Everywhere we go, we see pens with a logo on them, and even I’ve been guilty of thinking, oh just another pen, why don’t they get something more exciting? The truth is that pens are still an extremely effective marketing product. People take pens and put them in their bag, because either they end up in their office or home where a family member or co-worker ends up taking it, they use it for a while and it’s passed on to the next person. For some reason, people don’t respect pens as “someone’s property” so they don’t think twice about walking away with a pen, in fact, most don’t even realize they’re doing it. As silly as this is, it’s great marketing, because people are spreading your logo all over the place, you couldn’t get as much exposure with any other product if you tried!
In our company, every vendor has their favorite items to show customers, one refuses to show pens because they think they’re boring, and we have so many more great products to feature. We call another the queen of pens because she sells thousands and thousands of pens every year. Knowing some of the statistics about how people use pens can change your mind about presenting pens to your customers. After all, almost everyone uses pens every day, and most customers can fit a pen into their budget somewhere, even if they have to budget for office supplies.
PPAI (Promotional Products Association International) conducted a survey on the use of pens and found that 73% of people always carry a writing instrument with them. 83% use pens daily and will keep and use it if it is given to them as a gift. What more can you ask for from a promotional product? If you can get 83% retention on your item, you know most people aren’t going to hide their item or give it away. Pens are both a functional product that everyone uses and an effective promotional product, so making sure you present a few pens to each customer is essential.
Some interesting facts to keep in mind when presenting pens or other writing implements: Of those surveyed about the types of writing implements they use on a daily basis, 83% use pens as mentioned above, but 36% also use pencils, 31% use highlighters, 30% use gel pens, and 25% use markers, 20% use mechanical pencils, and 20% use ballpoint pens. So if anyone wants something a little different, there are other options in the writing instrument category. Of course, as everyone in the industry knows, there are probably millions of options that we can present to our clients.
Statistics from PPB to PPAI publication July 2012