Every brand knows that promotional products are some of the best ways to advertise your company name, connect with potential customers, and even increase the sense of unity and teamwork among your employees. However, ordering promotional products online can be a confusing process, especially if it’s your first time doing so.
Not sure where to start when it comes to designing and ordering promotional products online? With the right promotional marketing company on your side, your options are nearly limitless. Additionally, creating your perfect promotional products online is quick and easy, and it doesn’t require in-person meetings or warehouse visits.
What Is the Process for Ordering Promotional Products Online?
The first step to creating your promotional items online is finding the right promotional products business to work with. You should choose one with a huge variety of options when it comes to item type, logo and text printing type, and order size. A great track record of successfully fulfilling orders and happy customers is also a huge plus.
Once you’ve chosen a company to create your promotional products online, it’s time to begin building your order.
Chat with a Consultant
Creating promo items online is much more convenient than visiting a showroom or warehouse. However, you’ll still get the one-on-one customer service you expect from an in-person interaction when you complete the process online by speaking with a representative over the phone.
During your initial chat with a sales consultant, you’ll be able to ask any questions you might have about your expectations, such as pricing, timelines, and types of orders. You will also provide your ideas about the types of items you’d like to make and how you’d like your finished products to look.
Brainstorm Your Ideas
Once you’ve communicated your idea, your sales rep will give their expert opinion about what kinds of designs and images work best on different items. Depending on what you proposed, they may recommend some small changes based on material types and logo or text display details. Your friendly representative will be open to all ideas and figure out the best way to make your vision come to life.
Choose Your Items
After you and your sales rep land on a final vision for your items, it will be time to determine exactly what products to use for your order and how many of each.
These details will depend on many factors. One of the most significant is what the items will be used for. Your representative will be able to give their opinion on which items are best to hand out as free swag at events, sell to customers, provide for employees, and everything in between.
Additionally, the style of image and text printing you prefer will make a difference in the types of materials you can work with. For example, a brand might choose embroidery over screen printing for their logos on marketing materials, but embroidery can’t be applied to some materials that screen printing can be applied to and vice versa.
Let the Pros Handle the Rest
Once your order details are in place, it’s time to sit back and let the professionals take it from here. Your promotional product company will only begin the printing or embroidery process once you’ve approved all designs.
Depending on the size of your order, you should receive your items in 14 business days or less. A customer service representative will be able to give you production and shipping updates during the process so you know when to expect your shipment.
Which Merchandise Items Should I Order?
Now that you understand what the process for creating and ordering promotional products online looks like, you may be wondering just what products you should choose for your marketing needs.
There are so many great options when it comes to promotional marketing items, but some are better suited for particular settings. Let’s take a closer look at a few distinct marketing situations and some of the best marketing materials to have on hand.
For a Promotional Event
If you’re attending a promotional event to represent your brand to potential customers, a great way to make sure they remember your branding is with promotional items they can take with them. This goes one step further than a business card and provides some value to potential customers in the form of an item they can use.
The items you hand out at a promotional event should be free of charge and light enough to carry around with ease. This could include pens, pencils, journals, note pads, or even lightweight clothing items like baseball caps or bandanas.
For Your Employees
Companies will use branded materials for their employees for many reasons. Visitors to a brick-and-mortar store will have a much easier time interacting with employees if everyone on the clock is wearing branded materials. Additionally, branded work attire increases the sense of connection among team members.
When creating branded items designed for your employees, you can think much more long-term than the type of products you’ll hand out at promotional events. Consider embroidered apparel for your employees to wear on the clock, like T-shirts, dress shirts, hoodies, and jackets that proudly display your company’s logo.
You could also invest in branded materials for your employees to use while off the clock to increase brand awareness wherever they go. This could include everyday items like shopping bags, backpacks, water bottles, cell phone cases, and many more.
Get Your Promotional Products Online with Groggy Dog
Ordering promotional products online doesn’t have to be complicated. With Groggy Dog, you’ll be amazed at how smooth the process can be when you build your designs and create your order alongside one of our highly skilled representatives.
We offer more than 300,000 brandable products spanning over 3,000 distinct suppliers, so we have all the resources we need to bring your idea to life. Contact us today to learn more.
