Marketing Ideas

In the world of promotional products, custom tote bags reign supreme. They’re up there with branded pens in terms of popularity, and it’s not hard to see why. As a marketing professional, you probably love handing out custom totes at trade shows and events because they’re great at advertising your brand – totes get over 7,000 impressions in their lifetimes. Tote bags leave the house, acting as walking billboards, so they provide a great return on investment.

Another selling point to branded totes is that there’s so much room to work with – literally. If you have a special logo, phrase or image that you want to clearly render front-and-center on some swag, the promo tote will do the job. Tote bags are beloved by recipients, too: they’re practical, versatile, and perfect for collecting swag at industry events. (Think about it – branded swag that holds other branded swag...nice!). Everyone has a use or three or twelve for another tote, so people tend to hang on to them for a long time.

At Pinnacle Promotions, we make designing your promotional products super simple, and we always have helpful customer service agents available for guidance, but it does help if you know a couple of simple tricks and tips before embarking on your first promotional tote endeavor. Use this guide before getting started, and make sure to check out some awesome branded tote bag ideas to ensure that your giveaways hit the mark.

As you probably know, promotional tote bags come in many shapes, sizes and styles that can be customized to suit your particular needs. We can help you choose the right promo totes based on your specific event. Often, we recommend affordable, quick-ship tote bags for events like trade shows, job fairs, and conventions. These are lower cost options that can be filled with literature and other swag items for a relatively low price.

We also offer custom grocery tote bags that are specifically designed for taking to the market. These totes are perfect for companies that focus on the environment (since they can be reused again and again) or food.

1. Choose Your Material — We have custom totes made of cotton, jute, polypropylene, recyclable materials, and others. For businesses that really want to reinforce their eco-friendly values, we recommend choosing promotional totes made from natural materials, like cotton, canvas, and jute.
2. Choose Your Size — We offer small 8-inch by 8-inch bags all the way up to larger 25-inch by 17-inch bags, with a wide variety of different strap lengths. Consider what you intend to carry in your tote when choosing a size.
3. Choose Your Imprint Type — Consider the method of personalization. We have totes that are printed, stamped, embroidered, screen printed, and transferred with a four-color design process for a totally eye-catching look. While we can work with just about any vision, some artwork looks better in some personalization styles, so if you're unsure, please ask us for advice.
4. Choose Your Price Point — Are you looking for an economic giveaway bag for a trade show or are you looking for a brand name bag to use for a client gift? Your end use will help guide you to a specific budget.
5. Choose Your Extra Features — Do you want an outside pocket for a water bottle? An insulated bag to take to the grocery store? A bag with a pen loop? A zippered closure? A morphing bag that folds down so it can be carried in a purse? All of these options help you create a custom tote that’s tailored to your target audience.

First things first: Before you place your promo tote order, make sure to review our artwork requirements. We prefer print-ready vector artwork delivered in .ai, .eps or .pdf formats, but we can accept some other file types as well. Here are some more quick tips for designing your promotional totes.

• File type is important. Proper print-ready vector artwork will ensure that you get a high-quality, vividly printed result that won’t be compromised when resized.
• We will send you a digital proof to approve before creating your order. Make sure to triple-check your proof before approval to ensure there are no typos or other issues with spacing, colors, or printing.

We know that sometimes it helps to see and feel promotional products in real life to make sure that it suits your company’s specific standards and branding efforts. For a sample of any of our promotional totes or other products, give us a call at 877-300-2007.

In our home state of Georgia, the way we use our mobile phones in our cars is about to change. On July 1st, 2018, Georgia residents will join those of 15 other states and Washington, DC, and will no longer be allowed to use hand-held cell phones while driving.

Though texting while driving has been illegal in Georgia for some time, House Bill 673 also prohibits holding or supporting your phone with any part of your body. What does this mean for drivers? Does it mean you can’t talk on your phone? Does it mean you can’t use an app like Google Maps or Waze? What about streaming Podcasts or Audiobooks? Can you still post your stuck traffic selfie on instagram? How can companies benefit from this law (besides having their employees arrive alive)?

This is perhaps one of the most confusing parts of HB 673. According to Heads UP Georgia, streaming apps like Spotify, Audible and Pandora can be used IF the driver starts them while they are parked. However, you *can* use your car's built-in audio controls. So if that Nickelback song comes on mid-drive, you're stuck with it unless you turn off the radio for the next three and a half minutes.

That’s a big fat no. No, no, no.

No quick Facebook updates.

No Instagram humblebrags.

No adding to your Snapchat story.

No replying to an email and no Googling the nearest Starbucks. Also not allowed - Skyping or Facetiming (or any form of videochat), even if it’s done hands free. The law states that a driver cannot record or broadcast a video while driving.

Stiff penalties should help deter drivers from breaking the law; up to a $150 fine and up to 3 points on your license. You can also get ahead of the law and help your employees by purchasing branded products that will help them to follow the law – like a branded car phone mount. If you’re in charge of giveaway products for your company, think about choosing a phone mount or promotional bluetooth headset. Associating your brand with safety while saving your customers and employees not only money but their lives...now that’s a win-win.

While these laws have been in effect for years in several states, they are new to Georgia (and presumably more states to come). Depending on your habits, complying with the Hands Free Law may be a piece of cake. Or if you’re guilty of busting out your phone while you’re in bumper-to-bumper traffic on 285, you’re going to have to rethink your ways...or pay. It may take some getting used to, but hands-free laws have shown to significantly decrease traffic accidents and fatalities.

And that’s worth sharing...just not while driving.

If you are looking to leave a lasting impression without breaking the bank, these promotional drinkware pieces are perfect giveaways and corporate gifts. These quality promotional items take all of the best features of popular name brand drinkware and deliver them in a more affordable way...everybody wins!

Check out all of our drinkware – name-brand and comparable alternatives – at pinnaclepromotions.com

by Sarah Gricius, Merchandising Manager

It’s casual Friday at the office and you rummage through the closest trying to figure out which company branded t-shirt to wear until you realize your favorite one is in the dirty clothes….UGH! Guess you will have to wear that stiff and scratchy one that is bundled up in a ball at the bottom of the dresser. Don’t be that company that gives your employees “those” t-shirts they never want to wear. Give them the option to wear your logo proudly on a comfortable, great-looking t-shirt they will wear over and over again.

On PinnaclePromotions.com, we offer hundreds of different t-shirt styles, so how do you know which is the right one? Well, I've done all the hard work for you...you're welcome. Below I've detailed my Top Five Casual Friday T-Shirt Styles – each one is not only a personal fave of mine, but each style receives outstanding reviews from our customers. Make sure to ask for a sample from our team here at Pinnacle so you can experience them for yourselves.

There are hundreds of different t-shirt styles to put your logo on, and although this post only highlighted my 5 top styles, it is a great starting point for your next project. At Pinnacle, we pride ourselves on being experts in the products we offer – you can trust that any one of these styles will be a great quality t-shirt to Make the Right Impression on your employees and customers.

by Dave Weintraub, CEO

Luckily, I do not go to the grocery store very often.

When I do go, I usually spend three times what I was planning on spending and often I forget what I was originally supposed to buy and have to go back. Recently, I came home from work one night, and my wife asked me to go to our local Publix to get pasta sauce. “No problem” I replied, grabbed my keys and headed down the street thinking it would be a quick in and out.

Wow, was I wrong. How hard can it be to buy a jar of sauce at a grocery store? How about 45 minutes hard.

I walked into the store and immediately headed for the pasta aisle. Prego. That was the name stuck in my head. My thought was to walk right over, grab the first jar I see and then head straight to the express checkout. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

First, Prego has about 35 different kinds of sauce. You have to make a choice. Do you want a Favorite, a Classic Italian, or a Premium? What about a Prego Farmer’s Market version with organic ingredients? There was traditional, tomato basil with garlic, fresh mushroom, homestyle, meat-flavored. Seriously!? I was absolutely overwhelmed...and that was just one brand. There’s also Newman’s Own, Bertoli, Ragu, Barilla, and the private-label Publix versions of all of these. With all of the combinations, there had to be at least a hundred different options staring back at me.

I was just standing there staring at the shelves for 10 minutes when the stockperson came up to me and asked me if I needed help. “I don’t know” was all I could say. The reality of the situation was that I was actually scared to choose something because I knew that if I came home with the wrong jar my wife would just send me back out again.

The stockperson and I went back and forth for another 10 minutes. Did I want garlic? Vegetarian or meat? Peppers and onions? My head was spinning until suddenly I heard a familiar voice, “What are you doing?” Thankfully, it was my wife’s best friend. She lives down the street and happened to be shopping. After begging her not to tell, I explained my predicament. She laughed, reached over my shoulder, grabbed a jar, and said “This is what you want”. I took it, said thanks, and ran.

A few years ago researchers put together a study to gauge just how many choices are too many. They went to a grocery store and put out six jars of jelly. Forty percent of the shoppers stopped to take a look at the selection and a whopping 30% actually purchased something. The next week the researchers put out 24 varieties of Jelly. Just as you would expect, it attracted more people! Sixty percent of the people stopped to take a look at the layout – a huge number. But, surprisingly, only three percent of the shoppers actually bought something.

The researchers concluded that having such a large number of equally good options is too mentally draining because each option has to be weighed against the others. Initially, more choices leads to more satisfaction, but as the number increases, it peaks and then people tend to feel more confusion, pressure, and potential dissatisfaction. A smaller number of choices leads to increased satisfaction and less regret. The pressure of choice is even more extreme when you add in limited-time constraints.

My sauce-choosing experience was just a small example of what a typical consumer is faced with during the day, but I also see it a lot at work. At Pinnacle Promotions, we sell imprinted promotional products and corporate apparel. As a distributor, the choice options are almost endless. We literally have access to about 700,000 different products on which a company can print its logo.

We have a phenomenal website with hundreds of categories, tens of thousands of products and a multitude of imprint methods. But what do you do as a client when your boss tells you to find products that you can give away at a trade show? It can be simply overwhelming. You can go to 10 different websites and everything looks the same – Overchoice in all of its glory.

Here’s the thing, though. My wife’s friend knew what I wanted because she knows me and my family. She spends enough time with us to know what would satisfy our needs, fit in our budget, and make me look good. This is how you overcome the Overchoice dilemma – with individuals who understand what you are looking for, know the questions to ask, and people that you can trust to help narrow down your choices to a manageable level.

And that's exactly what we do at Pinnacle – we train our staff to be product experts so that they can help you find exactly what you need at the right price.

The stockperson at Publix was there to help, but he didn’t really know what I wanted, so his suggestions only made me more confused. It took someone who had a relationship with me and my family to get me where I needed to go. Easy access to products and information can give you more choice, but is it the right choice?

My suggestion: make choices easier in your business life and surround yourself with partners, vendors, and suppliers that take the time to learn what your business is all about and learn about you as a human being, not just a potential sale.

Dave Weintraub started Pinnacle Promotions with his brother Mitch in 1994. In the ensuing years, he's seen the options for branded merchandise – and the access to those options – expand dramatically. His goal with Pinnacle is, and has always been, to take all of these options and narrow them down to just the right ones.

We all respond differently to different messages, and those differences are generally affected by our age, income, and education level. Diving deeper, you can look at buying behaviors and psychographics – values, opinions, attitudes, and interests. Knowing more about your target customers' lifestyles will help determine your displays' product selections, layouts, and messages.

This may seem obvious – if your customers are predominantly women, you'll want to display items that will appeal more to women – but it goes beyond the surface demographics. If your research determines that your target customers tend to be interested in music, you would be wise to pepper your displays with music-themed products, even if you're not selling music products. The more you can hit your customers' hot buttons, the more effective your displays will be.

Customers like to see new and unique products when they return to a store, and it falls on the visual merchandiser to create innovative ways to display the products. Maintaining the same displays over time will produce a stagnant environment and discourage repeat customers, while constantly refreshing displays will create interest and enable merchandisers to show more of the breadth of available products.

Additionally, refreshing a display can help the visual merchandiser experiment and help with identifying what really makes the brand stand out. Try it, measure it, adjust it, repeat... Learn from what worked previously and grow from that knowledge!

The consistency of visual branding and messaging throughout a store strengthens your brand identity and creates a positive sentiment for your company. When a brand shows consistent messaging, customers will feel that your brand is more dependable. Imagine going to a retail store where everything is well organized and the customer service is remarkable but when you return two weeks later, the sales reps are flinging clothes around and not being attentive. You would get mixed messages and wonder who and what the store is really about. It works the same way when merchandising a showroom; if you maintain consistency through your brand, customers will have the feeling that they can trust you.

At Pinnacle Promotions, our reputation is built on ensuring brand consistency for our clients...and for ourselves. From the people that work here to the products we sell we all have understanding of how to Make the right impression.™

Creating the perfect product display requires a number of factors to take into account. First, know who your customers are...and what they want. Group your products together by whatever method makes sense for your business. Try the Rule of Three. Keep your displays fresh and new. And be consistent with your messaging.

Experiment with these techniques and keep your eyes open to new trends so you can continue to add to your merchandising knowledge. It is important to track what works and constantly adapt based on the needs of your target customer. Now, armed with these visual merchandising tips, go forth and see how much you can increase sales with effective product displays!

Have you ever considered the reasons why people actually own promotional products? Of course, many organizations hand out promotional products during events, and there's the occasional instance of accidental pen thievery, but what are the motivations for hanging on to these giveaways? Gaining insight to why people opt to keep your custom pens, branded polo shirts, and logoed tumblers can help you choose the most effective promotional items for your company to invest in, increasing the likelihood of impressions, brand interest, and cause awareness.

In a consumer study conducted by Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), over 1,000 individuals were surveyed on the reasons they chose to keep a promotional item. Of the top 10 reasons listed in the study, here are the top 5 that we feel are most important to our customers:

17% of people surveyed keep promotional products because the item represents a cause they align with. While many organizations build brand and cause awareness through fundraising with inexpensive, high-quality promotional products, these items also make great giveaways at local events, as well as symbolic keepsakes for community volunteers and donor appreciation!

Non-Profit Organizations and other Associations participate largely in symbolism because of the affordability aspects, as well as the reach of cause awareness through passionate supporters and advocates.

22% of people keep promotional products because they support the brand. When consumers like the company's products or services offered, or when they’ve had an exceptional experience with a company, they talk about it. Receiving a promotional product from a brand they’re loyal to generates more positive referrals from devoted customers.

Here at the office, we wear and carry a LOT of Pinnacle Promotions branded promotional items! Shameless plug, yes, but aside from what WE like, it’s common to see promotional items being carried by local gym members, college alumni, hipster Apple fanatics and so many other loyal consumers! Brand loyalty sometimes extends to the brand of the product itself. If your brand is less well known, consider investing in name brand promotional products like Nike or YETI, customized with your logo, as an opportunity to increase brand awareness. Your customers' loyalty to the manufacturer can be shared with your company, giving your brand an added boost.

28% of people keep promotional products because they have memorable value! Consumers are everywhere participating in everything from local community events to national conventions and festivals. In recent years, it has become an expectation of consumers to be reached at a personal level and there is no better way to create a resounding connection at these events than with a promotional item!

This is evident if you’ve ever seen an authentic Woodstock t-shirt, or a bag from SXSW, or a button pin from HOW Design Live, or a can cooler from the local arts festival down the street. People keep things that remind them of an awesome learning experience or an amazing time they had and if your company is participating in any type of similar event, you’ll want to show up with custom promotional items in hand!

43% of people keep promotional products because they fit their style or personality. Show of hands, who hasn’t seen a neon chartreuse or chevron printed, anything?! To help customize niche marketing campaigns, it’s imperative to keep up with industry and retail trends. Trendy promotional items attract people to your brand through colors, textures, patterns and construction! If there is something out there that speaks to your clientele specifically, it can, in most cases, be made into a promotional item.

The number one reason that people hang on to promotional items is for functional purposes. In fact, 85% of people own promotional products because they’re functional! We can venture to say that a majority of people enjoy products that serve multiple purposes or make their lives a little easier. No matter what your business is, no matter how big, or how small, a promotional product that is also functional will always be a successful option for gaining impressions, brand interest or cause awareness.

Your company can use these promotional product buying reasons to create connections that resonate with your existing clients, potential clients, and employees. Promotional products help your brand stand out from the competition and establish a solution for your brand’s offline marketing challenges. With the benefits of promotional products, you can achieve all of these goals through an increased positive perception and overall brand image, as well as a higher likelihood of recommending or becoming a patron of your business. Considering the average duration that a recipient keeps a promotional product is one to four years, the quality of the promotional products you select is essential to the long term impact you see on these goals.