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Part One……
First of all, do you even need a promotional ballpen?
In any list I’ve ever seen on the most popular promotional items for businesses to use, the pen is always there, and usually top five or three. I’m not surprised.
So, why would should I start this article with such a negative sentence (Do you even need one?), when clearly, the promotional pen has a lot going for it?
It has been said that the average low-cost promotional pen has five owners in its lifetime. Just think about that for a minute, five people owning your pen. Five people picking up and using your pen, with your company message and contact details on it, every day. FIVE!!
Now think about what happens to your typical business card that you give away? That’s right, if you’re lucky, it’s filed away, hardly ever to be seen again.
Pause for thought that isn’t it? All that money you spend on printing your business card, simply to have it filed away, and yet, potentially, a simple budget priced promotional ballpen will be sat on your targets desk for months!!
Simple really. The promotional pen can be brilliant, and could be right for your business, but whether it is or isn’t right depends on four things, who you are, what you are trying to do, exactly which promotional pen you are considering selecting, and finally, how you are going to use it?
Whether or not a promotional pen is the right way forward for you depends on ‘HOW’ you answer these questions….good as a pen is, it may not be the right solution for you, and even if a pen is the right solution, how are you going to select the right one for your particular purpose?
Most of my customers are businesses, and they are usually using promotional gifts (pens in this case) to either stimulate sales, ensure their company is remembered, or as a gift or award. You can imagine straight away, that depending on the “who, what, which and how”, we would suggest very different solutions from one client to the next.
So how can this help you?
Part Two…..
f our original article didn’t answer all your questions, maybe this second part will help.
Promotional pens are a very powerful way to promote your business, but with so many different promotional pens to choose from, how can your business be sure of making the right choice? In one of earlier articles, we suggested you ask yourself four questions, to ensure you choose the right promotional pen for your business objectives.
1:- Who are you?
Are you a very serious and sensible business, or are you a fun, imaginative and vibrant business? Does a low cost plastic pen adequately represent your business or do you need a pen that ?you? would like to write with? Is your business all about style, or perhaps colour is important to you?
2:- What are you aiming to achieve with a promotional pen?
If the pen is for an award or gift this is easy, it’s all about taste/style v budget, and virtually anything is possible. You’ll be guided by your own taste…. what sort of pen would you like to receive as a gift/award? Do you want it engraved? Will it be gift boxed? Is the pens brand name important to you? It’s a play off here as well, as the “perceived value” is usually a major factor in the selection criteria.
Usually however, it’s for one of two other reasons:
a) To be given away in large quantities at a trade show or exhibition, or to be simply scooped up by visitors to your premises. Usually there’s no formal interface with your targets, these are the typical promotional freebies. You know that these pens aren’t the best on the planet, they may not be the sort of pen you would personally like to write with, but as long as they fit your company profile in some way, you are happy to use them to promote your business. Your hope is that it will reinforce the brand, get a simple message across, or may even lead to business from the recipient.
One of the best examples of getting this right was with a client that wanted to create a ‘busy’ stand at a trade show. They were going to go with a typical budget ballpen, but actually decided to go with a pen that ‘lit up’ when used. It had a light-up ‘number one’ on the top, and of course they linked into this with the personalisation we printed onto the barrel?. “Acme Tool Co’simply the best” Tel 01202 882 8933.
They had people queuing up to speak to them at the event, all to get their hands on one of these pens, and the best bit?, all of the other exhibitors around them were complaining about having a quiet trade show.
b) To act as your ‘calling card’ or business card. These pens are always given to your targets personally. Not necessarily with a lot of fuss, but there will be an interface…”need a pen? Why don’t you use mine?” or maybe you’ll try “that’s all right, keep it”. You’ll be a lot more interested in the style, look, and feel of these pens, after all, you and your staff will almost certainly be using them as well.
With both of these aims, some consideration needs to given to the following:
* Do you need a big printable area on the pen? Its amazing how restricted you will be with the print options on many of the pens. Is this is important to you?
* Does the pen need to be different from the one your competitors are giving away?
* Is a specific colour for the pen important to you?
The Final Chapter. . . .
The final part in ‘all you ever wanted to know about choosing a promotional pen, but were afraid to ask’….. Imprinted pens are a very powerful way to promote your business, but with so many different promotional pens to choose from, how can you be sure of making the right choice? In our earlier articles, we suggested you ask yourself four questions to ensure you choose the right pen for your business objectives. These are the final two questions you should be considering:
3:- Exactly which pen are you considering?
For all of the reasons already detailed, each specific pen will have its own personal characteristics, most of which you will be able to identify simply by looking at a picture and maybe some text. At the moment for example, pens with a rubber grip are in demand.
The web is great for trawling for ideas, but there are times when you need to talk to the experts (that’s me by the way)!!
There’s a very popular pen widely available, and which sells very well indeed over the web (in fact, it’s on our web site too). The pen looks absolutely stunning, and at such a low price as well, but everything comes at a price. I always ask my clients to physically hold the pens they are considering, and this particular pen just doesn’t cut it. Time and time again, I have clients that are considering this pen, and yet discount it as soon as they hold it. It’s just so lightweight. I’d love to have the data on all of the people who have bought this pen, no wonder it’s so popular on the web, but there must be a lot of disgruntled purchasers out there.
Ever heard the expression ‘you don’t know, what you don’t know, because, you don’t know‘ ? If all you’re looking for is one of the usual suspects of promotional pens, the web is great, go have a browse and happy clicking, but, if you need something a little different, give the experts a call, you’ll be amazed at some of our solutions.
4:- How are you going to use it?
This was mostly covered earlier in section two, but let me give you another example:
One of our clients used their pens as low cost promotional business cards. I asked the MD how he gave them away, and he answered, ‘whenever one of my reps visits a customer, they always leaves a handful of pens with the admin/reception staff, and then go through to meet the buyer’. Makes sense doesn’t it? No problem, except that when I asked him what pen he gave to the buyer he simply stared at me. It was the same low cost budget pen!!! He realised where this was going when I asked him what he would do if I gave him a similar pen.
My solution for this client was to provide an alternative low cost pen, one that really stood out from the crowd, as well as low cost metal pens. All for less than he was currently paying!!! Win, win.
Think about the how bit long and hard.
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