When Two Worlds Collide – Personal and Business

My personal world came crashing in on me just before Christmas, when my business, RT Promotions, received a request from a UK Charity for a price on some Promotional LogoBugs, sometimes referred to as Promotional Wheebles. Getting a request, or indeed an order, from a charity isn’t exactly unusual, we do projects with plenty of them, so why then did this one matter more to me than most?

Well, that’s the ‘personal’ bit.

Printed and Personalised LogoBugs

You see, my mum’s been diagnosed with Alzheimers, a form of dementia that I knew little about until two years ago when it came slamming into my life, but which I’ve now crammed-up on ever since it became ‘personal’. It’s been a crappy road to walk with my mum, seeing her slip slowly away from me, and forever wandering “what’s coming next”? Some days its OK, and other days it’s not, and the days it’s OK slowly get further and further apart, until, as now, it’s generally not pleasant when I sit with her and have a coffee, and a chat, and simply reassure her.

Big breath….. so you see, getting a request from “Alzheimer’s Research UK” was like being asked to supply printed and personalised napkins for a friends wedding…. my pleasure!!

We supplied the printed Logobugs to the charity, as always, on price, and on time, and maybe it’s just me, but I like the ‘clean’ look they have?

Bit of a rambling one from me to start off the new year, hope you like it, and please feel free to comment.

5 Reasons Why I’m NOT Going To Follow You On Twitter

Love it or hate it, it’s your choice, but, you ignore it at your peril. Twitter has seen amazing growth year on year, and now has in excess of 300 million users worldwide. That’s quite an audience!!!

As with any technology, and in particular ‘internet based’ technology, it’s been picked up and used/abused by all and sundry, all attempting to spam their way into our streams. So, having been Tweeting (under different guises) since 2008, I thought I’d share just five reasons why I wont be following you on Twitter:

1: You’re using the default egg avatar. Try adding a photo of yourself
2: You’re using an out-of-focus photo, or maybe a sultry topless one.
3: You’ve not added anything to your bio. Give me some detail, where are you? Maybe add a link to your website, blog, Facebook page or LinkedIn profile.
4: You keep repeating repeating repeating repeating repeating repeating the same tweets tweets tweets all day.
5: You think its smart to tweet about automated programs offering to grow your Twitter followers

The Secret World Of Promotional Gifts

Following on from our last post, when a client returned a sample to us, of a clever USB Flash Drive in the shape of a lego man. We had some fun showing the Businessman USB Flash Drive having a medical check up, but it made me think about what all of his other friends would do, when nobody was watching of course……

USB Character Flash Drive with Friend

Well, naturally, they did what any good friend would do, they paid him a visit!!!

First, just the one turned up…. the BIGGEST of them, in the shape of a Stress Wobbler, but then, more and more of them arrived and chatted to him while he sat in the Stress Toy armchair.

The Secret World of Promotional Gifts

 

Customers Care

I had to smile at the interaction with one of our clients the other day. We’d sent them a sample of an unusual Promotional USB Memory Stick, it’s part of a range that are kind of like ‘lego men characters’, and we sell loads of them. The one they liked was a ‘businessman‘ one. We realise that  getting your hands on a sample can make all the difference in giving a project a green light, so as long as they are returned to us in mint condition, we’re happy to oblige.

Well, we won the order, and the client sent us a photo of the little man, stood on their windowsill, saying ‘goodbye’. You just had to smile!!! I LOVE working with clients like this…. REAL engagement stuff eh?

So, they posted the sample back to us, and we just HAD to continue the fun. We did a simple mock-up of the businessman, laying on a bed (business card mints), with other USB Characters (designed to look like doctors and nurses etc) checking him out!!!

Our USB Man receives a medical check-up

So for all the talk of ‘customer care’, I’ve come to the conclusion that ‘Customers Care’.

A Simple Promotional Gift That Could Save Lives

One in three motorists admits they will drive this winter without being able to see out of their windscreen properly according to research by Continental Tyres.

This will mean six million close calls on our roads this winter, as nearly two million drivers were close to crashing at least three times in the last year because their windscreen wasn’t clear before setting off.

Researchers found most motorists think they are ‘in too much of a rush’ to fully defrost their windows and mirrors before heading off to work. It also emerged men are far worse than women at pulling off the driveway while peering through a tiny spot of clear glass at the road ahead.

Tim Bailey, safety expert at Continental Tyres, which polled 4,000 drivers said: ”Preparation is key when setting out in your car, especially during the winter months. It is essential to be able to see and be seen.

“An astonishing 52 per cent of people know it is wrong to drive without a fully clear windscreen but fail to do anything about it.

“Stopping distances are affected by weather and road conditions and people are six times more likely to have an accident during the winter months. Check your lights, ensure your windscreen and windows are clear, that your brakes are in good condition, your tyres have a minimum of 3mm of tread and increase the distance between you and the vehicle in front.”

It also emerged that four out of ten motorists don’t bother cleaning mirrors or rear windows before setting off in the winter. And such is the lack of preparation that one in five have reported to using a credit card to clear the windscreen of ice.

Seven out of ten never check tyre tread depth and fail to ensure tyres are roadworthy, and one in two never put anti-freeze in radiators. Four out of ten don’t check windscreen washer bottle levels and a similar figure don’t bother to check whether their wipers are working properly. A quarter don’t even check if their lights are working.

Eight in 10 see other motorists on their daily commute who have been too lazy to clear their windscreen, an average of four cars every frosty morning.

The study also found one in four drivers admit they are often half asleep when they get behind the wheel in the morning. And they take at least four minutes to properly wake up after getting behind the wheel. If they are travelling at 30mph this means they will have travelled two miles before they feel awake. Almost four out of ten said they found it harder to stay alert during the winter.

One in five are under the wrong assumption that you’re supposed to drive ‘out of’ a skid when slipping on ice.

Tim Bailey continued: “When the temperature drops below 7°C, cold weather tyres which have tread patterns and compounds designed for wintry roads are certainly worth considering. They improve stopping distances in icy, wet and any snowy conditions we might experience in the coming months. Again, it’s all about being prepared so that you are safe in all eventualities this winter.”

OK, time to introduce the sales pitch!!! You know you want me to….
Of course, it’s a simple but effective promotional gift, the printed ice scraper.
Perfect as a promotional gift as it’ll be kept and USED for years, and every time your client uses it, they’ll see your branded message, and associate it with YOU!!  The one I’m showing you on the link above is made from recycled plastics and will appeal to anyone with ECO friendly associations.

What’s ‘the best’ Promotional Gift?

Well I’d be a rich man if I had a pound/dollar for everytime I’ve been asked that question!!! The first thing I’d do, is change just one word…. replace ‘best’ with effective. It’s still a difficult question to answer, but I hope you can see where this is heading.

The whole point of a promo gift is to get a result, to be effective, and for me to answer the question, I’d need you to answer a few of mine, and then, I’d be a lot closer to being able to answer it:
Who
What
When
Where
How
and Why
Each of those questions brings me a step closer to advising you on the most effective promotional gift for you.

I’ll be back later to walk you though some of the variables

Networkers – Please Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

Leaving a networking event the other week, and slightly grumbly at the lack of manners from folk who should know better, I remembered this song from the 80′s, and thought – Mmmmmm maybe we could learn a thing or two from a pop song?

I’ll get straight to the point: why do fellow networkers think it’s OK to interrupt you, just to say ‘goodbye’?

Picture the following scene: Busy networking room/event in the process of concluding. Some folk are engaged in personal 1 to 1′s, some are scampering for the door, others are in larger/informal groups. Which is the group you should leave alone? Yep, that’s right, the personal 1 to 1′s, after all, they’re actually doing what they came to the event for…. having a personal discussion, and who knows, it could be BUSINESS.

Now picture those same 1 to 1′s, being interrupted by someone leaving, actually stopping the personal conversations to say:

• Sorry to interrupt you Bob, but I’m in a hurry to leave, and just wanted to ask:
  • If you’ll be at bla bla bla next week?
  • If I could have one of your business cards?
    Or BEST OF ALL
  • the person you’re talking to if they’d like to buy my product/services

What a nerve!!! What a cheek? What ignorance!!!

Why not place your body into our mutual eyeline, trust me, we’ll see you stood there, and if either of us wants to stop our conversation and engage with you, we’ll do so when we’re ready. If we don’t engage with you, please don’t take this too personally, but GO AWAY!!!

To follow the tone of the song: saying ‘hello’ is important, so do please engage and speak, but as for ‘goodbyes’…. a wave will do!!!

Name Badges With A Difference

How often do you arrive at an event, particularly if you’re networking, to be handed one of those cheap and cheerful name badges? You know the ones I mean, the ones where you either put your business card inside, or, if they’re really organised they’ve printed off your name and company details. Awful aren’t they?

So why do you put up with them?

Why not take your own badge to events? We offer a range of printed name badges, but my favourite and the one I use is the DIY Name Badge. These are so easy to use, and the best bit is you can keep changing your message or ‘look’ depending on which event you’re attending. The front facia plate slides out, and you simply place your new insert into the backing plate. They even have a magnetic fixing so you don’t have to use those pins or crocodile clips on your nice clothing.

I’ve printed off a range of inserts (see image) which I keep handy in my car, and then, just as I’m about to go into an event, I make the decision on which insert to put into my badge. Is it a ‘serious’ event? If so, I’d better put my formal name badge on, but whenever possible, I try to use one of my cheeky inserts!!! Can you think of a suitable insert for my name badge?

DIY Printed Name Badges

Effective Promotional Gifts – The Pen

Top Ten Tips For Buying A Promotional Pen

Take a look in your pen drawer or pen pot. The chances are you’ll find a promotional pen (or twelve) there, and all of them are slowly and silently giving you a message. The printed message on a promotional pen is a sublime, powerful, thing. That’s why you’ll ALWAYS find promotional pens in any league table of effective promotional gifts, in fact, they’re often number one. But, there’s pens, and there’s pens aren’t there? Here at RT Promotions we supply thousands of clients with branded pens, and so we get to see good ideas as well as the bad ones. We’d like to share some of our tips with you.

1. Choose your pen carefully and with your required print in mind. In general, pens have a limited ‘print area’, and some of them are VERY limited allowing you to simply print a single line of text. If you’re happy to have just a one colour print onto the barrel and aren’t too worried about the size of the design, then the worlds your oyster. If not, talk to us and we’ll find a solution that’s right for you.
2. Where and how are you going to be using the pens? If you’re letting people come and grab a pen from your stand at a trade show, maybe a cheap and cheerful one is the way to go… but, if you’re wanting to give a good impression, make sure the pen you choose will meet those requirements. Ask us, we’ll tell you.
3. Where possible, instead of using white barrelled pens, why not choose a colour that matches or compliments your brand. We can even create pens made of a mixture of colours. That way, before we even print onto the pen, the customer starts to think of the pen as ‘your’ pen.
4. Consider using a trackable unique telephone number so you can measure their effectiveness.
5. Do you need ‘BLACK’ ink? If you do, then take care. Especially with the low-cost budget pens where blue ink is all you’ll be able to get.
6. Everybody you meet will already have a pen, so why will they keep and use yours? Is the pen good enough to make the recipient choose yours over their existing one? If not, guess where the pens’ going!
7. Take a look at your favourite promotional pen and consider why you like it so much. Is it the colour, the feel of it, or maybe it simply writes nicely. Now seek out those same ‘features’ to the pens you’re looking at.
8. Promotional Pens can last a long time. We regularly see examples, still in use, that are several years old, so make sure your message doesn’t ‘date’.
9. Put a ‘call to action’ on your Promotional Pens. They’re a marketing tool and a daily ‘memory hook’, so invite your prospects to do something. Visit your website perhaps?
10. Purchase more than you think you’ll need. They’ll disappear before you know it and it’ll make the cost per pen cheaper so you won’t mind giving them away!!

Lumpy Mail – Are You Getting The Basics Right?

Lumpy mail is a brilliant way to improve the odds of getting your mailshots into the hands of your prospects, and better yet, actually ‘opened’ by them. We all have to deal with unsolicited mail, both at home, and at our places of work, and I’m constantly amazed at the shear numbers of folk that I chat to who simply dump it all straight into the bin. They don’t even open it!!! Perfectly understandable when you consider the busy lives we all lead, and who needs yet another piece of sales garbage???

This is where ‘Lumpy Mail’ comes into its own. Lumpy mail is exactly what it says on the tin….. mail with something ‘lumpy’ inside!!! Now that can be pretty much anything you like, but most commonly, in my business, ‘Promotional Gifts’, it’s going to be a pen, or a keyring, or a pack of post it notes, or it might even be a fridge magnet. By making the mail ‘lumpy’, you entice the recipient to not just throw it in the bin, but to OPEN IT UP…. and voila!!! You’ve reached your target…. now you have the opportunity to tell them your sales pitch.

Royal Mail Letter Guide

But, are you stumbling at the first hurdle? Are you underestimating the size of your lumpy package? If you get this wrong, and underpay for the postage, then you’ll be getting the exact opposite effect with your potential customer…. instead of a smile on their faces as they open up the mail, you’ll be getting them to grimace as they pay the postman the ‘fine’ for not paying enough postage!!!

Check your lumpy mail meets the strict guidelines laid down by the Royal Mail for their letters and small packages. Get it wrong, and you’re off to a disastrous start!!

Now then… what makes the perfect promotional gift, to go into your lumpy mail, and NOT incur excess charges from the Post Office?

That’s where my company, RT Promotions can help. We understand the complexities of this market, and know exactly which products will and wont work best for you. Call us now to discuss your lumpy mail requirements.