Promotional Products - Seeking the Lowest Price Can Be Very Costly

 Do you scour the internet for ads looking for the" guaranteed best price". Then, do you go out and get multiple quotes from numerous suppliers and take time to compare them so that you get the "best price". Finally, after all that work you probably feel great having squeezed that last penny out of the market through this intense effort to save your company money. What an accomplishment and achievement in cost savings. Or is it? Actually if you are one of these buyers in essence or merely a hybrid of the type, you will be shocked to realize that you probably did not get the best deal for your company. Price is only part of the story in getting the best deal when buying promotional products or promotional gifts. There is something more important than just price if you really want the best deal when buying promotional products. It is called value. But value and price are same thing right? No, price is only one part of the equation that makes up value. That is why no matter whether you think you got the best price, if that was your sole and overwhelming goal, you probably did not get the best value and thus you did not get the best deal for your company.

To get a better understanding of this important distinction let's explore these two terms: value and price as they apply to purchasing promotional products. We will start off with my explanation that price is only one component of value. What are some of the other possible components when seeking out the best value that might make your "guaranteed best price" adventure not seem like such a good deal for your company after all. There can be numerous things that comprise a great value in buying promotional products. But here are three important basics that should be the part of any value consideration: service, creativity, trust and product quality. Remember all that work that you did looking through catalogs, both paper and electronic, to find the best product at the lowest price. It was a waste of yours and the company's time and money. Sure you can do some looking and browsing doing some brainstorming for some semblance of ideas for a promotion but anymore than that is a waste. A really experienced marketing professional promotional product supplier, not a customer service or account manager from some online website with their "guaranteed lowest price offer" peddling the cheapest pen or plastic product, can provide you with the creative product ideas from quality manufacturers that you seek for your promotion. Moreover the good companies will not even charge you for this valuable service. Now keep in mind I am talking about professionals who will ask you important questions about your company's promotion such as: what are your goals for the promotion? Who is your target audience for the promotion? How will the promotional products be distributed and on and on? If they just ask you questions about quantity and price per product they aren't marketing experts like so many online web company's with their "guaranteed best price" claim to be. More likely they are just customer service representatives peddling the latest chachka with no real understanding of your promotion or marketing needs necessary to make it a success.

A good creative promotional product supplier has the search technology to enable him or her to utilize their marketing experience and knowledge, along with the information you provide them from their questions about your promotion, to quickly identify the optimum product or products to achieve your promotional goals. Moreover, they will seek to find that product that will get you the best return on your marketing investment. You need only refer to a previous article I wrote: "Super Promotional Products-The Multiplier Effect" to realize that all promotional products are not created equal. In that article, I use the example of a client who insists on giving out some inexpensive items like pens at a trade show which are one dimensional promotional products in nature in that they generally only influence the recipient of the promotional giveaways. However, I went on to point out in the article that if the company had chosen to give out say a custom imprinted tote bag with their company logo and booth number imprinted on it that it would be seen by many attendees of the trade show and thus drive traffic to the company's booth. This kind of choice in promotional products produces a far greater return on investment than the other one dimensional type of products like say a pen. This is an example where a knowledgeable promotional product professional can really drive the value of a promotional product choice. Get in touch with a good promotional product marketing consultant and he will show the way to finding true value which is always better than the " guaranteed best price".

Marc Berkow is a veteran of more than nineteen years in the promotional product industry. His company Metro Promotions & Printing offers free ongoing consultation for all companies as well as providing a free on line catalog with more than 850,000 promotional products including custom screen printed and embroidered apparel.You can view the on line catalog on Metro Promotions & Printing web site at: http://www.metpromos.com. Metro Promotions & Printing is an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau with an A- rating. You can contact Marc Berkow at 862-216-0064.