Promotional Product Research Request
Use the form below to get quotes, product ideas, and options for your promotional products. If you don’t have a clue what type of promotional product you want, start with question #1. If you already know what you need and want to see options and pricing, skip to question #10 or use the Shop Promotional Products Link at the top of the page.
Before completing this form we recommend reading our 7 Steps to Promotional Product Success.
How to Save Money on Promotional Products
All the little charges of running a small business add up quickly enough without spending where you don’t need to. We want you to get the most bang for your buck, and make the most of your promotional product investment. So we’ve put together some tips of how you can get the most value for your promotional product budget without sacrificing quality.
Plan Ahead
This is the most important way to save money on promotional products. This is also the thing most businesses don’t do. Either they forget, or they put it off until the last minute. In either case, they lose out on valuable opportunities. The closer you get to your deadline, the fewer options you have. Rush charges and express shipping can easily double the cost of a promotional product order. And some products just can’t be rushed because of the way the products are made. To be safe, you should have your promotional product order submitted and approved for production at least 1 month before you need the product to arrive. If you cut it too close you risk your product not arriving until after your deadline. Suppliers will guarantee a ship date for your order, but they can’t guarantee what the freight company is going to do. Another good reason to plan ahead is to catch special pricing. Throughout the year suppliers put products on sale. If we have the information ahead of time we can keep an eye out for special deals and discounts on the products you want.
Have Single-Color Artwork Available
Extra colors often mean extra costs. In addition to extra costs on the item there are often extra set-up charges. Also, some promotional products can only be printed with a single-color. To avoid the extra charges you should have a black and white version of your logo, as well as a color version.
Use Professionally Created Artwork & Know Where It Is
There’s a saying in the industry, “Garbage In=Garbage Out”. This means low-quality artwork makes a low-quality product. You need to have camera-ready artwork to get a quality imprint on a promotional product. The best artwork for promotions is vector art. (Click here to learn more about vector artwork.) Many suppliers will refuse the job if you don’t supply clean artwork. Product suppliers who charge to clean your art for a specific job are under no obligation to give you the clean file. So those clean up charges can add up.
You can save these charges by having your logo professionally vectorized ahead of time and keeping it in a safe place. Make sure everyone who may be ordering promotional products knows exactly where your art files are stored.
Don’t know if your artwork is usable? Contact Us and we’ll check it for you. If it needs to be vectorized, we’ll provide you with a quote for vectorizing it and give you the clean file for you to keep.
Get the Most Out Volume Discounts and Set-Up Charges
Whenever you look at the prices for promotional products you’ll notice the more you order the less each piece costs. Take a good look at these numbers. Often there will be a point where the cost drops more dramatically. This is your best value quantity point. (Hint: it’s never the minimum order quantity.) The same principle applies to set-up and freight charges. If you have a use for the higher quantity and it fits in your budget, get it. Promotional products you’ve ordered for a specific event or trade show can often be re-purposed after the event is over. Most of these types of promotional products are small and lightweight. Use your leftovers in a direct mail campaign to add impact to your mailer or give them away at networking events instead of business cards.
Look at the Big Picture
When you choose your promotional products consider this: It does you no good to save a couple pennies if you do it by choosing a product nobody wants. Consider pens for a moment. Pens are relatively inexpensive and pretty universal. However, if you want to use pens, use good pens. If you use the cheapest pens you can find, they are all but guaranteed to end up in the the trash. The few cents you saved by ordering the cheap pens pales next to the promotional opportunity you’ve squandered. Good pens, on the other hand, will be used until the last possible minute.