Do not underestimate the lowly promotional pen. On a cost per view basis it provides a return on investment that is amongst the best in the promotional product field and that means the best of any. To show how effective they can be, look on your desk and see how many promotional pens you can find. Then check in your pockets and in your drawers and briefcase. Have I made my point?
Every time you use a promotional pen it brings the logo of the supplying company into your eye-line and that of anyone else sitting with you. Even those in your desktop penholder can catch the eye. It could be your corporate message that they read and your company name that they see.
The idea that promotional pens, despite their low cost, are not valued can be proved wrong by just going up to the desk of a colleague and taking one. And the personal value can be increased if the pen is engraved or, for ultimate desirability, personalised. Unlike business cards, people handle and look at promotional pens for as long as the ink lasts.
Promotional pens can be used to get customers to your stand at a trade fair. Right after the doors open you get that initial rush for the freebies where your plastic pens are grabbed and stuffed into promotional bags. Later, when they come to your stand to sign up for courses, seminars, newsletters or email marketing, what better way to extend your thanks than to allow them to keep the rather nice engraved pen or, if you can refine your target audience suitably, the personalised ones.
If you want to ensure that your press release gets through to the journalists then the gift of a suitably desirable promotional pen will encourage more to your stand for the briefing package.
Promotional pens do not stop at the bottom on the budget level. If your clientele and products merit it then a suitably personalised pen as a gift will be seen as a reflection of the quality of your company and the items and services you provide.
And they can be used to encourage a series of events. Perhaps a pen and pencil case for the initial enquiry, a propelling pencil for asking for the quote and the engraved personalised pen as the reward for making the order.
Plastic pens are not the only ones which are affordable. Promotional pens come in all shapes and sizes and you might want to consider those such as highlighter and marker pens, just sufficiently unusual to make the memorable and desirable.
There is a promotional pen for every function, need and budget. So do not be put off by the fact that they are cheap, available and everywhere. That is their strength.