Promo Gift Blog: Interview with Premier Promotional Products

Today we interviewed Jess Hart from Premier Promotional Products, they are one of the UK's leading promotional merchandise distributors. Established for over ten years and with a growing reputation for excellence in customer service. Whether you require complete inexpensive event giveaways, high-end corporate gifts or branded clothing, they can help.

Promo Gift Blog: Interview with Premier Promotional Products   

What were your 3-5 best-selling products last year? 

Our best selling products last year were USBs and power banks. We are seeing more and more that our clients are looking for useful products that consumers will keep; the most effective merchandise delivering full impact.

Promo Gift Blog: Interview with Premier Promotional Products   

We also continue to sell a lot of mugs, pens and notebooks, which were reported as the most useful promotional gifts, as desk areas prove to be a successful marketing tool with brands’ logos in view on a daily basis (research undertaken by the British Promotional Merchandise Association 2016).

What are faster growing market segments in your region? 

We supply to a large variety of London Shows, including Billy Elliot, Shrek and Dirty Dancing, with a vast selection of products including magnets, keyrings, badges and fans.

Promo Gift Blog: Interview with Premier Promotional Products   

We are also increasingly providing for the Motor and Construction industries, it is great that we get to work with such a range of market segments as we offer products suitable for everyone.

Promo Gift Blog: Interview with Premier Promotional Products   

Do you visit trade shows. If so, which ones are your favourite and why?

We really enjoy the smaller, more intimate trade shows where we get a chance to speak to suppliers on a one-on-one basis. We love the appointment system at Sourcing City Marketplace as we are able to discover everything a supplier offers and ways we are able to work together to make our service more efficient.

We also had a lovely time at The Advantage Group Catalogue Launch event and Trade Show; the trade show has a nice relaxed environment and there are a great variety of products. The award ceremony is fantastic as it allows both distributors and suppliers the opportunity to stand out from the rest - and the food is also great! We are aiming to win the “Best Catalogue Cover” Award next year!

The BPMA Trade Show is another one of our favourites, it is a much larger scale and suppliers have bigger stands with more products on display, so it’s really great for getting lots of new ideas. The trade show has a busy and exciting atmosphere, and it is in a great location.

Promo Gift Blog: Interview with Premier Promotional Products   

What are the biggest opportunities you see in your industry?

The biggest opportunity we have seen in our industry is our digital and online presence. We are constantly finding ways to expand our reach online and engage with our customers more regularly, through our social media sites and through our website. We are also planning to launch a new blog on our website very soon, so keep an eye out! We will be posting lots of interesting tips, images, videos and regular news updates.

We utilise lots of different platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn and we are creating more content for our YouTube channel, with video streaming becoming increasingly popular. We created some short, light-hearted videos after the BPMA Trade Show and Sourcing City Marketplace last week >>

Any examples of a good marketing campaign you like? 

Promo Gift Blog: Interview with Premier Promotional Products   

A rather creative marketing campaign the Premier Team enjoyed recently was for Promotional Products Week by the BPMA, it was for a really good cause aiming to raise £10,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK. 

Promo Gift Blog: Interview with Premier Promotional Products   

Distributors and suppliers were encouraged to donate whilst also promoting their brand on social media using the hashtag #promoteyourbrand. We donated to the cause and also took some really creative photographs and videos of our own branded merchandise, including magnets and pens.

Promo Gift Blog: Interview with Premier Promotional Products

For more information please contact below 

Jess Hart, Sales and Marketing at Premier Promotional Products.

Website: www.premier-thegroup.co.uk 

Telephone: 01732 843250

Email: Sales@premier-office.co.uk

Address: The Courtyard Business Centre, Birling Road, Ryarsh, Kent, ME19 5AA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/premierofficeUK 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/premieroffice/ 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PremierPromotionalProductsRyarsh 

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/premierofficeuk/ 

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/premier-promotional-products

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+PremierPromotionalProductsRyarsh

Trending Now: Summer Promotional Products to Boost Sales

The summer is a great time to start promoting your brand. You could host or sponsor a fun community event and give away swag to stay top of mind long after the event is over.

Trending Now: Summer Promotional Products to Boost Sales

Everyone likes to get out in the sun during the summer, and the right promotional products will let you put your brand in front of the right eyes all summer long. Here are a few top summer promotional products that will help you ultimately boost sales:

Beach Balls

Beach balls are popular for all kinds of water play, whether it's at the beach or not. Kids and adults alike love to bat them around or use them to play games of water volleyball. They're also fun for pets.

Trending Now: Summer Promotional Products to Boost Sales

When your logo or company name is printed on the side of a beach ball, you are getting exposure every time it is lobbed from one person to another. Make sure your logo is large and bright so that it gets noticed even in a high-energy game.

Frisbees

Throwing a Frisbee back and forth ranks up there as one of the most popular summertime activities. You can enjoy Frisbee at the beach, at a camp site, or even in your own backyard.

Just like with the beach ball, you'll be flashing your logo in front of many potential customers every time the Frisbee is used if you invest in branded, promotional Frisbees.

Trending Now: Summer Promotional Products to Boost Sales

Invest in a variety of colors to make your Frisbees more attractive. Let people pick out the size, color or design they like at your event so that you know for sure they will get what they want -- and will get a Frisbee they will actually use again and again.

Picture Frame Magnet

People love to display photos of their vacations on their refrigerators. Giveaway picture frame magnets, and you'll easily get your brand front-and-center when customers use those frames to show off their favorite snaps.

Trending Now: Summer Promotional Products to Boost Sales

Choose a beach theme if you're looking to do a summertime giveaway. Other themes are available throughout the year, so you can use these frames for many other events.

The center of the frame comes out and becomes a separate magnet that bears your company name and information. Meanwhile, you can also have your name or logo printed on the frame itself so that it is always on display with the photo.

Bottle Opener Key Chain

Between trips to the beach and cookouts with friends all summer long, you are bound to open a frosty bottled beverage or 12 along the way. Keeping a bottle opener on your keychain makes it easy and convenient to do so.

These bottle opener key chains make the perfect promotional gifts since they will be in use all summer long and will be passed along readily. Choose fun designs that are keeping with the summer theme, like a shark or fish.

Trending Now: Summer Promotional Products to Boost Sales

The key to success with promotional products is to choose items that customers will really want or use and to stick with what's on trend or topical. These promotional products are perfect for the summer, and they'll be greatly appreciated by customers and potential customers. Stock up on a variety of these items for your next event.

Trending Now: Summer Promotional Products to Boost Sales

About The Author:

The Executive Advertising Offer Thousands of Promotional Products with No Setup Fees. They offer everything from Coffee Mugs to Executive Gift Sets to Advertising Magnets! 

TheExecutiveAdvertising.com, also known as TEAPromo.com, provides over 20,000 unique promotional items including logo apparel, trade show kits, event handouts, and business giveaways. They are a member of ASI and have an A+ BBB rating, to find out more check out there website!

Outstanding Support for #PPWeek

Global supplier of promotional merchandise Outstanding Branding have once again shown commitment to the cause with their support of #PPWeek, the BPMA’s annual Promotional Products Week.

Outstanding Support for #PPWeek

PPWeek is designed to raise the profile of Promotional Merchandise outside the industry, and promote the power of giveaways as part of the marketing mix.

Firstly, Outstanding Branding launched their OBTV channel, which will be an ongoing medium to showcase news, reviews and trends within the Promotional Merchandise Industry.

Outstanding Support for #PPWeek

“Getting the message across during #PPWeek that promotional merchandise works is something we are passionate about, and we were lucky to secure the support of Dorian Tranter (DT) for our first broadcast.  DT is as passionate as we are about the promotional merchandise industry, and he did a fantastic job presenting some of Desktop Ideas’ top selling product range”.

With the video having received over 5000 views already, proving the appetite for education on promotional products, we can be sure to see further videos soon.

Outstanding Support for #PPWeek

Additionally throughout the week, Outstanding Branding shared infographics and a video based on research provided by the BPMA, showing the success of promotional merchandise as an advertising medium.

Photographs of Ellie the Elephant, the BPMA’s Promotional Products Week mascot, were also taken in various locations across the capital, including Tower Bridge, Hays Galleria and a supermarket shelf, to name a few.

Outstanding Support for #PPWeek

Finally, Clara the Cow hit the streets of London once again to draw attention to the PPWeek cause, handing out branded bags of chocolate eggs.

Outstanding Support for #PPWeek

“Clara proves popular whenever she leaves the office and meets the public”, commented Sarah Penn, CEO of Outstanding Branding.  “The fact she is handing out chocolate is I’m sure just the icing on the cake!  I want to say a big thanks to our key partner supplier, Liquid Lens, for supplying the chocolates, we really appreciate the support of our suppliers to help us make sure #PPWeek is a great success”.

Outstanding Support for #PPWeek

About Outstanding Branding

Outstanding Branding is an independent, award winning distributor of branded merchandise, corporate giveaways and promotional clothing. Based near London Bridge the company sources creative products as well as managing and distributing promotional merchandise schemes on behalf of clients.

Outstanding Support for #PPWeek

More information on Outstanding Branding’s promotional merchandise is available at www.outstandingbranding.co.uk, where details of the complete range of products and services offered can also be found.

Forever Joma use Wax Candle Promotion

Forever Joma, a British jewellery brand has come out with a new promotional offer for its customers. The brand is offering customers a complimentary scented candle with purchase.

Forever Joma Wax Candle Promotion

Customers who purchase a product from Forever Joma get a scented soy wax candle. Soy wax candles are better than paraffin candles because they are burn longer, are non toxic and eco-friendly. As a result, soy wax candles are top of the range, and this promotion is in keeping with Forever Joma’s brand. It also means that customers, who have not heard of the brand, will be more convinced by their luxury label and will be more persuaded to try and make a purchase from the brand.

Why we like this promotional idea by Forever Joma?

This gift with purchase offer by Forever Joma is a great marketing campaign which is in keeping with the brand and its story. As a company that was launched earlier this year, Forever Joma is quickly setting itself apart from the competition. Potential customers will be attracted to the company by this offer, and may continue to support the brand as loyal customers, getting more attention for the brand via positive word-of-mouth. All in all, it looks like Forever Joma has picked the right promo gift to open them up to the market, and create the better brand recall. 

Going Green: Eco-Friendly Promo Products for Your Company

Green is the new black. Meaning that being environmentally friendly is not only the right thing to do but also the trendy thing to do.

If you want to make a bigger impact with your promotional products, you'll choose environmentally friendly products. People will be more likely to use the products, which means that you'll get more exposure. Those who care about environmental issues will also be impressed with the effort you have made, and they will be more likely to shop with your company as a result.

Going Green: Eco-Friendly Promo Products for Your Company

Here are a few eco-friendly promotional products you can choose for your company:

Reusable Items

Plastic bags have a bad rep because they are not biodegradable and they can be dangerous for wildlife. Most people don't recycle them, so they end up in landfills or strangling birds in the ocean. Carrying a tote bag helps to cut down on waste because you can reuse the bag time and again.

Going Green: Eco-Friendly Promo Products for Your Company

Tote bags are just one of the reusable, eco-friendly products you can offer your customers. Other reusable items include water bottles, travel cups, backpacks and more. Choose a stylish design and an eco-friendly material to make the items even more attractive to your customers so that they will use them more and give your brand more exposure.

Items without Toxic Chemicals

BPA and other chemicals have been found to contribute to an increased risk of health problems as well as to problems for the environment and wildlife. Fortunately, you can choose from a wide variety of promotional products that do not have BPA or other toxic chemicals.

Going Green: Eco-Friendly Promo Products for Your Company

Check the label carefully before you order, and ask plenty of questions if the information is not provided. Many promotional companies have a section of their shop dedicated to eco-friendly products, which makes it easier to find what you need.

Things That Can Be Recycled

Even the highest-quality products will break down or become useless at some point. If those products can be recycled, they won't have as much of an impact on the environment.

Some materials that can be recycled include metals, some plastics, glass, and some fabrics. Fortunately, that leaves you with numerous options for promotional products, including mugs, bags, notepads, apparel, and more.

Going Green: Eco-Friendly Promo Products for Your Company

Double check that the products are recyclable before you order, and then make sure you let customers know about their recyclable nature when you give them away. Customers who care about environmental issues will be more likely to use and share the products if they know they are eco-friendly.

Solar-Powered Items

Renewable energy is a hot topic since the popular sources of electricity and power are contributing to the rapid decline of natural resources. Solar power is a popular alternative option, but it isn't practical for powering buildings or other energy-intensive operations. The reason is that solar power is very expensive on a large scale.

However, solar energy is very practical and affordable for personal items, such as flash lights and phone chargers. These promotional products are not only useful for customers, but they also show customers that you are committed to environmental conservation.

Going Green: Eco-Friendly Promo Products for Your Company

Investing in eco-friendly promotional products is a promotion in itself. You show your customers that your company is socially conscious and that you care about the same issues that they do. You'll get a lot more mileage out of your promotional strategy, helping to build relationships with current customers and to attract new customers to your brand. 

Going Green: Eco-Friendly Promo Products for Your Company

About The Author:

The Executive Advertising Offer Thousands of Promotional Products with No Setup Fees. They offer everything from Coffee Mugs to Executive Gift Sets to Advertising Magnets! 

TheExecutiveAdvertising.com, also known as TEAPromo.com, provides over 20,000 unique promotional items including logo apparel, trade show kits, event handouts, and business giveaways. They are a member of ASI and have an A+ BBB rating, to find out more check out there website!

EverythingBranded sponsors Niche Business Awards 2016

EverythingBranded is delighted to announce we are sponsoring the Niche Business Awards 2016. The awards take place in Leicester on September 9 at The Athena in Leicester’s Cultural Quarter.

EverythingBranded sponsors Niche Business Awards 2016

The award evening aims to recognise outstanding Leicestershire business and business professionals in the area. There are 17 categories up for grabs, including Charity of the Year, Business Man and Woman of the Year and Young Entrepreneur.

Lee Parkin, Editor of Niche Magazine, said: “We’re all massively excited about the awards as they’re gaining so much momentum. It feels great to be representing and recognising small and independent businesses, alongside the city’s more established enterprises and to be shining a light on the county’s good causes.

EverythingBranded sponsors Niche Business Awards 2016

“The awards will bring local businesses together in a fun networking event and I am very much looking forward to the night. We have collaborated with event host Kate Solomons from Kreative Group, formerly known as ModelZed, and have connected with many other businesses to help make the event a night to remember.

“We have worked specifically with Everything Branded for our promotional goods and trophy requirement for the event, and can only recommend their services and ingenuity, they alway find an innovative and fitting solution."

Paul Rowlett, Managing Director of EverythingBranded, said: “We’re delighted to be involved in an event which rewards and recognises some of the best businesses and business people in the area.

“Leicester is a fantastic place for business right now, and the nominations for the categories on offer is a fantastic example of that.”

As well as sponsoring the Niche Business Awards, EverythingBranded is running a competition with £1000 worth of promotional merchandise up for grabs.

EverythingBranded sponsors Niche Business Awards 2016

The winners of the raffle will win tokens which offer fantastic deals on the promotional merchandise available online.

To keep up to date on the awards on the night you can follow the official hashtag #NicheBizAwards.
You can find our awards section here, or head to our homepage to begin your search for promotional merchandise.

Grand and Toy's Back to School Promotion

Grand and Toy, a Canadian office supplies retailer has come out with a new back to school promotion. The company is offering its customers a choice of free gift with a purchase in store.

Grand and Toy's Back to School Promotion

Customers can choose from either the PaperMate colour pens or the new Sharpie highlighters for free. It offers customers great value for money as both PaperMate and Sharpie are both well known, good quality stationary brands. This promotional offer also suited not just for students going back to school, but business professionals as well.

Why we like the gift with purchase promotional idea?

This promotion by Grand and Toy is fantastic as it is still in keeping with their brand and what they do as a company. These promo items could also open them up to a new market of customers who are looking to purchase quality products from a trusted retailer. This will increase consumer loyalty, as office wear and school supplies is something people purchase on a regular basis, and especially at the beginning of a new academic year.

This promotion also helps to build relationships between the brands, as brands like Sharpie will want to continue to stock their products through Grand and Toy if they feel the brand represents them well and they are also increasing their sales.

Promotional Products Week 2016 #PPWeek

Promotional Products Week (PPW) will take place from the 12th-16th September 2016. The aim of Promotional Products Week is to nationally raise the profile of promotional products and encourage their use within the marketing mix.

Promotional Products Week 2016 #PPWeek

Promotional Products Week is a celebration of the Promotional Products Industry.

PPW will showcase promotional merchandise at its best highlighting its essential role in the marketing mix and explaining why its continually used by marketers keen to make an impact.

Promotional Products Week 2016 #PPWeek

The total amount spent by companies on promotional merchandise in the UK last year was approaching £1bn and firms are happy to spend an average of up to £5 an item to get their marketing message across to consumers. This is why the bpma has invested in buyers and consumers attitudes to promotional gifts.

Promotional Products Week 2016 #PPWeek

This year's PPWeek includes a Free Promo Elephant, this is to help with the official tweet #promoteyourbrand! Along with this PPWeek has partnered with Pancreatic Cancer UK to promote and help raise £10,000 for Pancreatic Cancer. 

Promotional Products Week 2016 #PPWeek

Why to get involved? 

Promotional products are more than just a freebie, if a promotional item is useful, research shows that 89% of people will keep it.  PPWeek is about companies recognising the value of promotional products and understand the many different ways they can improve brand awareness.

The total amount spent by companies on promotional merchandise in the UK last year was approaching £1bn and firms are happy to spend an average of up to £5 an item to get their marketing message across to consumers.

Promotional Products Week 2016 #PPWeek

PromoGift Blog will be following this event very closely and we'd like to thank bpma and PPWeek for providing the information above. Please check out the PPWeek website to find out more about this event and how to get involved.

5 Surprising Promotional Gifts That Work - The Promo Shop

Finding the right product to brand for a giveaway or gift can surprisingly be a difficult and challenging task. And the fact is that no one wants to be that guy with 50 left over boxes of awkward looking aprons sporting your company logo lying around their office.

5 Surprising Promotional Gifts That Work - The Promo Shop

That's why I put together this guide on 5 promotional gifts that truly work at driving new business and keeping your current customers.

But before I get into those 5 products you should first understand that every business and every promotional campaign should have a defined goal on how those promotional products will benefit their company.

It can be as simple as brand awareness, or it can be complex and even be used as part of your sales funnel.

The best way to make sure a promotional product works for you and your company is to make sure your goal is known, stated and written down.

Because no matter what product you choose, the bottom line is that the promotional product is only going to work if you choose it based on how well it will achieve your goal(s).

5 Surprising Promotional Gifts That Work - The Promo Shop

1. Gift cards

No one will pass up receiving a gift card for something they love. In fact, it's one of the most popular items people remember when asked to recall promotional products they received.

The best part about gift cards is that there are several ways you can tailor them to your company.

One is if you're giving away a gift card good for another company you can brand the envelope, or in some cases, you can even brand the actual gift card itself. For example, Amazon.com allows you to personalize their gift cards with a custom image.

Now if you're giving away a gift card that is good for your company services or products then it should be a no-brainer to brand the gift card itself and the envelope.

For maximum effectiveness, you might also want to mention that you're giving away a gift card to the recipient on your company's social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter. People love seeing that and will share and comment on your post.

5 Surprising Promotional Gifts That Work - The Promo Shop

2. Food Baskets

Who doesn't love free food! Gift baskets have been a staple for years and are not going away.
What makes branded food gifts extremely effective is that most people don't just eat the food themselves, they share it with others. So you're almost guaranteed to spread your company's message to someone else.

To make your basket more effective you should tailor it to the type of audience it's going to. For example, if it's going to someone who loves cookies, then send them a basket of custom printed cookies.

And if you're stuck and not sure what your recipient likes, here is a good tip. Check out their Facebook page to see what their interests are.

5 Surprising Promotional Gifts That Work - The Promo Shop

3. Fridge magnets

Check your refrigerator and count how many company magnets you have. Chances are you have at least one branded magnet clinging to its shiny surface.

What makes refrigerator magnets great promotional gifts is not just that people will use them but also that they have such a long life cycle.

Most of these magnets last an extremely long time and people just don't usually tend to discard them once they're in use.

So that means your company will be on display in your customer's (or potential customer's) kitchen for years. It's kind of like having a mini "billboard" in their kitchen.

5 Surprising Promotional Gifts That Work - The Promo Shop

4. Pens

It may seem like an obvious choice to give away custom pens with your logo, but it's also highly effective. It's been found in a recent study by PPAI Research that people recall pens more than any other inexpensive promotional product.

And if you look around your house and office I'm willing to bet you can easily find at least one promotional pen laying around.

Custom pens are an extremely diverse product in that there are so many different options to choose from.

The key to making the right choose about the style, color, and other options, is to relate those options back to your goal. What type of pen, color, and style can you see helping you achieve your goal?

What would you imagine the pen looks like that would create the best effect on your customers?

Once you can answer that question, you'll know exactly what pen to use for your promotional needs.

5 Surprising Promotional Gifts That Work - The Promo Shop

5. Watches

The promotional power of watches is astonishing! They are one of the most highly remembered promotional gifts in the $25 and up product range. But they don't need to cost that much.

In fact, cheap branded kids watches were so successful in Burger King's value meals that kids begged their parents to go to Burger King just so they could collect them all.

Watches can also be used as functional gifts for special occasions. For example at a fitness or sporting event, watches can be given out to participants who can then use them while they participant.

Their possibilities, styles, designs and uses are endless. So whether you're looking for a premium or inexpensive promotional product, watches offer just the right uniqueness that gets them remembered time and time again.

5 Surprising Promotional Gifts That Work - The Promo Shop

The Promo Shop are headquartered in the Atlanta area and  offer free shipping on THOUSANDS of promotional items. Their mission is to provide the best customer service, products and suggestions to promote your business. They have THOUSANDS of customizable promotional items on their website!

Don't underestimate the power of branded mugs!

Scott George of Propel Promotions explains the power of branded mugs and promotional drinkware.

Don't underestimate the power of branded mugs! 

How many coffees do you have a day? 

Promotional drinkware including ceramic & thermal mugs, drink & sports bottles and glassware are a very popular and useful promotional item and when branded with your logo or message are an excellent advertising medium.

Don't underestimate the power of branded mugs!

When it comes to how long a promotional product is kept, mugs were reported by the BPMA to be kept longer than any other promotional item. Promotional mugs also have a very low cost per impression and are a very cost effective advertising medium creating a large number of impressions for marketers over the lifetime of the product!

Did you know? 

- 25% of U.S. consumers own logoed drinkware up from 21% in 2013 
- On average the number of months promotional drinkware is kept = 7.5 months - Half of U.S. consumers who own logoed drinkware use it 2-3 times a week or more... 

Don't underestimate the power of branded mugs!

From an environmental perspective and with the advancement of eco-friendly and recyclable items and manufacturing processes including BPA free materials (bisphenol-a) it's never been easier to be eco conscious and help reduce plastic bottles that can end up polluting the environment.

Don't underestimate the power of branded mugs!

Being environmentally friendly is a strong trend, and that’s good news, especially when it comes to reusable drinkware and all the branding opportunities those products provide. From the everyday travel mug to the customized shot glass, it’s a wide-open market with limitless possibilities.

To view Propel Promotions' range of Promotional Drinkware click here; United States, Australia and New Zealand.