Magnetic Business Cards

Have you been giving out your business cards and not getting as many calls as you would like? Could that possibly result from your potential client losing it in a pile of papers or accidentally washing it in their pants? If they don’t need your service right now, the prospect may just put it aside and forget about it. When they do need a service that you provide, they will probably just Google it or look it up in a phone book. Out of sight, out of mind..right?

How about a non-intrusive way to stay in front of their face everyday? They can be reminded of you at home or at their office. MAGNETIC BUSINESS CARDS are the answer. When is the last time you threw away a magnet? If your home or office is like ours, magnets are everywhere because they are useful.

At home, everyone has at least 1 magnet on their refrigerator. If family has kids, they need magnets all the time to put their children’s pictures and artwork all over it. If your business card magnet is on the fridge, you are in their home advertising all the time and they are thankful for your magnet. BRILLIANT!

Take this one step further. Instead of just doing a basic postcard advertising your business in the local paper or as a direct mail piece, why not do a postcard with your magnet that is removable! INCREDIBLE!

Your business card magnet is glued to the surface of the card, giving you the most convenient way to get your magnet & message into your customer’s hands. Studies show that postcards with magnets attached are much more widely read than ordinary direct mailers. To get pricing for these items, visit our website at http://www.keystonespecialties.com/promotional-products and reference the item numbers in the search box.

For more great promotional ideas to get your brand name recognized all over your community in unique ways, please visit our website at http://www.keystonespecialties.com

Antibacterial Pen

Technology meets pen! The Antibac Pen is a breakthrough in effective bacteria control. This pen is perfect for any doctor’s office or a great pen for hospital staff! The features of this pen are:

• Kills 99.9% of bacteria within 24 hours
• Protection lasts the lifetime of the pen
• Helps prevent the growth and spread of bacteria
• Effective against viruses, fungi, and bacteria such as MRSA, Ecoli, Salmonella, Staph, Etc,.
• The antibacterial additive is molded directly into the plastic body of the pen
• Active agent is UV proof and water insoluble.
• Scratch and water resistant
• Same antibacterial agent is used throughout the world in products such as detergents, door handles, playground equipment, carpeting, and toothbrushes
• The write-out for this pen is 1.2 miles!

For more information or to request a sample, please visit us at www.keystonespecialties.com/antibac

The HiBeam Hat

Are your high beams on?

That is the question you can ask when you hand out (or sell) this great new take on the imprinted hat. These hats are great for anyone who needs to keep their hands free while they work. This hat is also great for anyone who grilles, has a dog (or other animal) to walk, jogging, hunting, or doing stuff around the house.

Each LED light can last up to 100,000 hours! The battery is replaceable and will last between 25-30 hours. The lights are water resistant and so is the battery pack. The LED lights are recessed into the visor of the hat for their protection and the switch is sewn in under the visor.

There are a variety of options available with the HiBeam™ hat. You have your choice of structured or unstructured front, mid or low profile, and different fabrics. The hat will even come in Camo! Not your ordinary camo either. We can have the hat made using Realtree® or Mossy Oak® Camo patterns. Amazing! Visit our website and enter in the item number below for pricing. Don’t forget that you get to add your logo to the hat. You can embroider or screen print the HiBeam™ hat to make sure everyone sees your bright idea!

http://www.keystonespeciaties.com/promotional-products

Camo – Item# ROGWH-GWDMI
Cotton Twill – Item# TOGUC-GWDMX
Cotton Canvas - KOGUJ-GWDNE
Polyester - WOHDE-GWDNJ

Choosing Valuable Promotions for 2010

If your organization wants to promote itself to customers, donors, or sponsors to meet its financial goals this year, then it's going to need to look at where, when, and how often it promotes itself.  

The "where" and "when" factors of marketing may be easy to identify, as they simply require identifying the location and time where your message or brand awareness is being promoted.  How often your customers or sponsors see your organization's name can be a little tricky factor to calculate, however.  Branding comes in many formats; Email sequences, direct mail, fund-raising events, etc.  There are a million ways to get your organization's name in front of prospective customers (or donors) and your current customers (or donors).  

Promotional products are a long-term solution to building brand awareness among all your customers (or donors).  Think of promotional products as a reflexive relationship:  Long-term value = Long-term awareness; Short-term value = Short-term awareness.  It's obvious that the highest value in promotional products come in the products that appeal most to the recipients.

Building value in a promotional product to accomplish this long-term brand awareness can be accomplished through aesthetic value or highly functional value in the product you select.  Purely aesthetic value can be combined with highly functional products (such as an etched crystal clock, or a stainless steel pizza cutter), and still promote your organization's brand every time the recipient uses that promotional gift.  Even without your organization's name emblazened across the face of the product, the recipient will very likely remember who they received the gift from.  

Change your brand awareness for the better by choosing a promotional product with eye-catching appeal and function.         

Gifting - The Corporate Level

Personalized, valuable, beautiful, functional, etc.  What can you describe using all these words?  Your staff?  Your volunteers?  How do your gifts to them recognize the best qualities you feel they exhibit in their work?

Recognition gifts can effectively express how you really feel about your staff when they provide more than a token expression of thanks.  Ask yourself how the gift you've selected for someone on your staff will appear to them.  How thoughtful does the gift look?  Does it provide value to whoever receives it?

There are two ways to approach gifting in a corporate environment.  One is to select a universal, 1-size-fits-all gift and present it to everyone receiving recognition for their efforts.  The other way is to hand-select 1 gift at a time, perhaps even ordering them personalized if possible.

Here are the benefits of 1-size-fits-all gifting:  It's easy on your time and gift budget.  Also, it can appeal universally to everyone in the organization without fail.  (See an example of this solution)

Now for the personalized, unique gifting:  It's personal, obviously, so it can mean a whole lot more to the recipient.  Selecting gifts one at a time also adds diversity to the presentation, especially if everyone receives them at the same time.  It makes gifting a whole lot more enjoyable for the giver and the receiver.  Care to find anything that crosses your fancy as a unique gift for your staff?  You can search by different categories of products, or price range, or even colors.  Unique gifting can still be simple.

How to find new products for retail

Finding new products for online or brick & mortar retailing is easy with Keystone's product search engine.  Access to over 500,000 products means customization, quality, & uniqueness all in one location.  Here's how to find a new product on our search engine:

1.  Identify what the product is that you're looking for.  (product category examples: art, balloons, leashes, zipper pulls, etc.) 
2.  Choose keywords to describe details about how you want your product to be made.  (examples: ceramic, latex, leather, metal, etc.)
3.  Identify a quantity & price range you can afford to purchase for an initial order based off the target retail price & profit per item needed.

Once you identify any of these details, using the product search engine is simple.  You may find more options are available by leaving some keywords out of your search, or eliminating a specific price range.

Once you find a product you like, use the Request Quote or Request Info buttons to get answers to your questions before placing an order.  If you like a product from your search results, you may also use the Place Order function to get started.  Image files for customized imprint can be submitted online, as well as payment information and the shipping address where you need your new product to arrive.

Questions?  Contact us via the Request Info button or call 800-240-8639 Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM Eastern Standard Time.  Out phone number is listed on the product search engine also.  Here's to happy product searching, and more retail profits for your store!

How to Develop Products to Win New Customers

As is the case for any retailer, the fresh, new inventory is what brings regular customers back, and brings new customers in more often - whether online or in the store. If sales are flattening out instead of growing consistently, it's time to take a serious look at product development. Here are a few critical questions to analyze before creating new products:

Which products are newest in the store? How long has the old product been offered? If you compare the total sales reports to each piece of merchandise, what are your strongest players? What are your weakest? As any retailer needs fresh merchandise regularly, and it is best to eliminate the weakest products from the line-up to make room for new items. Of course new items are a gamble until you have sales numbers to measure your shoppers’ reactions to them, but that’s reason to start with the smallest possible quantity on the first order. If the new item is a hit, then by all means order more… and then more… and finally, more!

Any retailer following this formula will see sales volume rocket towards the stratosphere (There are other conditions that may hinder sales, such as poor personalities among the staff, etc, but we trust the bad eggs are not allowed to remain in the egg carton to spoil the rest).

Look at the sample items enclosed objectively. What of the samples are already represented in the store? Which items have a purely function purpose? Which have an aesthetic purpose? Which ones serve both purposes to your customers? Now consider the niche market that each item serves among your customer base. Is there a customer profile who visits the store (other than young children), but rarely purchases anything to your knowledge? What kind of items need to be added to attract their spending dollars as well?

This may seem like a lot to digest, but it’s a winning formula in retail. Good luck coming over to the winning side of product management, and feel free to contact Keystone Specialties for help.