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16 Fun and Easy Kids Birthday Party Theme Ideas

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There’s so much to think about when planning a birthday party for your child – especially if you want them to have the best party of all time! From deciding where to host the party, to what party invitations to buy, it can feel fairly overwhelming.
Having a solid kid’s birthday party theme can help make everything that little bit easier. You can design the decorations, invitations, and even the food to coordinate with the theme, so that nothing looks out of place. And theming a birthday party doesn’t have to be difficult, time consuming or expensive!
Here are 16 fun and easy birthday party themes for you to choose from.

1. Detective

Why not put a twist on the classic theme of cops and robbers by throwing a detective themed party. Give out some cheap magnifying glasses, and have the children search for crime-solving clues in a scavenger hunt.
You could use brown paper bags decorated to look like evidence bags, and put some mini disguise kits and a notepad inside each one to act as their party favours. You could even finish the party with a classic game of Cluedo!

2. Sports Day

If you’d prefer an outdoor party, then a sports day themed birthday would be perfect for your back garden, or even the local park.
The children can dress up in their sports kit and you can pick activities such as a sack race, a ball relay, or if the weather is warm enough, maybe water balloon dodgeball! You could finish the party off by giving out medals and prizes to those who took part. This trees invitation will help spread the message that the party will be held outside!

3. Lego

When it comes to throwing an awesome, creative, and gender-neutral party, what’s better than lego? Not only will it be popular, but it’s likely that you will have enough at home to add to the decor.
Why not have a building challenge, or use some moulds bought online to create sweets or chocolates in the shape of these bricks. You could even create bigger bricks for decoration by using some boxes and painting them in the same colours as your theme. A construction-themed party invitation will help get guests in the mood for building!

4. Princes and Princesses

The great thing about a prince and princess themed party is that as well as being timeless, it’s also flexible. Whether you go for a general royalty theme, or base it around a specific Disney princess, you’re bound to have a perfect time.
Consider activities such as magic wand making, a scavenger hunt for royal treasure, and maybe swap musical chairs for musical thrones! Have pink lemonade and cut some sandwiches into dainty heart shapes. End the party with some cheap plastic crowns as party favours. This sparkly pink love heart invitation definitely gives off princess vibes.

5. Pirates

If your child is into pirates, then have a swashbuckling good time with a pirate-themed bash. Organise a scavenger hunt and have the kids search for pirate booty, and if they’re dressed up then even better! Luckily, pirate costumes are cheap and easy to make – all you need is an eye patch, a bandana and a billowy shirt.
You could even add to this with some temporary skull and crossbones tattoos, and if you have activities making pirate flags and telescopes, then they will really look the part. End the party with some fish and chips and ‘grog’. This spooky skull invitation would be perfect!

6. Pancakes and pyjamas

If you’re not a fan of sleepovers, then throwing a pancakes and pyjamas themed birthday can be a great alternative.
With a spread of pancakes, pastries, fruit, cereal and yogurt available, consider activities such as pancake decorating, pillow sack races and making necklaces out of your favourite hoop shaped cereal, all whilst wearing the comfiest pyjamas!

7. Rainbows

The best part of throwing a rainbow themed party is going crazy with all the colours, and not limiting yourself to just one or two hues. This makes shopping for props a breeze!
You can buy brightly coloured balloons and streamers for some exciting décor, have guests dress up in their favourite colours, and provide face painting as an activity. Food can be kept simple with rainbow fruit or veggie kebabs and if you have the time, you could make some rainbow fruit ice lollies. Add to the theme with this bright rainbow balloon party invitation.

8. Robots

Consider picking robots if you are looking for a versatile theme. With mostly silver, and one other colour, such as orange, blue or green, you could recycle some old boxes by sticking robot faces on them. You could even cut a circle in one of them to make a photo booth!
Why not put your snacks into different sized aluminium food trays, and arrange them to look like a robot, and for drinks, label some bottles as fuel. For activities, create your own masks and play a special game of musical robot statues.
And don’t think that robots are just for boys, either – this gears of love invitation combines robotic gears and subtle hearts for a girly touch.

9. Science

Throwing a science party is one of the most fun themes on this list; think orange, green and purple to create a mad lab with your little scientists. You could use food colouring in water for drinks and decorations, and you could even buy some petri dishes to put jelly in with some gummy worms.
Some simple science-themed party activities could include making slime, or conducting the classic coke and mentos experiment. As long as you have lots of bubbles and foam then you are bound to have a fun time. Don’t forget to dress up in your white lab coats!

10. Unicorn

If your little one wants a magical or fantasy themed party, consider picking unicorns! You could stick to a pastel colour scheme, or even combine this with the rainbow theme for an enchanted time. Party snacks can be as simple as candyfloss for unicorn hair, and chocolate covered pretzel sticks with sprinkles for a unicorn horn.
Activities can be just as easy, with adapting a simple ring toss game to create toss the ring on the horn, or pin the tail on the unicorn instead of the donkey. Why not have the children decorate unicorn shaped biscuits for a fun and yummy treat.

11. Under the sea

Under the sea is another simple yet effective theme for your child’s birthday! You can keep it basic and stick to sea animals, or you could adapt it and make it mermaid or Spongebob themed, for example. Consider decorating with blue, green and purple streamers – they would make a great backdrop if you hung them from the ceiling, or maybe you could add them to some balloons to make some wiggly jellyfish.
For food, you could cut pizzas and sandwiches to look like starfish, or even decorate fish-shaped biscuits as one of your activities. For delightful ocean themed desserts, consider individual jellies with gummy fish in them, or skewer some grapes to look like seaweed! This seaside party invitation will tie the theme together.

12. Zoo

While going to the zoo can be fun, when you invite even just a few of your child’s friends the ticket price can soon add up. Instead, why not bring the zoo to your home, with a zoo-themed party! Have everyone dress up as their favourite animals, and make masks or use face-paints.
Why not have animal themed snacks: bananas for monkeys, veggies for goats and peanut butter sandwiches for elephants, and as well as decorating using different animal patterns, why not pop some small toy animals on the snack table that can be used as party favours. This adorable pastel zoo invitation would fit the theme perfectly.

13. Dinosaur

Dinosaurs will always be one of those “roarsome” birthday party themes that will never go out of style, and with a simple colour scheme of green and brown, you are bound to organise this with no effort whatsoever.
Why not have a sandpit as a digging site, with some plastic dinosaurs for the children to find? Or if you want to go the extra mile, you could make some fossils using salt dough. Biscuits with dino footprints would make a great snack alongside a fruit-a-saurus salad, and hold a dinosaur egg and spoon race for some extra fun.

14. Outer Space

With space missions starting up again, now is the perfect time to throw a space themed party! Gear yourself up with space themed decorations – multicoloured balloons would make great planets (whether from this solar system or not!)
Come up with some galactic activities, such as painting ‘moon’ rocks, creating ‘UFO’ frisbees, and making some ‘alien goo slime’. How about some out of this world flying saucer pizza or special star shaped sandwiches? However you choose to throw this intergalactic bash, don’t forget to pick a side for dressing up. Will you choose to be an astronaut or an alien?

15. Woodland creatures

A woodland themed party is great for all ages, and can be perfect for any season of the year. The best part is being able to use things from nature in your decorations and activities, saving money. Why not have a pinecone treasure hunt? And if you’re out in the woods, you could have a den-building competition from logs and branches.
You could even incorporate a fairy theme into it if you wanted to, decorating fairy doors and making fairy or animal masks. The food is where you could get the most creative: decorate cupcakes to look like mushrooms, use Swiss rolls as logs, pretzels for twigs, and incorporate lots of different berries. This neutral toned butterfly party invitation would be perfect for a woodland party.

16. Ice Cream Sundae Party

Perfect for the summer months, an ice cream sundae party is simple, but very tasty! Create your own sundae station, and add things like sprinkles and chocolate sauce, but also different fruits, biscuits and fun cereal toppings.
Consider a themed game: participants roll a die and depending on the result, put a cherry on top, add some chocolate syrup, pass the bowl to the left, etc, and when it ends they eat what’s in front of them. You could also play the classic game of “duck duck goose”, but instead change it to “banana banana split.”
Have you chosen your ideal birthday party theme yet? When you’re ready to pick your perfect matching invitations, head over to 123Print to browse our huge range of templates. They’re available in two sizes (A5 and A6) and are all fully customisable. Happy designing!

Should I Put a Quote on My Business Card?

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If you came here wondering whether motivational business card quotes are popular, try searching the phrase ‘motivational quotes’ on Google’s search engine. The phrase returns nearly eight billion hits. That deserves repeating: eight billion!
To put that in context, it’s two billion more hits than searching for ‘Queen Elizabeth’.
Quotes on business cards are incredibly popular. People want to be inspired, and quotes are great for achieving this. But is it always a good idea to put a quote on a business card, and how can you choose the perfect one?
In this article, we’ll look at why motivational quotes are so popular, and answer how best to use them in your business card marketing.

Is it Legal to Use a Quote on a Business Card?

Before jumping into the fun stuff about how to search for the best aligning quotes for your business, it is worth taking a step back to talk about the legal aspects.
Disclaimer: The following information does not constitute legal advice. If you need legal advice, consult a lawyer.
You might wonder why the most popular promotional quotes come from people who have been dead for a long time. That is because, in most regions in the world where copyright law exists, copyright lasts for 70 years after the author’s death.
If you’ve been searching through your Instagram feed for modern usable quotes, this automatically rules out anyone still alive!

How to Legally Quote Someone

Unless the quote’s author or estate explicitly puts their work, rights-free, into the public domain, their use for promotional purposes is copyright protected. Simply citing the quote’s author doesn’t automatically grant permission for its use. If you want to use a particular copyrighted quote for your business card quote, there are things you can do:

• Seek written permission: Write to the author of the quote, or their estate, if deceased, seeking written permission to use. If you’re lucky, they may write back saying ‘okay’, or refer you to a licencing company (see below). If your business is educational non-profit or non-commercial, you may write to the copyright holder, requesting ‘Fair Use’ rights.
• Pay a Licencing Fee: For the use of some copyrighted works, a licencing fee may apply. If your business has a marketing budget, and using a particular quote is important, it is something to consider.

There are some situations where copyright exists, but the author or estate does not enforce it. This is true of Steve Jobs’s quotes, for example. However, just because an estate or author chooses not to enforce their copyright, it does not mean that they will not do so in the future.
Use a copyrighted quote without permission, at your own risk. If you choose to take a risk and go ahead anyway, be aware that law firms exist that make a business out of scanning the Internet for the express purpose of finding copyright-infringing material.

How to Choose the Right Quotes for a Business Card

The choice of a suitable business card quote is another element of good business card design. If you’ve done your marketing homework on your customers, you should be able to put yourself in their shoes and imagine what they’d find most motivating and inspirational.
Also, remember that any quote or motto you choose should resonate with your company’s employees. It can also be a fun and bonding process to ask your employees for their ideas, perhaps through a prize competition. Your employees may have insights that you have never considered.
Last but not least, once you search for quotes, you’ll realise that many of the best ones are quite wordy. While it is nice to have a meaningful quotation, carefully consider the number of words and the font size and don’t make the card look cramped.
As with all design decisions, there are several factors to consider:

Business Alignment

Are you searching for a general inspirational quote, or trying to find something specifically related to your business or customers?
For instance, for a business selling holistic medicine, an inspirational quote from the Dalai Lama might seem like an obvious choice. But the same quote might not work for a software services company, whose customers expect something more corporate and business-like.
Try to choose business card quotes associated with your sector. For instance, referring to the previous example, a Bill Gates or Steve Jobs quote would resonate better with the customers of a software services company.
It bears repeating that the best and most insightful use of quotes comes from a firm understanding of your business and customers.

Customer Trust

Consider that your choice of quote says something about your company and its values. Think about quotes that are both inspiring and meaningful, and try to align them with your customer’s values and expectations.
You should have a good idea of who your customers are. How old are they? What is their income level? Where do they live? You can use this information to seek out a quote that might resonate with their particular demographic group.
For example, a quote from a Beatles song might resonate with older generations, while today’s teenagers won’t get the reference. On the other hand, a quote promoting LGBT equality might go down better with a younger target market.

Humorous Quotes

Everybody enjoys a good laugh, but if you use humorous quotes, remember that they should be appropriate and not too risqué. Don’t offend potential customers through bad taste jokes.
Humour is more appropriate for some businesses than others. For example, if you’re a party shop, or a children’s soft play centre, it might be seen as quirky and cute to include a bit of fun in your quote. But if you’re in the financial sector – an accountant, for example – your customers might be looking for something a bit more serious.

International Business

If your business is international, consider whether your quote is culturally appropriate. Also, check that your quote has no unfortunate meaning in your customer’s native language.
For example, the Chinese dialect Cantonese has six tones, and some English words or phrases have unintended (sometimes unfortunate) meanings in Cantonese.
Bear in mind, also, your customer base’s religion. Perhaps avoid using a Bible verse if many of your customers are Muslim or Jewish, for example.

Example Quotes for Business Cards

Here are some example quotes suited to popular business types and general inspiration.
Plumbers

Plumbing is a dirty job, and there is a rich vein of snappy, humorous, and slightly risqué quotes online. Here are a few examples.
• “CALL US: We’ll Fix Whatever Your Husband Broke!” – Anonymous
• “Big or small, we fix it all” – Anonymous
• “We’ll do the dirty work, so you don’t have to” – Anonymous
• “The Drip Doctors” – Anonymous
• “Serving You Peace of Mind” – Anonymous
• “Laying pipe since 2007” – Anonymous
Spa

Massage rooms are most often candle scented, permeated by relaxing music. For this type of spa business, choose quotes that emphasise the health and mental benefits of massage:
• “Touch the Body, Calm the Mind, Heal the Spirit” – Anonymous
• “You’re only one massage away from a good mood” – Anonymous
• “Give your body the love it deserves, have a massage” – Anonymous
• “Massage day is the best day of the week” – Anonymous
• “Relax, Enjoy, Rejuvenate” – Anonymous
• “The Muscle Whisperer” – Anonymous
• “Recharge Your Body, Not Your Phone” – Anonymous

Web Design Company

Website design is an interesting combination of aesthetics and functionality. However functional a website is under the hood, its image and design is what the customer is buying into. For this type of creative business, choose quotes that emphasise your attention to detail and design.

• “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication” – Coco Chanel
• “People ignore design that ignores people” – Anonymous
• “Good design means never having to say ‘Click Here.’” – Anonymous
• “Inspiration the seed. Design but the flower” – Michael Langham

General Business Quotes

Here are a number of short inspirational and motivational quotes that would work well with many small businesses:

• “Do what is right, not what is easy” – Anonymous
• “It always seems impossible until it is done” – Nelson Mandela
• “If you want it, work for it” – Anonymous.
• “The harder I work, the luckier I become” – Terry Pratchett.
• “I never dreamed about success, I worked for it” – Estée Lauder.
• “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning” – Bill Gates
• “Creativity is intelligence having fun” – Albert Einstein

Where Can I Order Business Cards?

If you’ve chosen your perfect quote(s) and are ready to start designing your business cards, look no further than 123Print. With decades of experience printing all kinds of business stationery and promotional products, you can rely on us to print your business cards to a high standard of quality. And what’s more, we offer our services for an affordable price that won’t break the bank, even if you’re a small business just starting out.
Choose from one of our many business card templates, or create your own from scratch with our easy-to-use editor. Once you’ve approved the proof, we’ll print and post your order within 48 working days. And if you’re not happy, neither are we

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The Complete Guide to Promotional Postcards: How, When and Why

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Digital-only marketers reading this article might be asking why they should be thinking about promotional postcard ideas in the 21st century. Isn’t paper marketing a little passé?
It’s a fair question, but there is a lot of data about the importance to a brand of direct mail advertising. For a start, according to the latest statistics, up to 87% of people read all their physical mail – compared to promotional emails, where the global average is only 23%.
That’s less than a one in four chance that your promotional email gets opened, assuming that it didn’t hit the spam folder.

Now, no one is suggesting that you dump your promotional email campaigns—email is a powerful marketing tool—but consider promotional postcards as an interesting and highly customisable adjunct to your online marketing activities.
Aside from being useful for digital marketers, promotional postcards are an essential marketing tool for brick-and-mortar retail businesses, too.

Why Should You Use Promotional Postcards?

Promotional postcards are exactly what they sound like – postcards sent out to past customers, current customers, and potential customers to promote a business.
They can be used as a sturdier alternative to flyers, to advertise your products, services, or special offers. They can also simply be used for brand awareness and recognition, by wishing customers and clients a Merry Christmas, for example.

The one big advantage to postcards is that they can be put straight in the post box without an envelope. So you’re not only saving money on envelopes, but you’re also saving time stuffing and sealing them.

Promotional postcards can be designed to fit almost any colour scheme, theme, industry and occasion. They can also be fully customised with your business’s logo, preferred font and wording options.

When to Send Promotional Postcards

You can use personalised postcards in almost any way you’d like – as a thank you to a loyal customer, or to wish a longstanding client a happy birthday. But they’re most often used to advertise some sort of sale, promotion, or special discount that a business is currently offering.

The point of a promotional postcard is to remind your clients and customers about your company, and encourage them to get shopping now- otherwise they’ll miss the special offer! So, the right time to send a promotional postcard is whenever you’ve got a promotion or sale on.

There are a few typical sales periods to consider, such as:
Spring sale
Summer sale
Back to School
Black Friday
Christmas or Boxing Day sale
New Year

Think about how your product or service fits the season and create matching postcard promotions. For example, if you sell fashion products, promote clothes appropriate to the season.

Over the past ten years, the amount of online buying has risen massively. Now, throughout the year, there are various ‘cyber’ sales from online retailers, such as Amazon. It’s good to time your promotions to coincide with these sales and hook onto the shirt tails of the online sellers.

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What Do You Put on a Promotional Postcard?

Like any other form of marketing promotion, the design and content should be simple and eye-catching. Think about your marketing goal, and design the card in a way that guides the reader to take the action that you want.

If, for instance, you expect someone to buy a gym membership subscription, you might wish to write some enticing copy and offer a two-month-free discount via a QR code. The recipient scanning that QR code and accessing the sales page on your website is your promotional postcard’s ‘call to action’.

That may seem obvious, but without that one clear goal, the recipient might read it once, then toss it into the rubbish bin. The best promotional postcard ideas as simple and easy to execute.

How to Design a Promotional Postcard

How do you design a promotional postcard that will get read, as opposed to being thrown away? It’s all about making clever design choices that will help your postcard stand out from the rest.
Here are some promotional postcard design ideas that are sure to pull customers in.

Try Portrait Format

Most cards use landscape format. A portrait formatted postcard might prompt the recipient to pick it up and read. Getting someone to read your promotional postcard is the first hurdle to clear.

Contrasting Colours

The use of contrasting colours in a postcard design can help direct the recipient’s eye to an important piece of information, like price or a discount code.
However, use carefully, as overusing this technique may make a postcard hard to read.

Include Social Proof

Customers are far more likely to shop with a new business if they’ve got some sort of evidence that they won’t get scammed, or be sold an inferior product. People trust brands that other people recommend.
Where possible, leave space in your design for pictures of satisfied customers, testimonials or reviews. Even including your rating on TrustPilot, for example, is helpful.

Personalisation

Try to avoid sending postcards and direct mail to ‘The Occupier’ or some other anonymous entity. Unless you’re a cable company trying to entice a new tenant or owner to buy your service, it doesn’t work and is very impersonal.

Work at making your customer database as complete as possible. First name/last name and address are the minimum. If you are a local company and your mailshot is small enough, consider writing the name and address by hand, too.

People who receive direct mail consider it more personal than other forms of direct advertising, such as email promotions. Take advantage of this bias and make your promotions as personal as possible.

Use Eye-Catching Images

Use bright images that stand out. Your promotional postcard must grab the recipient’s attention before they move onto the next item. Make sure that your postcard stands out from the rest by choosing crisp, clear, large images that use eye-catching colours such as red.

If you haven’t got any of your own images to use (such as pictures of your products), there are plenty of royalty-free image sites that you can make use of.

Use Both Sides

A postcard has two sides, so make good use of both. What’s on the front of the postcard should entice the customer to turn it over and read the other side.
Of course, don’t forget to leave space for the customer’s address on the reverse of the postcard – unless you’re going door-to-door and won’t need to actually use the postal system.

Include a QR code

QR codes are becoming more popular as a marketing tool. Include one in your promotion and make it easy for your customer to find your online information.
By scanning the QR code, the recipient will be sent directly to your website, and straight to the pertinent page regarding the promotion. This is a lot easier than typing a link into a web browser.

You can even include a personalised tracking number linked to the postcard recipient, so you know who’s reading your mail.

Postcard Promotion Ideas

Understanding your business and customers will lead to many great promotional postcard ideas. Here are a few to get you started:

Loyalty Cards

The invention of the loyalty card has been a great boon to the marketing activities of many brick-and-mortar retail businesses.

The cards enable them to track customer spending and offer discounts for a product that they routinely buy. The loyalty card application process captures a lot of customer data, suitable for direct mail marketing campaigns, including postcards.

Personalised Offers

Using the customer’s purchase history, you can create personalised postcards featuring products that they regularly buy, or products they might like to try in the future.
For instance, if a customer buys an expensive cosmetic product from a boutique store, the store may estimate when it’ll run out and send a 10% off coupon. The customer comes to the store to use the coupon and buys more.

Home Buyers

Through public records, it is usually possible to find when properties are bought and sold. It is safe to assume that when someone moves into a new property, they need to buy household goods or services.

If your business sells anything that would interest a home buyer – such as kitchen gadgets, soft furnishings, home décor, or anything of the like – create a welcoming personalised postcard and send it to their new address.

Discount Codes

The discount code is probably the most effective form of promotion. An estimated 40% of direct mail receivers will access a target website after receiving an attractive offer.
Even if you only offer a small discount – such as 10% off your first purchase, or buy two and get one free – it will entice new customers to shop with you. Include a special coupon code that you only distribute through your postcards, and you’ll be able to track how successful your postcards are!

Free Gifts

This is a great way to reward loyal customers. The gift doesn’t need to be super expensive, and you can save it for your long standing clients. When they come to your store to redeem their gift, they’ll have a browse of your other products and may leave with more than they bargained for.

Customer Feedback

Postcards aren’t just for selling products. Shops and restaurants may also use them to get customer feedback. Include a few questions on your postcard such as “how did you hear of us?” and “how would you rate our products or services?” and leave space for your customers to write their answer.
You can also offer a free gift or discount in return for a completed survey!

Greetings Cards

If your customer database includes your customers’ or clients’ dates of birth, send a personalised birthday postcard with a gift certificate or coupon code. You can also send out promotional postcards at Christmas, New Year, Easter, Valentine’s Day, and so on – simply to wish your customers a great holiday.

Where Can I Buy Promotional Postcards?

You’ll want to have your promotional postcards printed professionally, rather than trying to do it at home. And there’s no better place to order promotional postcards in the UK than 123Print!

At 123Print, you can choose from hundreds of promotional postcard templates in two sizes. Our standard postcards measure 143 x 102mm, while our large postcards are 203 x 127mm. All of our postcards are printed on high quality 330gsm cardstock.

When you’ve found a template that you’d like to work with, simply click on it to begin editing. You can upload your business’s logo or other artwork straight from your device, and play with the text colour and font until it perfectly matches your company’s aesthetic. Feel free to save your design and come back to it later, if you haven’t the time to perfect it in one sitting!

We aim to dispatch all orders within 2 working days, and offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Head to 123Print today to browse all of our affordable and high-quality business stationery.

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Are Promotional Products Worth the Cost for Your Small Business?

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Promotional products are everywhere these days – no doubt, you even own a few of your own, picked up from business fairs, markets, and promotional giveaways.
Whether it’s a tote bag, mug, fridge magnet or umbrella flaunting your company’s logo, promotional products are perfect for both attracting new customers, and keeping your business fresh in the minds of existing and past clients.

Not only are promotional products effective for larger companies, they’re also perfect for improving brand awareness and recognition for small and medium-sized businesses. But of course, you have to allocate funds within your advertising budget to order these products before you’ll start to see a return on your investment. And it’s also important that you know how to use such products effectively, so that they’ll make the biggest impact on your customer base and sales.

This guide will talk you through what exactly promotional products are, and give you some examples of how to use them. We’ll discuss how much promotional products cost, the benefits they may bring, and discuss whether the rewards are worth the investment.

What Are Promotional Products?

A promotional product is, in essence, any physical item that bears your company’s name, logo, or slogan. This could be a pen, a keyring, a flyer, a t-shirt – anything, really. It might be a one-use-only item, like a paper cup, or something that’s designed to last for years, such as a ceramic mug. The merchandise itself doesn’t have to bear any relation to the service or product that your company actually sells.

You might have seen businesses handing out promotional products at trade shows or conventions, giving them away as freebies to customers with their order, or using them as giveaway prizes.

Many people think that promotional products are something of a gimmick, or simply used as a token gesture of kindness – but that’s not the case. Multiple studies have shown that promotional products are an invaluable form of advertising that can help to draw in new customers, and retain the existing ones. They can even help to boost morale among employees of a company, and improve employee loyalty.

Examples of Promotional Products and How to Use Them

As you might have guessed, there are many different kinds of promotional products, available at a number of price points. For example:

Flyers, leaflets and postcards are some of the cheapest promotional products. They’re so affordable that you can hand them out to passers-by, or hire a company to deliver them directly to homes as part of a local advertising campaign.

Magnets and keyrings are a step up in terms of price, but also durability. They won’t be discarded as quickly, and are perfect handed out as freebies with an order, or at trade shows and business fairs.

Drinkware such as glasses and mugs are designed to be used for many years, and make great gifts of thanks to longstanding clients and employees. While they may be on the costlier side, they’ll be used by your customers and employees regularly, increasing your exposure and brand awareness. One marketing study found drinkware to be one of the most influential kinds of promotional product – a famous example being the iconic Sports Direct mugs.

Clothing, bags and umbrellas are some of the longest-lasting and most effective promotional wares. They make great corporate gifts – the big benefit being that they’ll be taken outside, and be seen by the public!

The more hardwearing and high-quality the product, the longer it will last, and therefore the more expensive it will be to buy. But though these products may be pricier, they have the most usability and the longest lifespan – so they also have the most potential to help grow your business.

What Are the Benefits of Using Promotional Products?

The use of promotional products, gifts and merchandise will result in many tangible benefits for your business. Multiple marketing studies have shown that promotional products can:

Increase brand awareness and identification. Your name and logo will be more easily recognised and remembered.

Help improve brand image – change the way that people feel about your company. A study by the Advertising Specialties Institute found that people view companies who give them promotional items in an overwhelmingly positive light.

Increase your company’s sales. A customer is more likely to do business with a company if they own their merchandise, rather than a competitor who sells a similar product or service.

Increase employee morale, if your promotional products are given away to employees as a thank-you for their hard work.

Keep your business fresh in the minds of past customers. A potential customer will look at a branded mug and see your logo every single time they drink from it. This is much more effective than, say, passing a billboard.

Don’t forget that your promotional products won’t just have an effect on those who own them, but also anyone who sees the product being used. For example, if someone is carrying around a tote bag bearing your company’s name, this might be seen by anyone who passes them in the street.

Will My Customers Actually Use or Keep the Product?

In short – yes. Obviously, not every (potential) customer will be interested in keeping a branded product in their home; they may have no use for it, or no room to store it. But studies show that the average consumer will keep a promotional product for an average of 7 months.

For more durable and practical products, such as umbrellas, this average increases to 14 months. All this time, not only will your potential customer be looking at your logo every time they use the product – but they’ll also be seen using it, either inside or outside the home.

Furthermore, over 50% of people who own a promotional product will give it away to someone else when they’re finished with it, rather than throwing it in the bin. This will further spread brand awareness!

To increase the likelihood that your customers will actually use your promotional products, take into account your target market. Try to offer the kinds of products that your particular audience will be most likely to use. For example, if your company is popular with the over-70s, USB drives and tech gadgets may not be a sensible choice – but things and mugs and umbrellas might be perfect.

How Much Do Promotional Products Cost?

The cost of any promotional product will vary depending, of course, on what kind of product it is. For example, our magnets start at £15.95 for a pack of 20 small magnets – that’s less than 80p each.

Our personalised mugs vary in price depending on whether you want a single image or a wraparound-style image, and how many mugs you order. The more you order, the more you’ll save – a pack of 200 single image mugs comes to just £4.26 per mug.

In general, products which cost more to purchase are:
Larger
Higher quality
More durable
Reusable
Multi-purpose
Designed to be used for a long period of time (months or years)

Though a personalised coffee mug might be more expensive than a branded paper cup, for example, it will have a more lasting impression on the owner (whether that’s a customer or an employee), and will therefore generate more sales and interest in your company.

How Do I Know I’m Getting a Good Return on Investment?

Promotional products offer a greater return on investment than traditional types of advertising (such as newspaper ads and billboards). In terms of cost per impression (CPI), promotional merchandise is the most cost-effective form of advertising, at around 0.5p per impression.

A 2014 study by the British Promotional Merchandise Association also found that:

96% of marketers who had tried promotional products thought they were worth the money, in terms of increasing brand awareness
73% of the public said that they would purchase from a company that had given them a promotional gift

Data also shows that many customers will also remember the brand on their promotional product for many years after they have thrown or given the item away.

In terms of your own business, the most direct way to monitor whether you’re getting a return on your investment is to closely monitor your sales, website views, searches and clicks, both before and after you roll out your new promotional merchandise.

How Do I Factor Promotional Products into My Advertising Budget?

As excited you may be at the prospect of rolling out your new promotional merchandise to your employees and customers, don’t go overboard.

Make sure to factor in your spend on promotional products into your current advertising budget, to avoid overspending.

You may need to make some reductions in other methods of advertising, such as targeted online ads and promoted Facebook posts, in order to make room for your new ad specialties.

Think carefully about which promotional products you’ll need over the next 12 months when you begin your annual advertising budget. Start with products at a lower price point if you’re unsure.

Plan for a year’s worth of upcoming events, such as new product rollouts and seasonal sales. Be aware that it might take a while before you notice any additional revenue from your new products – but it will be worth it in the end.

Where Can I Order Personalised Promotional Products?

At 123Print, we offer a range of personalised promotional products including:
Flyers
Postcards
Keyrings
Magnets
Mugs
Stationery such as notepads, letterheads and rubber stamps

All of our products are fully customisable. You can select one of our templates to edit as you please. Or simply create your own design entirely from scratch using our editor.

Upload your own artwork (such as your company’s logo) for free. Choose a colour scheme and font that matches your business’s aesthetic.

You can order your promotional products in quantities of up to 2,000, the more you order, the more you’ll save. With fast shipping, competitive prices and a 100% satisfaction guarantee, you’ve got nothing to lose!