I write a daily blog on three different sites. I have done this now for over a year and have not missed a day. That is until yesterday when all three of my blogs magically disappeared for 24 hours. As it was Sunday there was no one I could contact for help so I just had to wait it out to see if a year’s work had been lost into the deepest depths of cyberspace.

This got me thinking, however. I try to be an optimist and although I know my daily blogging has helped literally hundreds of new customers to find my company I didn’t want to panic.

Instead I focused on the other marketing I have done over the years. Promotional gifts have played a major part of my offline marketing. In fact promotional merchandise is the only type of promotion I do offline. And this offline marketing has worked wonders!

We live in an age where interruption based marketing such as telesales, television commercials and door to door sales are no longer – if they ever were- cool. No one wants to be interrupted during their busy work day which is presumably why blogging has taken off in the big way it has. Blogging helps people to find you when they want to find you.

Promotional gifts work in a similar non-obtrusive way. A nice promotional clock can sit happily on your customers’ desktops for months if not years. For that matter, so could a nice logo printed mug, coaster, pen – you get the idea.

I always stress the importance of giving useful gifts to promote you business. Giving your customers a gift they can use regularly and actually be happy to own will ensure your details are within easy reach when they next need your products and/or services.

I personally use business gifts in several different ways depending on the audience I trying to attract.

There was the time I sponsored a charity run where it was important to get the message to donate out to the masses. We gave away printed t-shirts and sports bags to the athletes and they wore and carried the message along with my logo for all to see. I might add that they advertise my company and the message of the charity each and every time the use the promotional textiles.

I give away more personal promotional gifts to my day to day customers regularly. Merchandise that sits on their desktops is ideal. Who wouldn’t want a good quality pen or mug? These are the gifts that you know they will continue to use and use often.

More often than not I give away low cost promotional gift – which I call ‘friendly reminders.’ Such gifts can easily be sent out or given away in bulk.

Of course it is also a good idea to thank your top customers from time to time with more expensive gifts that they will appreciate and will no doubt make them want to continue doing business with you.

I am happy to say that my blogs were eventually restored! But even if they had not been I am confident that business would not have simply stopped. Over the years I have given away promotional gifts to all of my good customers. I am confident that they know where to find me and that is comforting!

Have you ever tried handing out good quality promotional merchandise to your customers?If so, what gifts have worked best for you? Feel free to share.

By Dan Toombs

You don’t need me to tell you that people love to have logo printed products of their favourite eating and drinking establishments. This is especially so with the coffee lover crowd. Whiling away the hours with friends, a cup of coffee or four and perhaps a bit to eat makes for a great day.

These people who enjoy frequenting your business are the same people who can and will actually want to help promote it.

Promotional merchandise has been used very successfully in all types of eating and drinking venues. Sometimes the merchandise is simply given away but more often than not it is sold. Think about that… You can sell merchandise with your logo and details on it and that same merchandise will help promote your business to others.

Following are some of the most popular promotional products that have been used to promote coffee shops very successfully.

Printed Mugs

This is an obvious one I know. Why not offer all of your drinks in nice earthenware mugs printed with your logo and details. You could then offer them on sale as well for people to take home with them? A full promotional gift display looks fantastic.

Promotional Pens

Many people like to go to their favourite coffee house to relax and do a bit of work. Often this could be to write in a journal or just to write a few personal letters. This has been the case for many years. Make sure that you give away or sell good quality pens. Checking out the range of pens by Prodir Pens and Senator Pens is a good place to start.

Promotional Note Books

If you are selling pens, why not go all the way and have a stylish notepad produced. People will use them. I know from experience!

Printed T-shirts

Promotional printed t-shirts work like walking billboards for your business. People love wearing printed t-shirts. You could even offer them or any of the gifts mentioned here as incentives to visit your coffee shop often. Perhaps offer a free t-shirt with every tenth cup of coffee.

Promotional Coffee Cup or Coffee Bean Stress Balls

Stress ball are fun! You will be surprised to see just how quickly they go. A lot of businesses hand them out free of charge just as a thank you gift to their best customers. Others decorate their businesses with them.

However you choose to use promotional coffee themed stress balls, your customers will know doubt love them.

By Dan Toombs

A 2010 study by the ASI (The Advertising Specialty Institute) showed that an amazing 63% – that’s two thirds – of business people questioned in the UK have received and kept a promotional pen within the last 12 months. Can you see the outstanding marketing and brand building potential here?

The study also showed that on average a promotional pen is used 19 times per month. In fact the study also showed that promotional pens are the most often used promotional product in London.

Of course poor quality pens will be used much less often. Good quality pens such as Prodir pens and Senator pens will be used more frequently. A good quality brand name gift pen could be used daily.

When you are choosing corporate pens to promote your business, it is a good idea to ask yourself if you would want to own and use the pens. If the answer is no, then don’t buy them. I get asked regularly for the cheapest pens we supply. Personally I think this is false economy!

You do not need to spend a lot of money to find good quality promotional pens that will represent your company in a positive way.

I write with and test popular promotional pens daily which I regularly review and blog about. I do this to help my readers find the perfect pens for their business. When people purchase pens for promotion, they are more often than not in a hurry so I hope the reviews help.

That said, there is nothing like trying a pen before you buy to ensure you are buying the best pens for your marketing requirements. Plastic pen samples are normally free of charge where gift pens can usually be sent out to be tested and then returned. I strongly recommend that you do so if time allows.

One good rule of thumb when purchasing budget pens is If they are being sold for next to nothing, there is probably a good reason for it. If you really want to see for yourself, don’t just write with the pens – take them apart. Look at the quality of the spring and refill inside. Compare the construction of the economy pens to that of other pens.

Which do you think will represent your business the longest and in the best way?

Promotional pens – when of good quality – can be used by the owner for months if not years. This is excellent low cost advertising. Remember, the longer the pen is kept and used, the more good publicity your company will receive.

By Dan Toombs

Promotional Parker Jotter Pens are some of the most popular corporate pens in the UK.

Choosing cost effective promotional merchandise can be one of the greatest challenges for the business owner. It is important to search for promotional products that will attract new customers and keep those long time loyal customers loyal.

This task is made even more frustrating when you do not realise instant results. Often this has led small business owners and even a few larger businesses to slim down their marketing budgets.

This is not a good idea.

You see, when you use good quality promotional pens to promote your brand, you know that you are giving away gifts that will be used and will ultimately achieve excellent results over time.

Following are a few ways to use promotional pens and gift pens in your marketing that will get you the results you want.

Give Promotional Plastic Pens Around the Office

Whether you have a lot of staff or just a few, ensuring a good quantity of logo printed pens are scattered around the office is a good idea. This will help increase brand awareness with your employees and any visitors. It will also ensure no one needs to go looking for pens around the office.

Give Away Good Quality Plastic Pens at Special Events

Whether you are exhibiting at a trade show or doing a direct mailing campaign, ensure your good customers receive at least one quality plastic pen – more if you can. Quality is the key word here.

Remember that although cheap plastic pens may seem like a good idea at the time, over time they could do you more harm than good. They could even make your business look cheap.

Give Quality Metal Gift Pens to Top Clients

You should give all of your customers plastic promo pens but if you have a few top clients you really want to impress, nothing beats the name brands! Look into the selections supplied by Parker Pens, Lamy Pens, Cross Pens and Waterman.

Giving a name brand pen will show your customers how much you appreciate their business. These name brand pens can be used for many years.

If you are on a budget, check out the slightly less expensive range by Balmain. These gift pens write smoothly and look fantastic.

One Final Thought

Let’s say you purchase 50 Balmain gift pens at £7.50 each. This could look like a lot of money to the small business owner. At first it could be. But when you consider that business gifts that are needed often and are of good quality can be kept for years, they are an amazing value for money.

Let’s see… 25 pens at £7.50 each is £375.00. Over a year, you are paying less than a pound per day to advertise to your top 50 customers! Not bad if you ask me.

By Dan Toombs

Did that title get your attention?

Many businesses have found that offering a free incentive such as a free promotional Parker Pen has an amazing way of attracting new customers.

Just the other day I opened my daily newspaper to see a full page advert for insurance. The ad promised a free Parker Pen just for requesting further information.

Now you may think that’s crazy but the promise of a free pen obviously works. The well know company has used the same strategy for years.

Think of promotional gifts as a carrot that entices people to do what you want them to do. That could be something as simple as subscribing to your daily blog or registering on your company website. You could also think of other executive gifts that could catch your target customers’ attention.

One of my customers does this in a very big way and has done so for the past three years. They offer each and every visitor to their website a free promotional Parker Pen just for registering on their site. By doing so they are building a valuable customer database. They ask for their customers’ address, telephone number and email address which they check before sending the gift pen. Their target customers also fill out a small questionnaire about what products they are interested in receiving more information about.

This has made it possible for my customer to properly target people and keep them informed about new products and services of interest to them though their monthly newsletter.

My customer does not stop there. Their website is full of offers that make their clients want to take the next step and make a purchase. Some examples include a free winter fleece for purchases over £250.00 and an engraved crystal decanter set for purchases over £500.00.

Is that not what business is all about? At the end of the day we want to show our customers how our service and/or products is better than the competition. Offering an incentive to get those target customers to click through for more information is key to business success.

If your target customers are not taking that next step either online or in the offline world than they will not be learning what sets you apart from the rest. You could be missing an excellent opportunity to show them why they should be doing business with you.

Would you like to try promotional Parker Pens as incentives? Why not give it a try and see how this tried and tested strategy works for you?

Purchase your promotional Parker Pens from CompuGift and I will give you an addition 5% absolutely free of charge.

By Dan Toombs