Personalised Pens/other merchandise

[Indizine]

I was at a business exhibition a few month ago and asked an exhibitor if I could have some of their pens to use during my training courses, and given they were a supplier of branded promotional stuff, I was disappointed to find the pens were quite rubbish and ended up chucking them away! They wouldn't write!! Eeek, good job I tried them out first!! There was me trying to do someone I knew a favour, and it just goes to show that even for such a competitive industry, there is always room for a good supplier.

[ScottishDUDE]

We sometimes give pens away with orders and etc.

It gives people a Oh.

Our most recent which has led us to sell them is USB flash drives.

[iaynm]

How interesting - I was thinking of this just last night. I run a bicycle courier business, and it was suggested to me that a good way to market it to potential customers would be to make up packages of branded pens and notepads (all recycled, of course), plus a brief "hello" letter and a couple of business cards, and deliver them to local businesses who I have identified as being likely to use our service.

If they keep the pens and notepads around then we're always there and in the front of their minds if they ever needed a courier. Most of my work is on repeat business, for example there's a printing/design company who uses us to send proofs and finished printing, a few times each week.

Do you think that in this instance, it might be a good idea?
It would cost me about £400, and about £5 per package. And I'd have a load of pens and pads left over for other events.

We charge between £4 and £10 for deliveries, depending on distance and size of packages, so it would need to generate about 75 jobs to break even on that "campaign".

Thanks

[HeyHippo]

I was at a business exhibition a few month ago and asked an exhibitor if I could have some of their pens to use during my training courses, and given they were a supplier of branded promotional stuff, I was disappointed to find the pens were quite rubbish and ended up chucking them away! They wouldn't write!! Eeek, good job I tried them out first!! There was me trying to do someone I knew a favour, and it just goes to show that even for such a competitive industry, there is always room for a good supplier.

So true the top three companies on google in the promotial business gifts market are all run by the same person !!!!! Their pricing however is little to be desired for, we regulary benchmark against them, we all get the products from the same supplier and set our own margins, just some of these companies are charging a margin of up to 90%! Time for someone to bring the industry pricing inline !

[busyB13]

You probably shouldn't focus on using pens, etc, as a way to generate business but it can't hurt...make sure you don't run into any losses if you want to go down that avenue- basically it's all about not putting all your eggs in one basket!