Some of our pens such as Ascent can be ordered in less than 250 piece volumes, making them the perfect way to test you marketing.

Setting up a strong and good value marketing campaign for your business can be tricky. You need to think about reach, about return on investment, and initial as well as ongoing costs. In fact, without a good budget and a dedicated department, it can be extremely difficult to do well.

Value added marketing is something which to you costs very little, but is worth more to your customers and therefore it not only directly advertises your company in and of itself but it is also acts as a useful gift. There are all sorts of ways you can do this, from high end products which will cost more initially but will encourage and help you to maintain contracts, to low cost advertising methods which are perfect for the mass market.

The trouble can lie in trying to find a product which is going to add value for your clients (and be suitable for as many of them as possible), cost you little, and won’t become dated. For a low cost solution, promotional pens might be the perfect answer. With costs starting at just a few pence per unit, there should definitely be room in your marketing budget for them.

Buying the right volume

There’s no need to spend vast amounts on your promotional pens. Buying a large volume can bring in additional business, but for small or startup businesses, this can encourage growth faster than you’ll be able to deal with it.

Some of your budget should be spent on promotional products, but this shouldn’t be where all your funds go. You’ll also need brochures, a good website, a dedicated phone line, business cards, and maybe some posters or print advertisements. It’s important that you divide your marketing budget up in the right way in order to get the most value from it.

Why It Works

Because the initial investment cost is low, you won’t be pooling too many of your resources into a single idea. If you later find they aren’t right for your particular industry you simply don’t buy more when you run out.

Promotional pens are the sort of resource which will sit on your client’s desks, or in their bags, and they will pass from person to person, meaning that a single pen can be seen by multiple people over an extended time period. They are less likely to get thrown away than other methods such as brochures and business cards as they are something which can be used.

Even if you don’t realise, you will probably use a pen in some context at least once a day. Can you remember the branding on the last pen you used? It might not be the most obvious form of marketing, but by putting your branding on promotional pens you know that it will be in the hands of your customers if they need it.

The next step

Phone numbers tend to not be the best form of contact information, as your customers might be unsure whether you offer the right services or products for them, and it won’t be obvious from the small area of marketing that the barrel of a pen allows. Include your web address and make sure the page you are directing prospective business to sells your company well. What you do should be very clear very quickly, or people just won’t bother searching for this information.

There are no ongoing costs other than the initial investment. There is no need to update copy or change information because you will only put the very basics on the barrel. All you really need to include is your logo and website (or a phone number if you don’t have one).