Promotional Products Articles & Promotional Newsletters Educational

The pen: most familiar of all promotional products. Take a quick look at your desk or by the phone in the hallway, in the cup or drawer where you keep your writing utensils. How many of the pens you see here did you actually pay for? Take a closer look at them now. How many have a company name written on them?

The mug by this writer's phone contains one pen from a church, three from different drug companies, one from an accountant, one from an insurance agent and two from different banks. Three of them are almost out of ink and the logos are quite faded, meaning they've been used a lot, maybe even for years.

Promotional pens are so popular a marketing tool because they work. Everyone uses pens and people are always losing them, so they always need more. People appreciate a free pen, period.

Because everyone uses them, to sign checks, to scribble down phone messages, to take notes, to outline proposals, and to do a million other everyday tasks, whatever's written on those pens is sure to become subconsciously entrenched in the heads of their users.

And because everyone loses pens, the promotional pen, and the name, number and website written on it, has a way of being seen by a whole host of people beyond the initial recipient. You let someone borrow your pen to sign a document and forget to get it back. That person accidentally leaves it on the counter at the corner store. The clerk picks it up and uses it to take notes in English Lit 101 the next day, then loans it to a friend for a test that afternoon... The cycle goes on and on. Give out a hundred free pens and you could very well spread your name across ten states within a month. The pen is the promotional gift that keeps on giving - back to you.

To further add to the marketing success of your promotional pens, consider upgrading beyond the familiar thumb-click ball point. Get your company's pen out of the desk drawer or cup by the phone and into someone's pocket, briefcase or backpack by handing out roller-ball or felt-tip models instead. Or use unusual colors to distinguish your pen from everyone else's. Or you could really set your business apart by giving away mechanical pencils instead of pens. Many people do prefer having the option of erasing and few companies use pencils for promotional purposes.

Promotional pens: they're cheap to buy, used by everyone and highly mobile. They are quite possibly the perfect promotional item.