Promotional Pens In All Shapes And Sizes

Pens come in all shapes and sizes, and because of their easy portability and relatively low cost, they've become a favorite for people looking for promotional items to advertise their business.

The longtime popularity of pens as a promotional item can be traced to one simple fact:

at one point or another, almost every day, everyone needs a pen. Good promoters know this, and have long used pens as a cheap and effective way of putting the information they need to disseminate directly into their audience's hands.

Pens can be mass produced and customized for a minimal cost, and are easily personalized. Starting with the basic ballpoint stick pen and going through the wide variety of gel, felt, and marker tips, all the way up the scale to pens that combine a couple of functions in one convenient package, and finishing at the rarefied level of high tech and high-end executive pens, there's something in this category for anyone's budget and project needs.

Let's start with the stick pen. Commonly a ballpoint pen and not usually refillable, such pens can have their plastic or (more rarely) metal barrels easily imprinted with a company or organizational name, logo, slogan, or inspirational or motivational message. Because of their low cost, sales representatives can hand out such promotional pens on every sales call, conferences and conventions. If the message is aimed at an internal audience – think of safety and customer service messages, for instance – they can be given out at training seminars, meetings, offsite retreats, etc. Logos and messages can be imprinted on thousands of pens for very low prices, thus getting the message out to a large number of people in a very cost effective manner.

Pens of brightly colored metal and neon hued plastic, with higher quality materials and more elaborate mechanical workings – such as “click” pens, twist pens, gel pens, or multipurpose instruments that might include points of red, back, and blue, mechanical pencils, highlighters, laser pointers, and/or PDA styluses – are next up on the ladder of quality. They can be used as incentives by salespeople with favored clients, handed out at sales presentations, or given to employees who have been involved in special projects. These pens can really make a statement as highly visible and coveted souvenirs. Pens at any price point can be personalized with names and dates of events. Even in limited print runs, this is still an excellent value; even when one gets above the basic level, the cost for individual units is still very affordable, especially in light of the potential impact.

Writing instruments made of exotic woods and precious metals, while not commonly handed out indiscriminately, are a superb choice for special presentations and awards, or to recognize a particularly valued client. Such pens can be engraved and include the name of the recipient. Pens in this category are treated and cherished almost as carefully as fine jewelry.

Pens have always offered one of the best opportunities for promotion and marketing for anyone looking to put their message out there.  With the explosion of different types of writing instruments, there are more options than ever out there for the savvy promoter.