Promotional Product Stores Review

Promotional product stores can be an inexpensive way to advertise your company with a surprisingly high return on investment. Depending on the item you buy, the giveaway could be a constant reminder of your work –like a calendar, or something that gets passed along to numerous people who could become prospective clients –like pens and pencils. Best of all, these small advertising tools are far less expensive than other traditional methods of advertising, like radio ads or billboards.

Promotional Product Stores: What to Look For

When you’re considering which promotional product stores to work with, there are a lot of things you should consider. Many people overlook the value of a good product selection, while others ignore hidden costs like the set up fees. It is important to consider a variety of aspects before choosing the right company for your needs. Some of the most important factors to consider are the type of printing services they offer, their item selection, the website itself, the overall price and their order options. At TopTenREVIEWS, we tracked down the best retailers in the industry and evaluated them according to the following criteria:

Printing Services
Sure all promotional product companies will offer screen printing, but what if you want to print a photo on something? If you’re looking to make an impression that will last, embroidery or engraving are excellent options that can’t be overlooked. On top of the types of printing services the companies offered, we also took the opportunity to ensure that the company offered graphic design services to help new companies flesh out a new logo.

Item Selection
There are thousands of items that can be personalized and given away to help promote your business, but not every giveaway needs to include tee shirts, pens and stress balls. We looked at some of the most common promotional product item types to ensure every site we reviewed actually had an acceptable selection of the items businesses need to order most. We also checked to see if the companies offered sales and coupons to help provide additional savings to customers.

Website Features
When it comes to a promotional products website, look and ease-of-use are nice, but they are certainly not mandatory. Instead, we looked to see if business owners could order samples prior to ordering so they could evaluate the products. We also checked to see if past customers could leave reviews about their products. Lastly, we wanted to see how much the companies helped their clients by offering tips on promoting their businesses.

Shipping and Support
Because most small business owners do not have tons of extra money lying around, we ensured that each promotional products company we reviewed had plenty of products that cost less than a dollar per item. We also evaluated the company’s set-up charges to see what sort of hidden costs they may add to the order. While companies will often add rush charges and shipping fees, these will vary greatly depending on the type of item ordered, so we felt the set-up fee would provide the greatest estimate of the company’s overall extra charges. Many times, you may need to have your item rushed or even completed in one day. We looked at the rush services offered by each company and we also checked to see if they offered item proofs to let you see a visual of your item before they are printed. Most of the companies also let you track your orders after you place them, so we looked to see if the specific companies did this as well.

It's impossible to overstate the importance of a site’s guarantee and return policies. This industry is somewhat prone to errors and low-quality products, which is why solid customer support is very important for every promotional product company.

These aspects are all important in selecting great promotional product stores to help you meet your marketing goals. If a company offers a great selection, but refuses to offer returns on faulty imprints, they aren’t worth the risk. After reviewing how each company measured up to our standards, we were able to identify RushIMPRINT, 4imprint and National Pen as the top competitors in the industry. If you have any questions about using and purchasing be sure to read the articles on promotional products.

At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™