Argon Promotional Products and Promotional Gifts. » 2010 » January

In this free market with many products and services jostling for space and customer attention, you need to keep coming out with creative marketing plans to make sure your brand is not forgotten and it should not become an “out of sight out of mind” story. Conventional media campaigns are far too expensive and cannot be a regular choice. You have no other option but to fall back on the distribution of promotional items to your customers in order to remain visible and in this regard, one item that has been consistently making its mark has been the promotional mouse mat. This product, in terms of popularity and variety available, has in fact raced ahead of other items like mugs, t-shirts and pens, leaving them way behind. It is not really a surprise given the fantastic all round parameters it is able to fulfill as a promotional item. Whether it is its utility in serving a very important business need or its durability in remaining robust and functional for over a year or whether its value as a great advertising medium, the promotional mouse mats come up trumps each time. When you compute the intangible savings associated with all these positive attributes, you have the ideal item for a successful promotional campaign.

You may be asking yourself what is it that makes the promotional mouse mat such a fantastic advertising medium? There are many reasons for their success, but the one that stands out most is their utility. Dissimilar to other promotional gifts such as pens and mugs which are used on an ad hoc basis, mouse mats are used continually on a daily basis. In the digital age we all live in, surviving without a personal computer is a near impossibility and it is at the computer that we spend many hours of the day, either at the office or at home.

So while your customer is seated at his desk in front of his computer, you have the perfect opportunity in placing your brand in front of your customer through an innovatively designed and creatively printed mouse mat. The affordable pricing of this item is enough reason as to why you should opt for them on a regular basis. With computers having invaded every precinct of our existence, your chosen style with trendy use of colours will be well accepted everywhere.

With promotional mouse mats, you do not face any constraint of advertising space and its durability means that your brand gets noticed for a much longer period as opposed to some of the other promotional items like the pens or t-shirts which can either get lost or are discarded after some time.

The human being wants attention. Right from infancy, we clamour for attention and it seems as if only when you can get attention, will you get what you want. It sounds something like “the crying baby gets the milk” quote that seems to keep rearing itself up again and again.

Well, is seems like brands are no different and businesses can thrive only if you can draw the attention of your customers and the general public at regular intervals. Otherwise it looks as if the “out of sight, out of mind” quote would become true and that means kaput for business. Getting the attention is however, easier said than done, what with the surfeit of marketing and aggressive promotions that are constantly under way from various companies like yourself and the customer having to face a deluge of campaigns, making it difficult for him to distinguish one from the other.

Promotional items have often proved effective in meeting this objective and many companies have hopped on to this bandwagon as well. The challenge in this space now, is to choose an item that can produce the best visibility for the brand and draw the attention of the maximum number of people to your brand. Some of the time tested items like pens, mugs, and keyrings do have their strong points but suffer in terms of attracting wide attention at a single point in time and also do not allow for expansive messages due to constraint of space. However, in terms of grabbing immediate attention of a large number of people at one time, nothing can beat the promotional umbrella. That is because its wide canopy provides an ideal space to imprint the logo as well as essential contact information such as phone numbers as well as the website address. This is a great advantage as your brand and important company information reaches many people at one time and you can get enquiries pretty fast from persons interested in your products.

Choosing the right promotional umbrella is a far easier task, thanks to the huge number of choices available that will complement your company logo and colours in the manner you want. Customizing messages by imprinting them with eye catching designs relevant to your company business is also possible. Since the space on the canopy is quite sufficient, you can experiment with different font styles, the idea being that your messages must be visible and clear from a distance. While bright coloured promotional umbrellas always turn heads, it is the graphics on the imprints that grabs attention and that is an area you can make your own with some careful thinking and font selection.

With the global recession in full swing, marketing spends have drastically been cut and everybody is having a tough time reallocating resources for their branding campaigns. The approach now is more on selective and focused marketing rather than a broad based random advertising campaign. So the more expensive promotional campaigns are now being given the pass in favour of low budget, low profile advertising and promotional gifts are making their presence felt in helping a brand really stand out.

Some very good products like desk sets and other attractive corporate gifts are at hand to ensure that even your low budget campaign, when directed at the right people can pay you very good dividends. Moreover, the perceived value of some of the products available permits them to automatically qualify as top end gifts and this is of great benefit in times like these, when the economy is slow and every penny counts. It means that you get more for less and as far as the customer is concerned, he is also happy to receive them thanks to his enhanced perception of such items.

This perceived value of a promotional gift gets a big fillip if you can match it with the utility requirement of the recipient, meaning the customer would have anyways purchased the item if it were not gifted to him by you. You can imagine the gratitude and recollection for your brand in such a situation and this becomes a classic case of making the best use of your available resources to come out with a win-win for everybody.
Other promotional gifts include business bags and luggage and these are again perceived to be of high value, especially the branded ones. For a corporate professional, they are always welcome and are worth pursuing. Some other luxurious items are Waterman pens and watches and these have always been well received. They have high price tags and can be given to only your premium customers. In terms of perceived value, another item that comes to mind is branded golf luggage, though this is not something that is often distributed due to its specific function. Silver plated gifts also make for excellent corporate givaways as they have an exclusive feel about them.

It is thus clear that it is not always necessary to only go for big bang advertising blasts and splurge a lot of money in the process. Knowing the customer’s preference and adapting your purchase of promotional gifts can possibly give even better results than the traditional form of advertising. A freeze or cut on ad spend is not therefore a bad thing after all. It forces you to come out with out of the box ideas and use your resources in the best manner possible and if at the end of it you are successful, then you would have done your job as a responsible company employee.

Let us take a closer look at some of our conference folder types:

1) Leather - The Classy Promotional Gift
In promotional leather conference folders, you have the combination of a lot of class and durability. Recipients feel proud to receive such gifts and they form a very high opinion of your company and brand when you hand over products of this pedigree. When compared to the vinyl or microfiber ones, the leather designs not only last for a much longer time but retain their chic look. They are very robust in being able to accommodate many more documents without bending or sagging. Due to these qualities of utility, durability and good looks, they provide you with an excellent return on investment. You can also buy them in a wide price range, meaning there is something for everybody and there need not be a budget constraint when purchasing these items.

2) Ring Binder Designs - Ultimate Promotional Conference Gift
When it comes to attending a conference or seminar, you cannot go wrong with handing out ring binder designs to your premier executives. With the company logo proudly displayed on them, they convey a very professional image about your company.

True to their name, these folders come with a fused binder arrangement that ensures proper upkeep and preservation of your important documents besides slots for other accessories like pens, calculators and any other item. These facilities make them preferred promotional gifts for any such conference or seminar.

3) General Utility Folders
In general, conference folders are excellent items to give away due to the utility they present for people of all ages and vocations. So whether it is a student who needs to keep his worksheets or the office goers who need to place files and office stationery in their respective slots, everybody benefits due to the organized approach that such folders demand and nobody needs to rummage for anything. Another point in their favour is the customization that they lend themselves to, in terms of the different shapes and the variety of material that they can be made from. When you have a divergence of participants in a conference, you can tailor make your folders suiting the requirements of these participants making them happy and satisfied and they will also carry back fond memories of the event, thanks to your thoughtfulness.

Conference folders have great durability and can be used by the recipients long after the event. This way, they continue to expose your brand to the general public each time they are used by the recipients. Companies have realized the potential of these items as perfect marketing ambassadors and that explains the sustained popularity of these popular and useful products.