PMA Gifts

In this writing I will briefly discuss the problems I see with many promotional product campaigns. As a supplier representative for Imark Pen Company, www.Imark-Pen.com, or Engraved Pens (my rep site)I have the privilege of being part of many advertising campaigns. It is amazing to me how much money is so ineffectively used by businesses when they buy their promotional products. I have created a small list of a few of the do’s and don’ts to consider for both the distributor and the corporate buyer as they design their promotions.

Does the product advertise the company?

Recently there was a promotion by a retail store that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom product to be used as a gift with purchase. This retail store designed the product themselves in their art and marketing departments. As I looked at the design I realized the product did not have the company name, logo or any other marking that would identify this product as coming from this retailer.

Throughout the years I have seen other companies make the same mistake in other ways. Such as putting their advertising on a piece of paper and inserting it into products or putting a sticker on the bottom of an item.

In all of these examples the end user who is the target of the entire advertising campaign has no reason to remember the company who is actually doing the advertising for any longer than the time it takes to throw away a piece of paper or pull off a sticker.

Does the product reflect well on the company?

I receive requests on a weekly basis for “the cheapest pen I have” or “products in the lowest price-point I can put together”. I always know what the follow-up question is after this kind of question. “Can you give a discount off of those prices as well?”

The real answer to all the questions of this type is “Don’t spend any money”. It would be better to use your money in some other part of the business than to waste your money.

Is your favorite pen a plastic stick pen? Or, do all the plastic stick pens that you receive along the way end up in the trash or the catch-all pen holder on the desk. Is giving away a cheap item that nobody will want really advertising at all? What was it’s advertising purpose? Even worse, if somebody does take the time to look at the logo, does the company appear to be a quality company?

A well designed promotional campaign can be destroyed by a bad quality promotional item. The inverse is also true.

How long will the product last?

One of the main goals of promotional products is to keep the companies logo in front of their target audience. Throughout the years I have had people come into our booth at trade-shows and pull an Imark pen out of their pocket that they purchased over 10 years ago. Now that is what you call getting bang for the buck out of your advertising dollars.

Every year I see companies buy seasonal or Christmas related promotional products. Now how long do you suppose these items will stay in the target audiences possession?

The solution is to give a year round high quality gift and turn it into a temporary seasonal gift. An example would be a nice picture frame. The company logo would be engraved on the frame and a nice Christmas picture would be inserted into the frame. By designing the product in this fashion the target audience now has a nice picture frame that they will keep for the long haul, yet the initial presentation was holiday related.

In closing, I hope this article sparked some ideas for the promotional product professionals to better present products to the business community. I look forward to working with all of you on your many future projects.

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Promotional Pens

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It’s been a whole year since the last one. Mother?s day is soon upon us and yet children all over the world are frantically trying to come up with ideas of what to buy their beloved mothers. You will get some children taking time and effort to craft a gift lovingly for their mother, and others stopping by the local corner shop for a chocolate bar and can of coke as presents. Its very difficult to lose a mother’s love, but you can certainly stabilise it buy putting a little effort and consideration into your present buying. Take a look at these great mother?s day gift ideas.

Flowers. Whilst men might like gadgets and toys, women tend to like the more organic gifts. Once you’ve got over the idea that follows might be a bit too ‘easy’, you can start enjoying the appreciation from your mother. As long as you don?t buy flowers that died a week ago or look like they have been in a fight with a lawn mower, their smell and beauty will win any mother other. If you want to go one better, you could always pick and arrange the flowers on your own…now that is love.

Spa Day. Everyone knows that women do more work than men and rarely get chance to put their feet up and be pampered. Without doubt the greatest mothers day gifts you can buy are those that say ?we appreciate you, take a break?. A great idea is to purchase some spa gift vouchers for your mother, or if you know what she likes, book her in for a treatment and surprise her on the day.

Beauty Gifts. If you want to give your mother a break from shelling out lots of money on making herself look beautiful, why not buy some for her. Unfortunately, just purchasing the product that stands out the most will not suffice. Mums will have found the ones that work for them through many years of trial and error.In order to stay safe, find out which products she likes most and get the same, or you could try taking some of her products into a shop and getting recommendations of similar ones.

One of the very best romantic presents are natural and organic soy candles. One particular reason why candles establish such excellent gifts is actually the number of alternatives they may be enjoyed. Whether it’s an intimate evening meal by using candles as the centerpiece, a relaxing candlelit bath, or even having a couple lit setting the appropriate feelings; candles have a very good method of making everyone really feel better. Including the fact that look great when they are not burning, and contribute to your home or office decor.

Regular candles come in an endless variety of styles, designs, shapes, colors and sizes. Locating the best one for your personal significant other can be a challenge, and a lot of fun at the same time. Search for candles which fit your loved one’s personality and will fit the interior decoration of the room in which they will be placed.

Scented soy candles stimulate feelings of pleasure and well-being. Rose, lavender and jasmine are especially useful for putting people into a much more passionate mood. Take into account the desires and demands of your mate. If they do not care for lavender they’ll not find it romantic therefore be sure you research your options.

A newer product is beginning to take the residential home lighting market by storm: flameless candles. These candles don’t have a flame, but rather are powered by a electric battery and typically consist of LEDs for light. You don’t need to be worried that they look artificial, either. They have got exactly the same warm glow, and a lot of them mimic the flicker of regular candles.

Also new on the scene is definitely eco-friendly all natural soy candles. The candle wax used to produce soy candles comes directly from soy beans. These types of candles will be cleaner burning, and environmentally safe. Candles made with soy wax also burn for a longer time and have a scent throw which is greater than the conventional oil based parafin wax. In the current environmentally conscience world organic scented soy candles should be your only choice.

Yet another option if your mate already has a great deal of candles, would be to get them candle accessories. Special lighters, long matches , wick snipper, or perhaps a ornamental snuffer are a couple of presents they are sure to appreciate.

In cases where you commonly have a very challenging time selecting the best romantic gift, then buying soy candles is a sure thing. In addition, they can be enjoyed over and over again, with each lighting serving as a reminder of how you feel.

Don’t forget it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Have you ever owned a keepsake box? If you have, then you already know how a themed hinged box can feel like your own little treasure.

Maybe you’ve given a themed keepsake box as a gift and had the pleasure of realizing that person’s delight in receiving it.

Dating all the way back to the 17th century, in Limoges France, the hinge box was being made. In the mid 18th century, the discovery was made of a white clay called Kaolin at St. Yrieixm, which is 18 miles southeast of Limoges, France. This white clay is an important ingredient in making porcelain.

Not long after that, the first porcelain Limoges box factory was started. Before long, King Louis XVI bought the Limoges Box factory. Limoges porcelain box blanks started being taken to Sevres to be hand painted and hand decorated. During that period of time, the boxes were often used for storing snuff.

Limoges porcelain boxes are still popular these days. Thousands of Limoges Boxes are made by different factories. Some companies produce the boxes from start to finish and others buy the undecorated porcelain boxes and then handpaint them with their own line of decorations.

As well as porcelain hinged boxes, other types of materials are now used in the making of keepsake boxes, making them available in inexpensive styles as well as high-end collector types.

These days, there is a growing popularity of using hinged boxes as party favors, as a remembrance of a special event. Keepsake boxes now are available in an endless variety of themed subjects and shapes. Many people collect hinged boxes of all types, made from various materials.

A decorative hinged box, in a favorite theme of the person to whom it is being given, makes a wonderful gift.

Keepsake boxes are available in all kinds of themes and sizes. Some are little, with just enough room to store a small treasure, such as a pair of earrings or even something like keys. Others are large enough to be used as a decorative way to store practical items such as cotton balls.

Some keepsake boxes are also musical, playing a song when the lid is opened. There’s just something magical about a music box and keepsake boxes have an equally magical quality, at least in the way that most people feel about them. It’s no wonder that many people begin to collect keepsake boxes and gain much enjoyment from owning their own personal, unique combination of the treasured boxes in their collection.

Some examples of specific themes for you to check out are this Dog With Treasure Chest Hinged Box and this Grand Piano Keepsake Box.

No wonder so many people enjoy keepsake box collecting and gift giving!

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The important thing about a gift is its appropriateness to the person and the location you intend it for. That?s especially true of the bedroom, whether it?s a boudoir or just simple sleeping quarters.Increasingly, there?s another consideration to be taken into account when choosing gifts, especially those intended for the most intimate room in the house.Apart from the thought behind it, gifts should be ethically and responsibly sourced, manufactured and distributed if you want them to be truly appreciated.

The bedroom can be a haven for eco-friendly and responsibly sourced products that relax your body and ease your principles. Ethical gifts for the bedroom can cover a huge selection of bedroom furnishings, organic cotton sheets or seagrass laundry baskets to simple recycled glass bedside water carafes. These bedroom accessories can be both luxurious and ethical to create a unique personal space.

The finest organic cotton and fair trade bed linen is not only sumptuously soft and made to last, it will also help you create the perfect look for your room. You can snuggle safe and warm, secure in the knowledge that the ethics involved in the production and distribution of your sheets, duvet covers and pillow cases is unimpeachable. In most cases the organic cotton bed linen is produced by co-operatives that improve the lives of marginalised peasant farmers working under fair trade terms for a fair wage and without child labour.

Home furnishings too can be just as ethically responsible as well as being attractive.Colourful fabrics can enliven your living space with throws made from reclaimed and recycled yarn on traditional looms.Stunning recycled vases are available from overseas suppliers who create beautiful items from the contents of recycling bins or handmade artefacts by award winning designers and graduates of Central St. Martin’s School of Art and Design.

Gift giving should give as much a pleasure to the donor as the receiver. Choosing the appropriate gift depends on a number of considerations including personality, interests and relationship.For many, the key thing about any gift, aside from the thought that?s behind it, is how ethically and responsibly it?s been sourced, manufactured and shipped.There are many keen teen-age (and older!eco warriors who would outright refuse any gift that didn’t match those principles, no matter how well intentioned.

Eco gift ideas for your environmentally-conscious loved ones can be tricky, but not impossible to source.For her, nothing could better express your affection and empathy than the range of natural beauty products from Andrea garland.She became disillusioned with mass produced, unethical and chemically laden skin products and decided to make her own all natural, natural, ethically sourced organic range ? in the environmentally sensitive hotbed that is Hackney!

As Eco friendly gifts go, these are tasteful and thoroughly credible.Beautifully packaged in amber glass bottles or recycled paper with hand drawn labels, the products have a very personal and unique feel.If you are of a less indulgent or romantic bent, or maybe don’t value the relationship that much, then you can get your lady a fair trade oven mitt made from 100% cotton woven on traditional handlooms.

Beware the wrath of a woman treated insensitively! If that?s the case you may want to hide the recycled vases dotted about the room before one comes crashing down on your head!Granted, the bamboo or re-cycled cardboard versions would not cause too much damage, but the 100% recycled glass items made in Spain are another matter!You could claim in your defence that it would be a sin to destroy such a beautiful and original product made from glass salvaged from Spanish recycling bins and brought to the UK by sea-freight in order to minimise carbon emissions in transport. That may not cut the mustard though!

Every year it seems that people want the latest and greatest gadgets. A basic PC or DVD player were the items of choice a decade ago. Even though these are common place now in most households, a more advanced wave of gadgets is upon us that do things in better quality and are even more compact. If youre looking for the best gifts for men then youll need to get with the times and find out what is really in vogue right now.Lets take a look at some promising presents for this year.

Micro RC Helicopter. Its difficult to see what is so advanced about a micro helicopter when compared to the old larger modules, but believe it or not they are completely different. Previously you had to fork out a whole lot of money for a remote control helicopter and then find an empty field with low winds to test it in. You wouldn’t even dream of an RC plane as these were even worse. You can fly micro choppers however in pretty much any room of the house and the good ones can be controlled by even the most malcoordinated of users. These choppers do not mix well with pets however, and cats especially will like opportunity to test their bird hunting skills.

Next Gen Smart Phone. Phones have been getting smarter and smaller with each year of development and they are now one of the most technologically advanced bit the majority of people own. We can now browse the internet on phones, send and receive email, play games and even find our way via GPS. However, technology does not stand still and men especially want the most up-to-date gadgets to play with. Look out for more phones incorporating mini digital projectors, night vision recorders and even telescoping lenses attachments.

Netbooks. As with all gadgets, computers are getting smaller all the time. The laptop started to get so small that people decided to call it something new, and so the netbook was born. Admittedly they do slightly different jobs, but netbooks are becoming as powerful as laptops these days and so more and more people are choosing them as their primary computer. Reductions in weight and increases in battery life are just some of the developments planned for a number of netbooks.

Many of our clients say, “We’ve tried direct mail business and it didn’t function.” This experience leaves us asking, “Why do some programs not work as well as expected, while others do well beyond a company’s wildest dreams?” Taking into consideration the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), direct mail can pull in answers rates as high as 15% or as low as 0.03%. With such a huge gap, it is easy to understand why a lot of companies have lost their trust in this very popular marketing tip.

Over the years we’ve learned how well a direct mail program works depending on the chemistry of three elements- format, offer, and list-and whether or not you have designed the program with enough frequency and follow-up triggers built in. But before you may pull these three elements into the most efficient program possible, you need to first define:

The goal of the direct mail piece (For example, is your aim lead generation or direct-to-order?)

The up-to-date relationship you have with the list. Is it a cold list or has qualification already happened? (For example, have they already attended a seminar or webinar of yours or downloaded something from your website?)

Then follow this recommendation as you make your direct mail business program:

FORMAT. Direct mail goes in a huge choice of formats-the postcard, the business letter, or the 2-D or 3-D package to name just a few. The truth is, all three of these formats pull about the same percentage of answers, when used correctly. The magic then is to select the format most suited to reach your goal and peculiar audience.

OFFER. The suggestion is a critical element to a beneficial direct mail strains. From our experience, the strongest direct mail offer is one aimed at driving traffic to a website or retail location for the next qualification and/or selling (qualification if the contact is still cold and selling if it’s a contact where qualification has already done through a previous marketing step). This offer can be anything from a free of charge product demonstration, an online ROI calculator, an article download from the website, or just retrieving more product information.

LIST. The list is possibly the single most essential element to an efficient direct mail strain. If you have the best format and offer but send out cards to the incorrect list, you will still have nothing. And, even if you are ensured you have sent it to the appropriate list, if that list has not yet been qualified you will throw out a lot of money. Even a house list may get quickly out of date. Make a qualifying call down of any list you plan to mail to and check the list is still a) accurate and b) qualified to receive your offer. Keep the call short (3-4 qualifying questions at the most). Only after you’ve linked with and qualified the prospect should you place them in your direct mail engine. This will economize marketing precious dollars and sales precious time, while ultimately making the whole campaign more effective.

Direct mail will always be one of the most compelling options to prospect, and when done strategically, pulls high open rates and makes excellent leads. Create relevant and cost-effective choices, tool with a frequency of at least three impressions, be sure to follow-up on each prospect you get to take an action and watch those leads pour in!

As consumerism has developed, so has the necessity for marketers to develop outputs in order to be at par with the competition. There are a lot of forms of marketing and advertising strategies that are used by advertisers and retailers. Direct mail business is the most common and prolifically employed marketing technique accepted by the big number of advertisers and is followed by telemarketing, email marketing etc, with diminishing levels of prevalence.

A large chunk of the mails delivered to homes in the US includes direct mail marketing advertisement catalogs, brochures and order forms. The most vital factor of a mail advertising campaign is the catchiness of the subject line and the draw of the words contained within the letter or mail. A suggestion of getting free samples or included CD’s are quite alluring and the receiver invariably opens the form to check out these contents.

Direct mail advertisers can select among a wide range of variants ranging from ordinary letters that are minimally personalized to highly personalized mails that are much more effective. These items of direct mail business target specific groups of people in a locality or based on their consumerist patterns and purchase power.

There are also mailing lists that are prepared after considerable research that specifically filters out target recipients for definite types of products. The information regarding a prospective consumer is gathered either at the moment of making a purchase or procured from mailing list providers who specialize in this type of business. The advancement of technology has greatly increased the accuracy of such selection and continues to do so.

Some advertisers also make it a point to keep track of their previous clients to whom information and catalogues concerning upgraded outputs and recent additions are sent. There is a chance that a baseball enthusiast might be interested in the recent outputs that are on offer and is willing to purchase again. Inclusion of catalogues and additional order forms along with invoices is also a general practice. The cost of marketing when you send out cards via direct mail is not prohibitive and does not cut into the profits that are gained through the leads made through this form of advertising.

The good thing about direct mail marketing is that it gives the marketer a choice to target specific audiences who are most inclined to buy a product.

The downside is that not everybody likes to get direct mail in their mail boxes that they didn’t ask for. This kind of advertising though available is more costly then other marketing techniques like telemarketing. Direct mail marketing is also widely used by politicians who employ it for their political needs as it lends a personal touch while at the same time reaching out to the public, en masse.

Turning 40 for some comes as an appalling shock and is dreaded. For others, 40 is a birthday they welcome! Either way, incorporating several 40th birthday gag gifts is sure to alleviate the mood and help the birthday man or woman have a special birthday! There are a number of great resources online that you should take a look at if you are searching for 40th birthday gag gifts.

If you are having difficulties on trying to conjure up a high-quality gag gift for someone you know who’s turning 40, here are a few ideas. Over the Hill Things. “Over the hill” is a model theme for 40th birthday gag gifts. You can find endless gift ideas that say “over the hill” and center on just how much of an “old fart” the birthday celebrant really is. From cakes and candles to t-shirts, bogus granny/grandpa glasses, banners and balloons and supplementary d?cor items, there are tons of options. Great gag gifts that are related to this topic include walking canes (certain with honking horns), potty night lights for aged folks that might have trouble finding the toilet as their eyes get older, ice cube trays that make denture-like ice cubes, old fart bathroom slippers, Mr. Saggy balls boxers, a parking permit for those “over the hill”, tattoos for the elderly, over the hill diapers, a bald man’s comb, or an “over the hill” party hat.

Bodily Function related rude items. This is absolutely a male thing - not a woman thing. For some reason, guys don’t mind discussing lots of bodily functions and sharing the most crude and repugnant likenesses to byproducts of the human body. And they like to integrate these things into their humor, particularly for landmark birthdays such as the 40th, particularly if they appear realistic and/or include sound effects. So if you’re scheduling a celebration for a 40 year old man, the following things are fair game for birthday gag gifts: fanny floss (for difficult to reach crevices), old fashioned shithead game, the fart game, doo doo darts, a toilet mug, or a fart machine remote, happy b-day K9 poop, or any of the numerous other gag gifts with a crude theme.

Themes related to sex. homorous gifts with a sexual topic have everlasting appeal for many women and men regardless of whether they are just reaching 21 years of age or celebrating the big 4…0 or even beyond. Birthday party gag gift ideas that keep with this subject matter incorporate things like boob salt and pepper shakers, a giant inflatable willie, a breast mug, weener kleener soap, naked woman tees for golf, a coin sperm bank.

Alcohol related themes. For some people, a birthday celebration isn’t perfect without plenty of alcoholic beverages and some hilarious joke gifts allowing the birthday girl or guy to enjoy them in an irreplaceable way. Enter joke gift ideas like the hops holster for beer cans and the fake beer belly that enables you to conceal your “carry ins” behind your t-shirt and your belt buckle at the same time as you can down them through a lengthy straw for the guys and the wine rack-a wine holding bra that in addition enhances the womanly physique and conceals her “carry ins” that she can gulp through a lengthy straw for the women. Other homorous gifts include the Tequila bandolier, an old man whizzer peeing liquor dispenser, a beer drinking hat, a binocular flask, plus the pass out game. Then there are as well those gifts that manage to contain multiple themes within one, similar to the breast beer cover nipple sipper and the condom can holders, which fit beneath both the booze and drink and the sexual themes.

Sports-correlated themes. Lastly, sports-interrelated theme gifts seem to contain enduring appeal-especially as gag gifts meant for 40th birthdays. You may possibly shock the birthday boy or girl with the “hook, line and sinker” toilet fishing game; “oh shit” golf balls; “buck” the animated trophy (a plush deer and antler wall mount); a golf club fly swatter; a sharp shootin’ remote control (looks like a pistol), bullseye toilet paper, and the potty putter toilet golf game, or else any one of dozens of additional joke gifts connected to the birthday celebrant’s much loved sport or hobby.

Hopefully you’ve found the above 40th birthday gag gift ideas useful. For extra ideas and great links, take a look at the variety of resources online for 40th birthday gag gifts.