if you are running a direct mail campaign you may select a more expensive plastic pen. You may also decide to print on both the barrel and the clip for maximum impact (not always available on all pens). For an executive audience you may look towards a metal pen and pencil set, supplied in a personalised gift box. The point is that pens and these other types of promo items are not generic. Their selection requires a little more thought than just price and quantity,

Coasting Desktops With Free Advertising

Rob — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 08:09:54 +0000

Promotional coasters are one of the lowest coast and most effective promotional items available. Why? Well imagine how many desks there are in the world that have been saved from coffee and tea mug stains thanks to the humble promotional coaster. Seriously, nearly every desk has one and get the design and material right and you will enjoy free desktop advertising for months if not years on the desks of your clients. Is there a trick when it comes to using coasters in promotions? Well as with any promo gifts you have to make sure you get maximum impact by using a more visual image rather than a written one. So go for a high-impact visual design with just your logo and contact details. Also make sure your coaster materials are up to the job. You can choose from plastic, leather, metal, wood and even compressed paper card with a plastic coating. A personal favourite of mine is the ‘heat and reveal’ type which can present two images to a client – one when not in use and one that appears after a hot mug has been placed on it.