REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

"We each have a responsibility to leave for future generations a planet which is habitable for all species."

Sir David Attenborough

Recycling is very important as waste has a huge negative impact on the natural environment.

Harmful chemicals and greenhouse gasses are released from rubbish in landfill sites. 

Recycling helps to reduce the pollution caused by waste. ... 

Recycling reduces the need for raw materials so that the rain forests can be preserved.

YOU can make a DIFFERENCE with eco-friendly Branded Promotional Merchandise!

Our best selling GREEN & GOOD products 

  

How your company can make a difference to the environment

With more & more people making conscious decisions to make a difference to the planet..

Reusable and eco friendly items are now becoming an essential promotional item to all businesses.

Reusable water bottles have been one of our top selling products this year & its no surprise as to why!

More than 100 million single use plastic bottles are used daily, worldwide. 

IF NOTHING CHANGES, PLASTIC IN THE OCEANS COULD OUTWEIGH FISH BY 2050.

At Indigo we have a wide range of products which offer solutions to many of the problems caused by single use plastics.

Ways you can make a difference are:

Travel responsibly - Wherever you can, choose a more sustainable way to get from A to B whether this be walking or cycling.

Recycle - Recycle where you can. Things such as paper and electrical items can all be recycled!

Speak up - Talk about and promote the changes your company are implementing! Not only does this boost your brand reputation, it encourages your followers to do the same!

Reduce your waste - Look to purchase reusable items - not only will this reduce the amount of waste going into landfills... Your brand is going to be seen much more!

Swap single use plastics for reusable plastic - Here are a few items you can swap single use to reusable!

What promotional items work for my business?

Are you looking for the perfect promotional giveaway to promote your business?

Here's a few things to consider which may help you choose!! 

Consider your audience- who is your target market? 

Consider who you're aiming your business at and who is going to receive your products. 

You want your products to be well received, used and talked about. 

If you gave a child a bottle opener this wouldn't be well received as they wouldn't use the product.

If you're target audience was children product you would consider are drawstring bags, colouring pencils, pencil cases, note books.

What is the purpose of your promotional merchandise?

Consider what your merchandise is for and whether you need small or large quantities. This may sway you to go for a more budget item if you require a large volume.

If you're going to an exhibition you may consider items such as pens, bags or confectionery! Great giveaways which everyone loves at an exhibition. These aren't too costly either.

You may consider a more premium gift if you're looking for small quantities, staff/customer gifts or if you're a premium/high end business.

What is your budget?

Sometimes your budget plays a really big part in what promotional item is going to work for your business.

You really like the premium water bottles but you only have a £500 budget and need 1000 bottles. 

Be realistic.

Have a rough idea of what you want to spend and that will help you look in the right direction! 

If you're still lacking ideas- Our team are on hand to help find some great product to suit your budget!

Does your promotional giveaways reflect your brand?

What you hand out to your target audience will reflect your brand whether it be good or bad. 

If you're in the motor trade you probably don't want to be looking at bottle openers.

Think of products that reflect your brand and what you're business is about and this will add to the impact/use of your products. 

Promotional Umbrella's

How much does it rain in the UK?

According to the Met Office Climate data, over the 30 year period, there were 106.5 days of rainfall per year on average (which counts as a day in which 1mm of rainfall or over fell). 

This means that there was rainfall on 29 per cent of days per year and on average it didn't rain 71 per cent of days per year.

WHY are promotional umbrellas such a GREAT marketing tool?

Umbrellas are a great marketing product because they have very large print areas! Not only can you print your brand/message on 1 panel but on ALL panels! (Most umbrellas have between 6-8 panels) so your brand will have HUGE EXPOSURE if somebody is using your branded umbrella!

As you can see above, the UK gets a lot of rain a year. More in certain areas than others but still, the whole UK has a lot of days a year where potentially people are walking around with your umbrella... advertising your brand all over the place! 

With the amount of rainfall the UK receives you can GUARANTEE your brand will be seen all year round! How many of us are guilty of receiving a pen and hiding it away in a draw or in a bag and never see it again?

We have a range of budget and premium options as well as walking style and golf style.We can find something to suit EVERYBODY.

http://www.buy-umbrellas.com/

Benefits of Investing in Promotional Products for Brand Marketing

• People will RECOGNISE your brand by giving them something with your logo on!

• People are more likely to ENGAGE with you if you give them something for free! Everybody loves a free bee- right?

• Giving somebody a quality promotional products will REFLECT your brand!

• It doesn't have to be expensive! You can promote your brand even if you have a small budget There's something out there for everyone's budget with our LOW COST range of products.

• People KEEP promotional products they receive! How many of you keep leaflets or remember every single ad they see on a billboard/tv etc?? If someone keeps your products they will REMEMBER you!

• Promotional merchandise can be used to REWARD your customers by creating intimate relationships with your clients.

Water Bottles

Wondering why you should help ditch the use of single-use plastic water bottles?

Top 6 reasons why giving your customers a reusable water bottle will help the planet:

1. Producing plastic water bottles, filling them up, and transporting them to where they are going to be sold is expensive, and uses up valuable natural resources in an unsustainable way.

2. Plastic water bottles leach harmful chemical toxins into water, especially when exposed to heat and light, which is unfortunately where they are most likely to be drunk.

3. Once the contents have been drunk, single-use plastic water bottles create mountains of waste that don’t go away. Every single piece of plastic ever created still exists somewhere on this planet!

4. Even if you try to recycle your plastic water bottles, only a fraction will be recycled. The vast majority end up clogging our landfills (which have finite space) littering the countryside, eventually making their way to the waterways and ocean.

5. Once plastic water bottles are in the environment, they are a hazard to birds, marine wildlife and fish who become entangled or choked, or starved on a diet of plastic bottle tops and broken down plastic pieces.

6. Time in the ocean breaks plastic down into tiny toxic particles known as a plastic smog. This smog attracts and absorbs other pollutants, and micro-plastic is mistaken for food by fish, where it enters our food chain.

Check out some of our popular alternatives to single-use plastic water bottles!

5 reasons why you should buy reusable bags

How long does it take for plastic bags to decompose? A plastic bag can take from 15 to 1,000 years to break down, depending on environment. In a landfill, kept away from the environment that would help them biodegrade more easily, paper bags don’t do much better.

Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, but they can break down through photo degradation. When photo degradation, decomposition through exposure to light, happens, the bag breaks down into small, toxic particles.

An estimated one million birds, 100,000 turtles, and countless other sea animals die each year from ingesting plastic. The animals confuse floating bags and plastic particles for edible sea life such as jellyfish and plankton. Once ingested, the plastic blocks the digestive tract and the animals starve to death. Other animals drown after becoming entangled in plastic waste.

The cost to recycle plastic bags outweighs their value, so most recycling facilities will not take them. Instead of being recycled, they are thrown out with the rest of the trash.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, which has been collecting plastic bag statistics for more than a decade, roughly 2% of plastic bags are recycled in the United States. The rest are left to live on indefinitely in landfills or decompose in our oceans, where they leech toxins into the water and soil.

Interested in branded, reusable bags? 
Check out our range here:
https://www.bagsandfolders.co.uk/index.php?token=5993212fd0f62

Why go Eco-friendly with your branded merchandise?

Everyone wants to give their family the best; whether that means the best food or the highest quality healthcare, every parent or guardian is looking to provide their children with the best of the best. When looking into products for families, it is important to consider all of the effects of the products used. 

Many of these products are sneaky, and may use harsh or even toxic chemicals to make their product in the cheapest way possible, completely disregarding the safety and health of consumers.

Some buyers have done their research and have opted out of dangerous products and have chosen to use eco-friendly products, which benefit both the Earth, businesses, humans and animals.

Using Eco-Friendly Products to Help the Planet!!

In today’s world, the planet needs our help. Our abuse and misuse of resources has put the planet in a difficult predicament, and we are the only ones that can stop the detriment. 

While it can be difficult to make a huge difference as one person, conserving resources and using eco-friendly products is a great way for each person to participate in the preservation of our planet and ecosystem.

By using eco-friendly products, each person is contributing to the safety and preservation of the resources provided from the planet, such as metals, plastics, and even water. If more people use eco-friendly products, the cost of other products will go down, and it would benefit all inhabitants, human and animal.

See a wide range of Eco-friendly products on our website!

http://www.ecopromogifts.co.uk/indigopromotions/

In the non-stop world of social media should there still be room in your marketing strategy for Promotional Merchandise?

In the non-stop world of social media should there still be room in your marketing strategy for Promotional Merchandise?

Absolutely YES! Branded Promotional Products take centre stage in the Marketing arena for business and organisations looking for effective vehicles of communication and for merchandise which will continue to promote their brand long after any event.

I think we can all remember a time when we have been given a branded product, most of us use these items daily and many can be found on our desk! Promotional products are powerful tools for strengthening your brand, building strong customer relationships, fund-raising, staff retention, NEW product launches, conferences and events.

Some marketing professionals have chosen to overlook the benefits of promotional products and by doing this have lost out to competitors who reap the rewards of a balanced marketing strategy.

Don’t leave your brand out of sight and out of mind, use Promotional Merchandise to strengthen your on-line presence and create a memorable experience.

Below are some Statistics that Promotional Products do work - this was based on a study done by Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) (USA).

Eight in Ten Consumers Owns A Promotional Product.

• 88% recalled the advertiser.
• 62% recalled the message.
• 85% did business with the brand after receiving a product.
• 59% have a more favourable view of the brand.
• 47% of people keep promotional products for a year or more.

Below are some ideas on how Promotional Products, added as part of the overall Marketing campaign can assist you and your Brand.

1. A different way to discount and promote your retail products - Instead of discounting your product, consider adding a free gift item. The branded-gift item should be worth less to you than a proposed monetary discount, but should be perceived to be worth more to the customer. For instance, instead of discounting a carton of beer by £5.00 cash, you could consider giving away a customised key-ring bottle-opener with a perceived value of £8.00, but with just a cost of £2.00 for you. This would enable you to maintain higher gross sales margins while also enhancing your brand value within the consumer’s mind. The thrill of a free gift lets customers feel special through their purchase and they believe they got a good deal. This feeds back into the overall positive feeling your customers get when they think of your brand again in the future. 
2. Your customers are your ambassadors - Whenever you see someone wearing an item of clothing such as a t-shirt or baseball cap with a logo on it, that person has become a personal mobile billboard for a brand. Some brands do this exceptionally well through use of interesting and cool designs that are enticing for people to wear, or by simply providing the customer with practicality, such as a free backpack to carry sports clothes when they join a new gym. If your customers wear or use your promotional products as part of their everyday life, you have succeeded in making that person become a public ambassador for your brand and a mobile advertising board wherever they go.
3. Three-dimensional advertising. In today’s digital world, so many giveaways come in the form of an impersonal discount code or an email link. However, despite the technology, humans are still very much the same, and people still love something that they can touch and feel. Receiving a free tangible object is exciting for most people, and usually far more interesting than any digital promotion. Creating an item that is tactile, personalised and meaningful enhances brand awareness. The resurgence of vinyl records in the digital music age is an example of the need for people to have and hold something physical. People like things that they feel are ‘for them’ or ‘about them’. The next time you are thinking of a promotional item, consider that a tangible product can have far more meaning to someone than anything in the digital world.
4. Access to valuable advertising space - The majority of people are at work for 8 hours a day, and many sit in the one place, at their desk during that time period. If your current or prospective client is using your branded materials or promo gift in the office, you have secured the most valuable advertising space in the world – right on their office desk! A well-selected promotional product can become a permanent billboard of your brand and your message within a workplace.
5. Create lasting awareness - Research from the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) shows that 62% of people remember the name and details of a company that gave them a promotional product. A good promotional item should become an ongoing reminder of your brand, every day that it is used. Customer loyalty and even improved customer relations can result from the clever use of a promotional gift, creating an immediate appreciation and gratitude that forges a positive link. By including your contact details on a product, new customers are also more likely to call you as you are at such easy reach. It’s a great long-term business card!
6. Employee Incentive - Promotional products can be given not only to customers but also to employees to thank them for good performance, or to motivate them to perform with the reward being a gift of some sort. Consider creating an awards program that best-suits your work-culture, employees and your corporate goals. There are many different types of products that have high -perceived value to your staff but are relatively low cost for you. This can help increase positivity and energy within the workplace, particularly in a sales environment where incentives are great motivational product, and can be given not only to customers but also to employees to thank them for good performance, or to motivate them to perform with the reward being a gift of some sort. Consider creating an awards program that best-suits your work-culture, employees and your corporate goals. There are many different types of products that have high -perceived value to your staff but are relatively low cost for you. This can help increase positivity and energy within the workplace, particularly in a sales environment where incentives are great motivators

With your unique branding requirements in mind Indigo Promotions can present creative and innovative Branded Merchandise solutions to support your marketing strategy. Contact our experienced team to receive your FREE inspirational sample pack and support. 

Can promotional merchandise be fun for receivers?

At Indigo we believe games products are a great promotional product for all businesses!

Here are just 5 reasons why gaming products could work for you and your brand;

1. High Interaction: Games have regularly achieved high engagement rates. For a company using a game to promote its brand or product, this brings engagement and interaction simply by using the game format.

2. Fun: Games are fun and enjoyable. They don’t feel like marketing or work, so for players they’re a great way to pass the time for free. Getting your marketing message into a game format can provide your audience with some fun and stimulate interest in your brand message, getting them to want to find out more about your company or promotion.

3. Great Printing Space: Most game products have huge print areas so you can fit a lot more information on them about your company than what you would on a pen. For example our BEST SELLING game product at the minute is the Rubik's Cube... There are 6 sides and they are all printed in full colour on every side with each side offering a print area of 54 x 54mm.... 

4. Affordable: Games products are not as much as you think! Now more than ever we have a huge variety of products to choose from and although some products come with a slightly higher price tag many are affordable for all businesses. 

5. Impression: Pens are still the most popular, every day seller products. But are you leaving a lasting impression leaving your customer or potential customer a pen that every business gives away? Make your branding unique and stand out from the crowd with something a little unique! This is bound to make people remember you and your brand!

Mugs galore

Wondering why and how mugs can help boost your 
brand awareness and increase sales? 

Mugs are one of the most popular promotional products chosen by our customers and here's 4 reasons why;

Employees: A company can promote the name of its business very quickly by offering branded mugs to its employees as free gift. It will promote your business among the family and friends of your employee who will drink from them at home.

Giveaways to the customers: Gifting your customer with a free mug when they purchase something from you would leave a great impression with the customer and would increase the chances of them buying from you again! Who doesn't love a free gift??

B2B Promotion: Giving away free mugs to other businesses increases your brand awareness because somebody will either have it on their desk to drink from or it will be stored in the cupboard everybody goes to to get a mug! The employee may not even realise it but they are actually promoting your business for you for FREE! If the person you gifted the mug too likes the gift and believes its good quality they are more than likely going to recommend you to other businesses which they may have connections to and so your 1 free gift has not only gained you 1 potential customer but potentially 2, 3, 4 or even more. 

Promotion in community events: Everybody loves a free bee- especially a 'higher end' product such as a mug over a pen! You will struggle to find anyone who will turn down a free mug at an event! Not only are you making an impression to the person receiving the mug you are always creating brand awareness to their family and friends who will either see it or drink from it when they take it home. This type of promotion benefits everyone including the community and your business.

Benefits From Using Branding Promotional Merchandise!

1. Increased brand recognition. 

A goal for businesses, big and small, is often brand recognition. How can you make your brand not only stand out from the competition, but also remain in the minds of customers, both current and potential? One way is to get creative with your marketing. Promotional products are a simple tool that can help increase brand awareness for your small business; by customizing an item that a customer can use in his or her everyday life with your logo, for instance, you’re able to keep your small business top of mind.

2. Mass outreach at a low cost.

With a tight budget, it can be difficult to choose exactly what marketing items make the most sense for your small business, and what items will give you the most “bang for your buck.” With a small price tag but large, lasting impact, promotional products are a great value for your investment. Keep this in mind: A simple giveaway is a great way to increase customer loyalty. If you own a storefront, including a fun takeaway with purchases is a nice way to say thanks!

3. Alternative business card.

While business cards will always be an incredibly valuable business staple, promotional products are a fun, creative way to showcase your contact information. Instead of just leaving a potential customer with your business card, for example, consider leaving behind your business card AND another tangible, branded product. If you own a computer company, and just fixed someone’s machine, pass out your business card and a USB drive!

4. Tactile.

When it comes to marketing your business, another thing to keep in mind is repeat exposure. How can you keep what you do, and your business, consistently in front of customers without consistently spending a ton of money? Easy: Think about what items your customers will want to keep around. If you own a spa, for instance, put an appointment reminder on the back of your business card, as customers will want to keep that around to remember when they have to come back. If you run a bar, think about handing out free bottle openers or similar products! 

5. Powerful marketing platform.

What does your marketing portfolio look like? Think about this: If you had to choose between eating the same pizza, twice a week, every week, for lunch, or getting two different lunches each week instead, what would you pick? We think most of you would choose variety. The same principle can be applied to your small business. Although having staple marketing products is important, being able to vary what you’re using to brand your business is important, too!

Last week we were delighted to welcome Emily to the Indigo team. Emily comes from a customer service background and adds strength to the sales team.

Emily has already made a great impact and will be the youthful voice behind our social media marketing.

Yesterday Steve and Emily met with our U.K. manufacturers to get the heads up on what’s NEW and what’s HOT in the pipeline for 2016. As well as seeing first hand the latest in full colour print technology, they managed to find time to roll up their sleeves and pad printed a few customer logo’s onto Notebooks! 

 And if that wasn’t enough guess who managed to win the quality control competition for making a Rubix Cube? Yes, it was of course our director Steve!!