Tag Archives: promotional pens

Why We Love Promotional Merchandise (And You Should, Too!)

promotional mugs

It may be hard to believe but, with roots dating as far back as the 18th century, promotional merchandise has a magnificent and revolutionary history.

From one of its earliest credited uses paving the way for the presidential election of George Washington; to its contribution in building some of the world’s brand behemoths; it’d be accurate to say that promotional merchandise has a successful history.

Yet, even with so many success stories it is astonishing that with every year that goes by, more and more marketers are eliminating the promotional product from their marketing plans.

Did you know? Only 49% of Marketers think about using promotional merchandise.

This comes as no surprise however, as, with the growth of online marketing, ecommerce and an emergent number of articles singing the praises of the latest social network; it’s easy for promotional merchandise to be eradicated with other, seemingly more lucrative marketing initiatives taking its place.

Did you know? 21.8% of marketing spends in 2013 were spent online.

Yet, with every day that goes by the online marketplace is becoming a fierce place for small businesses to operate in.

In 2014 businesses are predicted to increase online ad spend by 3.8%. With the news that Facebook is continuing to sever the rope that connects you and your customers, to the ever irritating Google algorithm changes and the both confusing and expensive AdWords, online marketing is fast becoming a landscape where only the power of money talks. Put simply, small businesses just cannot compete.

Nonetheless, for small businesses, the outlook doesn’t have to be so bleak; perhaps it is time you look back to the remarkable results of promotional merchandise. Sure it’s still going to be important to build a presence online, but with an unstable online climate and with 44% of people finding marketing online ‘annoying’, there is perhaps an opportunity in the proven traditional promotional products.

A report from the BMPA in 2011 shows its support of this statement in its key findings:


Key findings:

• Promotional merchandise can deliver a higher or equal ROI than most forms of advertising

• 66% of respondents said they could remember the brand on the promotional product they received during the last year

• 79% said they were likely to do business with the company in the future

• 8 out of 10 (84 per cent) respondents said that a branded promotional gift increases brand awareness

• Over three quarters (87 per cent) of recipients said they kept a promotional gift for longer than 12 months

• Over half (56 per cent) of respondents said their opinion of the brand/company was more favourable after receiving the promotional product

We’re not arguing that you should drop online marketing altogether, but with the average ad spend online rising, the agony of fighting for customer attention and the price of promotional merchandise dropping, maybe it’s time you look back into past successes and invest in a trusted product that has unique opportunities for the future.

Did you know? Reddit, one of the most popular social news and entertainment sites, seeing 100 Million Unique visitors per month, only spent $500 on marketing, spending all $500 buying promotional stickers!

Power of the Pen

The Power of a Pen

How you can harness pen power in your business…

When the ancient Egyptians first invented the pen it’s impossible to know whether they understood the influence its creation would have on the world. The pen’s ability to document and share information in a tidy format revolutionised our world as it has acted as a pillar of knowledge and played a key role in distributing important knowledge.

Fun fact: Pens are  mysterious little buggers! Have you ever experienced the moment where you needed a pen and they all just suddenly vanish from existence? We always need a pen and yet we can never find one.

Since the invention of the computer, the vast rise of the internet and the conquering of this new exciting space by apps like Twitter and Evernote, pens have seen an unfortunate decline. Handwritten letters have quickly been replaced by text messages and emails, and notepads are disappearing from your weekly meetings as iPads and Notebook computers pop up in their place.

But we believe the power of the pen is still alive and especially so when it comes to marketing your business. The decline of pens may even be an opportunity for the right business to take the market by storm, as the pen now has an aura of beauty and that personal touch around its use.

Pen idea: Consider that we only receive hand written items on birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions, it may be worth contemplating the effect a pen can have when trying to impress, influence or appease your customers.

The pen’s use as a marketing tool doesn’t have to stop there either, as when considered as a promotional item it is both affordable and very useful to the person who receives it. Research by the BPMA seems to agree with this as well, as they discovered 80% of people in receipt of a promotional pen will keep it for over 6 months! That’s an astonishing amount of time your brand can be placed in front of your target market and not something that should be underestimated.

So the power of pen is still there, it just needs a little thought and perhaps an extra bit of clever personalisation to really make a difference/work for you!