The Redbows Promotional Gifts Blog

The promotional gifts market is very competitive and it is possible to see many suppliers offering the same or similar products. Internet search engines and price comparators make it easy for clients to check out prices. So just how does a promotional gifts company differentiate itself and add value? Take a company like Redbows, its differentiation-based strategy is based on innovation and customer service. In terms of the latter, our mission is to provide the best possible customer service in the promotional products industry. This starts from the moment we ‘touch’ a potential client to looking after them through the quotation and ordering process, to final product delivery and after-sales follow-up. We have one of the highest client repeat ratios in the industry, simply because we look after our clients. In terms of innovation, we don’t just look to offer the latest products but also innovate in how we serve clients. This includes investments in our marketing, websites, Twitter and Facebook applications as well as internal process to the business itself. Every employee is involved in the customer service interface and acts as a customer service champion, in addition to being encourage to innovate. So no matter what promotional products (promotional mugs, pens and mousemats for example) you are looking for you can be assured that Redbows delivers ‘probably’ the best possible customer service in the promotional products industry.

We reckon that promotional pens, promotional mousemats and promotional mugs are the most popular promotional products available. What’s more prices are extremely competitive, especially when comparing competitors on the Internet. However, the recession has made some companies aggressive to the point of potential harassment. At Redbows we take a more relaxed approached – some of you may remember the Cadbury’s Caramel advert of the tortoise and the hare from many years ago. We are one of the more innovative professional marketers in the promotional products industry but our client base has been built by listening to clients, working with them and providing the best possible service. For us Redbows is about long term client relationship development and not about the quickest way to close the sale. Our mission is to provide outstanding customer service and the best value promotional products available.

Branded Promotional Products build relationships. Follow me here. When you give someone a present, and something that they will value and find interesting, you give them reminder of your brand. Something that could get used everyday come ‘rain or shine’. Examples are a plenty from the world of promotional merchandise and include your everyday Essential Corporate Gifts like pens, mugs, mouse mats and flashdrives to corporate clothing and executive gifts. The first promotional gifts were said to be branded buttons from the early 1920s but I would like sometimes to think that perhaps we could find examples going back even further. Sponsorship is said itself to go back to the days when a Royal personage or wealthy baron or lord would fund an event like jousting. Could we find examples of promotional products back then, given out to worthy knights and the crowd like branded ladies hanker chiefs? Who knows but I do think that promotional products date back further than the 1920s. As we approach the next decade, with 2010 just around the corner, one thing is for sure branded promotional products will be with us well into the next century. They are an essential marketing product because they help to build relationships.

Getting cheap promotional products is the name of the game. The promotional gifts industry like so many others is very competitive and only suppliers running lean processes, with a ‘can-do’ customer-focused attitude will survive. To supply the lowest cost promotional products without sacrificing customer service requires a real dedication and focus. It also requires a collaborative approach from our suppliers and a partnership. One such example is with our credit card authorisation supplier. We have got the costs down so low that Redbows is one of the few companies to not add any extra charges to an order for credit card payments (excluding American Express off course!). In this way we make sure we supply the cheapest promotional products, efficiently and supported by the best possible service. Don’t forget as well that we also run the industry leading ‘Price-Busters‘ promise to make sure that we are always competitive, even if we have to adjust our website pricing to do so and our Money Off promotions are always a real hit with clients.

Finding promotional gifts suppliers has never been easier thanks to the internet. In so many industries, search engines like Google have opened up the competitive base to a wider selection of potential suppliers. However, all is not what it seems. When you look for Promotional Gifts Suppliers it is easy to find a whole host of companies. What you need to do is look a little deeper and what’s behind the curtain. For example, it is relatively easy these days to put up a website and promote oneself. Get it right and you can get a top search ranking position relatively quickly on Google. What’s important is to treat visiting the website in just the same way as you would visiting a retail shop. When you click on the homepage does this look like a proper company, is it a limited business, with UK coverage, contact details and a UK trading address? Does the website appeal and make you want to browse and purchase from it? Are there customer comments, referrals, case studies and testimonials from well known organisations? Does the promotional gifts supplier’s website, offer incentives and rewards to purchase? Do they look as thought they understand promotions and is it their core business? Above all industry associations also legitimise a company – look for some of the main industry body endorsements and accreditations like the PSI, Promota and The British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA). Finally, telephone the company. Do the people sound professional? Do you feel that you’re in the capable hands of a promotional gifts consultant? At Redbows you will be…

What are the best examples of USB promotional products and how can they be used? In a word or three: USB Flash Drives or flashdrives or Memory Sticks as they are sometimes known. What makes these promotional products so special is the fact that they are extremely popular. Find one computer user, especially someone in sales, marketing or IT who does not have at least one USB flash drive. This is the beauty about this type of product, it gets used, it gets seen and provides a really great platform for your marketing and promotional message. At Redbows we have several hundred types of flashdrive available. These include plastic, metal, wooden and leather-cased. Typical order quantities can range from as low as 50 pieces with sizes up to several GigaBytes (GB). There are also ECO environmentally friendly flashdrive alternatives with cases made from recycled plastics, sustainably managed forests (in the case of wooden cases) and plants such as bamboo.  The most common uses of such USB promotional products includes: promoting a website, as incentives for competitions, rewards and general promotion. What we like best about these products is in addition to offering a great imprint area and branding options (screen printing, embossing and laser engraving), USB flashdrives can also be supplied pre-loaded with valuable data. This could include branded datasheets and manuals or conference and exhitions presentations, top tips, reasons to buy, common FAQs and other such material. Accessories for this range are also quite extensive. Gift boxes are commonly used to make them more personalised and these can include lanyards, keyrings and other such materials. Even with a fluctuating Dollar-to-Sterling exchange rate flashdrives and memory sticks are still firm favourites when it comes to USB products for promotions.

How do you promote your organisation and engage with clients pre and post-sale? What incentives and rewards do you provide for new business and repeat customers? We do not often question our sales process but the other day (as we introduced another Price Busters promotion) I had a chance to review our approach with my sales team. You see at Redbows the first thing we recognise is that we are in the promotions industry. We help organisations and their clients promote themselves – whether this is a new website, contact details, company and brand name or some other product or service specific promotion. So we provide incentives that are designed to get clients to place orders with us for promotional merchandise. My belief is that we do not just have to offer this but also to be the best at delivering them we can be. We also offer a full price busting service allowing us to under-cut any like for like quotation. Now thinking further down the line when it comes to the sales process, what gifts do you offer clients as an incentive to place an order? All to often we see giveaways simply – given away without being handed over as an incentive to purchase. One you’ve got the order, what are you then going to offer clients as a reward for their next purchase and continued loyalty? Do you offer any incentives or rewards at Christmas? What do you offer for referrals and other sales leads? It is no wonder that at Redbows if asked what our price range is we can say a penny to several hundred pounds for a single gift – it just depends on what you are rewarding and incentivising.

Well this June our promotional gifts blog is two years old. Boy that means we have been writing thoughts and ideas down for 24 months. So a big thank you to everyone at Redbows who has contributed and even authored the odd post here and they. During this time our blog has been imitated by many, hacked and plundered for it concepts and content. However, we remain vigilant and look forward to being creative and doing what we do best – effective promotional marketing for ourselves and our clients.

April showers – we love’em because it means sales of our promotional umbrellas go literally through the roof. No seriously umbrellas are one of those promotional products that get clients noticed and their branding across. So what ensures a successful umbrella promotion? Well first thing to do is choose an umbrella product that meets your budget. This is relatively easy because most umbrellas can be grouped into sports, walking, automatic, gents and female. The most popular type of umbrella gift is the golf umbrella off course because it offers such a large canopy. Next think about your branding. Most umbrellas have eight panels and it is possible to print on just one or all of these and even to have alternate message. There are other customisations that you can do in terms of the handles and shafts but most clients pick a brolly, choose the colours and off they go to print. Job done. Off course there are some new alternatives such as the Quadbrella and Twinbrella – double sized and large, and more suited to corporate events and promotions.

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.