The Redbows Promotional Gifts Blog

Last week we were working with a client who wanted to look at promotional bags as a product to use at tradeshows and exhibitions. Now these types of promotional products do vary considerably in their price range and the types of materials they are made from. There are also several different types of bag including document, laptop, executive, sports, exhibition and backpacks. Price often reflexs the complexity of the product. Take a drawstring bag compared to an executive laptop case for example. Visually you can immediately see the simpliity of one product to the complexity of another with its carry handles, shoulder straps, zipped pockets and pouches. However what both have in common is a great print area and one that can take a number of different print options. There are several imprint techniques when it comes to promotional bags including digitial transfer, screen print, laser engraved and embroidery. We always recommend one that is suitable for the bag material, cost of the product and expected life. You see bags have a life that can extend far beyond a tradeshow or exhibition. Get it right and a promotional bag can last for several years, always getting used and advertising your brand. So how did we end the week with this particular client? Well they opted for a quantity of drawstring bags for their show next month but they also ordered a small quantity of the executive bags for their top clients as a ‘thank you’ gift for last year. Not a bad way to end the week.

Just how small can you be before you experience the impact promotional items can have on your marketing? Well we know several ‘one-person’ bands to give them their politically correct name, who have been using promotional merchandise to build their brand and get their name in front of people. One of the classics for this are promotional pens, printed with a logo and contact details. Some of these smaller entrepreneurs are never without a supply of these pens and make sure they press one into the hand of everyone they meet. They also make sure the pens are of a high-enough quality, with a classic or modern eye-catching design. It really does not matter whether you are a small business owner or large corporate. The power of using promotional products in your marketing and daily activities is one you should harness immediately and rest assured as you will never turn back.

Everyone tries to use time as a differentiator but there are times when when we cannot respond as fast as we want to an enquiry and even have to tell a client that what they are asking for is impossible – yes it even happens in the promotional merchandising industry. Most enquiries can be dealt with within a reasonable timeframe. On our promotional gifts website we show single print options and we duplicate this data within our quotations systems. In fact the quotation system contains more price breaks and priced print options. We define these as standard enquiries. Non-standard enquiries are project-related and cover items not on our website or items on the website for which we do not have immediate information in relation to a high quantity print or variation. Non-standard promotional items do take longer to quote and sometimes can take even up to 2-3 days if they are possible. One reason for this is that we may have to turn to a new supplier through our global supply network and it can take time to get a quotation, especially when we are crossing time zones. So do we ever say no? Well occasionally we have to. The most common reason for this is deadline. Whilst we have a FastTrack range, sometimes even this cannot be supplied within the timeframe required. It all comes down to planning and communication.

Now is a great time of the year to take a large piece of paper, whiteboard or spreadsheet and simply map out your promotional marketing events for the year. Most campaigns will include both above and below-the-line activities and once you have a clear schedule and media map you can then start to think about timing in relation to promotional products. This is important because very often we work in a micro-world and do not always see the big picture. Mapping out your entire promotional campaign lets you see all the planned events and to start to consider the merchandise and giveaways you will need to order during the year. Instead of going for last minute deliveries, you could then start to work with a promotional gifts supplier like Redbows to ensure you get the best possible prices and deliveries – when you want them – during the year. This is not a contract order but a way of building a relationship with a gifts supplier in much the same way as you would with any other marketing agency. How this works in practice is that you will place orders for bulk promotional items such as the stock merchandise that most companies use – pens, mugs, mousemats and flashdrives – but your gifts supplier can then also make you aware during the year of trends (and what’s hot) and make suggestions for the latest appropriate gifts for your events as they appear on the market. People talk about the 80:20 Pareto rule. Well in this case you could say that 80% of your gifts will be the stock merchandise items and 20% more unusual gifts. It will be the latter that could really set your company appart and help to generate outstanding sales results in 2009. The important aspect to all this is communication and the forming of a unique products supply relationship that goes beyond mere client and supplier. Gifts marketing is as much an art as it is a science.