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Pride Month happens every June and Be Branded is here to support your needed promotional products for Pride!  Inclusivity is and always has been so important and whether for your employees, customers, or for parades/other events we have the unique promo products that you are looking for.  If you want to keep your logo a neutral color while having products in multiple colors to represent the rainbow we can help.  If you want to do Pride giveaway items and put your rainbow logo on products, we can also help with that.  Some products won’t allow for multi-color print, but at Be Branded we can help you navigate all of the options.  Lastly, if you would like to find products that best represent your organization while only doing products that come in rainbow, ombre, or gradiented as the product color, we have lots of those!  Check out our past blog with many of these options HERE https://gem.godaddy.com/p/c53de31/preview. Reach out to see how we can help!

<h2>: Unique Pride Items

There are many products out there that have been to death for Pride events. Do any of them come to mind?  We talk about them throughout this blog!  Why don’t you do a unique promo product instead!? Have you ever thought of doing some teddy bears?  We have you covered!  What about condoms?  We have done thousands!  My favorite product that has not been done enough is nail polish.  Yes, we have buttons, lapel pins, wristbands, and anything else standard that comes to mind, but we can also do all of the unique items that you haven’t even thought of yet!

<h2>: Koozies

One of the simplest, but most valuable products you can do in a hot month is a koozie.  They are immediately useful at most summer events, but with a good design, it can also be a unique promo product.  We can do koozies for standard cans, slim cans, tall boys, and bottles!  On standard koozies, we can do printed or full-color print.  On much nicer stainless steel options, we can also engrave them.  We even have koozies that double as a flashlight!

<h2>: Lighters

Unique promotional products for Pride Events have increased in popularity in the past few years to stay relevant.  One of the most basic, but useful products that you can hand out or even sell is lighters.  Depending on your audience and the purpose there are inexpensive lighter options and higher-end lighter options.  Clipper lighters, Bic lighters, and Zippo lighters are all great options.  Your choice of branded and customized lighters depends on your brand messaging as well as the price point you are trying to hit.  At Be Branded we can supply you with any lighter you need! Lighters are a useful and consistent need for many individuals and can make for a great Pride giveaway item.

<h2>: Hats

At Be Branded, we can do rainbow-colored hats for Pride events.  We can also do digitally printed patches that have all the colors of any logo that you’d want.  If you want to do a hat with a rainbow underbill, we can do that.  If you want to do a tie-dyed hat, we have those. If you want to do multi-colored bucket hats we can do that as well.  Want some rainbow visors – we can do those as well!

<h2>: T-Shirts

T-Shirts never get old.  T-Shirts can be cheap, high-quality, or somewhere in the middle.  If you are doing a t-shirt as a unique promo item for a Pride event, the most important thing is the design.  If the design speaks to your unique audience then your audience will buy and wear it. We can crank out t-shirts in about 2.5 weeks after an order, so make sure to order in the beginning of May if you are considering doing them as your Pride giveaway item.  We can screen-print up to 9 colors on each side of your shirt and on the sleeve!

<h2>: Umbrellas

Umbrellas are rarely a product that is purchased unless it is downpouring outside OR you live in a location of the country that consistently gets rain.  Colorado was an interesting place in 2023 and experienced downpour after downpour with rain and hail galore and was one of the wettest on record!  However, with how unpredictable the weather is here, are umbrellas truly a valuable and unique promo product as a Pride giveaway item? The answer is a resounding YES!  If it rains you can avoid getting drenched.  If it is a drought In the summer rest assured that you can use your umbrellas to shade you from the sun.  Much of the rest of the world uses umbrellas in this manner and the trend is catching on in the United States.

<h2>: Totes

As bag bans and bag taxes increase throughout the country, reusable grocery totes continue rising in popularity. If you do a grocery tote as a promotional product for Pride it is important to make sure the quality of the tote you do is better than what other companies are handing out – otherwise, your product will blend into the crowd.  One important feature of any Pride item is that it should stand out in a good way and not come across as inexpensive.  Quality items that improve your Pride giveaway item recipient’s life in some sort of way will lead to a significantly better ROI in the long run.

<h2>: Water Bottles

Water bottles and tumblers are products that require a bit more capital.  However, drinkware is a great item to keep under your exhibit table to hand out to those whom you have conversations with that isn’t just trick-or-treating for every free handout possible.  June is the start of the much hotter summer months and water bottles or tumblers could be the unique promo products that stay in the hands of your customers for months or even years depending on the quality that you hand out.

<h2>: We are ready to brainstorm with you!

Reaching out sooner than later is always best to ensure that we can deliver the Pride giveaway items that you are looking for before your event.  If you need additional ideas to brainstorm for your promotional products for Pride please make sure to check out Be Branded on Facebook CLICK HERE https://www.facebook.com/alwaysbebranded and Instagram CLICK HERE  https://www.instagram.com/alwaysbebranded. We post on social media multiple times a week and our posts are relevant to current product trends to prepare you for your upcoming events.  Brainstorming with you to make sure we choose products that are relevant to your customers is much better than just going to our website and doing all that research yourself.  Let us help you valet park right to the products that are right for you instead of taking hours to self-park!  Remember that we are not limited to just these items, but many popular items for Pride events include Umbrellas, Koozies, Condoms, Teddy Bears, Hats, T-Shirts, Nail Polish, Beach Balls, Wrist Bands, Cinch Bags, Tumblers, Lapel Pins, and Buttons.

Reaching new high-ts for Cannabis Marketing 

Lighters
Promotional products for cannabis companies have increased in popularity in the past few years as legalization has swept the country.  One of the most basic, but useful products that you can both sell or hand out is lighters.  Depending on your audience and the purpose there are inexpensive lighter options and higher end lighter options.  Matches are still an option if you want to go the old-school route, but clipper lighters, Bic lighters, and Zippo lighters are all great options.  Your choice for branded and customized lighters depends on your brand messaging as well as the price point you are trying to hit.  At Be Branded we can supply you with any lighter you need! Lighters are a useful and consistent need for anyone using cannabis products and can make for a great 04/20 promotion.

Ashtrays and Rolling Trays

All the trays that you might ever need are now available as cannabis-related promotional handouts and might be another great 4/20 promotion. Rolling trays are a thoughtful handout that keeps things looking professional and tidy.  The options for rolling trays are limitless.  We can do biodegradable hemp trays, shatter-resistant glass trays, LED glowing trays, metal trays, and fully custom printed trays.  We have all the different price ranges of options depending on if you are looking to hand these out or sell them. Ashtrays are still something that many people use especially when using cannabis products indoors.  There are both higher-end glass options and standard plastic options.

Grinders

Grinders are another 04/20 promotion option as a promotional product handout or giveaway.  The best promotional products are not consistent across every audience.  Those products depend on the specific audience you are trying to capture.  What options are available for grinders that have made their way to the promotional products industry/. There are plastic grinders, metal grinders, grinder cards, and even aluminum grinders.  The higher the quality of the grinder the smoother the grind and the longer your grinder will last.  Grinders make one of the best cannabis handouts because of the cost of the inexpensive grinders.  These make a great option for a 04/20 friendly event as your mass quantity handout. 

Rolling Paper

Easily the most popular 04/20 promotion and cannabis promotional product is rolling paper. Most rolling paper handouts come in at less than $1.00 and so the decision to purchase rolling paper in mass quantity is relatively easy. As a combination handout, rolling paper and grinders go extremely well together for obvious reasons.  Most rolling paper handouts come in a customized booklet and the paper can be hemp, bleached or unbleached wood pulp, or rice paper so you have many choices!  You can additionally purchase these custom rolling paper booklets with tips/crutches.  Some options even include a free custom display box so that your handout looks professional OR if you are using the rolling paper on the retail side of things. If you want to skip a step you can also get pre-rolled cones in various sizes, but the pre-rolled cones with tips are pricier.

We are ready to brainstorm with you.

Other cannabis accessories you can use for your 04/20 promotions include dab mats, odor proof/smell resistant mylar bags, stash bags, pre-roll tubes, and less obvious cannabis-related products.  Less obvious cannabis related products might be green beads or sunglasses which are both very popular handouts.  Products that have a good design that represent a cannabis company require more of a conversation to extract what will be best for your specific audience.  Glass jars remain hugely popular as an accessory and are a less frequently used handout but are incredibly useful.  Whether for concentrate, hemp, or cannabis we have different sized plastic and glass jars.

Apparel and Custom Cannabis Event Products

Do you need hats for your upcoming event?  Do you need t-shirts as a 04/20 promotion?  Do you have a custom table cover, retractable banner, canopy, or backdrop to make sure your company looks professional at events?  At Be Branded we can help with whatever you need for almost any timeline.  If you want less expensive options we have those options.  If you want more expensive options we have those options.  There is not much that we don’t have at Be Branded and you can trust that we will take care of any order you do through us as we were named Best Promotional Product company in Denver by Denver Metro residents.

Like anything else in a business, initiatives have to be prioritized.  If you don’t plan your marketing budget for branded promotional products, then they will not be a priority at all.  Reviewing with your promotional product company what your goals are for the next year and coming up with a calendar of events is the best way to budget each year. Involving the actual decision-maker in these conversations will maximize the potential for projects to happen.

Why You Should Budget For Branded Promotional Products

Just waiting for events to pop up and being reactive will result in rush fees and being at the mercy of fluctuating inventory.  Your branded product budget will not go as far as it could.  If you plan far enough in advance you can get much more creative.  You can also annualize your bulk purchases and get them produced in one run to maximize bulk price breaks and potentially get products custom manufactured and ocean shipped for a much lower cost.  This will extend your marketing budget greatly.

Upcoming 2024 Trends for Swag

Trends for Swag do change quite frequently. If a Swag Company that you are working with does not stay in the know then that company’s suggestions will be outdated.  There are many trends which will continue from 2023 to 2024.  Sustainability will continue to be a hot topic for branded promotional products.  If a product can be tied back to the permanent Eco trend, then companies and employees of those companies can get behind those initiatives and handouts.  If you have not handed out water bottles or something drinkware related that continues to take up about 10% of the market share of all promotional products.  Grocery totes will continue to increase in popularity as bag bans and taxes make single-use plastics illegal.  Recycled content in both apparel and promotional products will only increase as initiatives to remove plastics from the ocean increase.

Working Promotional Products Into Your Marketing Budget

Either you are a believer in branded promotional products, or you aren’t.  Either you are a believer in direct mail, or you aren’t.  Either you are a believer in radio ads, or you aren’t.  Either you are a believer in SEO, or you aren’t.  Working something into your marketing budget is no easy task.  Everything is a risk, and everything has different returns.  Some returns can be measured, and others can’t be.  If a branded promotional products campaign is done properly then it should not be a strain on your marketing budget.  You are already spending thousands of dollars on other initiatives, so why not reallocate some marketing budget to branded promotional products and see if it should become a staple in your yearly outreach!

Branded Products Designed for ROI

Have you ever purchased branded products just because you found a good deal online?  Buyer beware! Although your branded product budget should always take costs into account you should also always be considering impressions and ROI.  The branded promotional products company that you use should know your audience, budget, timeline, theme, and any other pertinent details.  With this information, a plan can be formulated to maximize your ROI and increase the chances of a successful campaign.  Meeting your audience where they are is key to any successful campaign which is why a one-size-fits-all approach to branded promotional products will never work.  Putting products in a car when your audience drives a lot is meeting them where they are.  Putting products at a desk when your audience is constantly at a desk is meeting them where they are.  Handing out products that are used in the kitchen will meet your audience where they are at.  Impressions and frequency of use of products is much more important than buying a high volume of product.  Strategizing your marketing budget to get the best ROI and impressions will always beat buying 5000 clearance pens that get thrown away.

Be Branded Keeps Your Products In Hands For Maximum Returns

At Be Branded, we will always start any project by asking about 10 questions. We aren’t trying to interrogate our customers, but we are trying to gather as much information as possible to make educated and strategic suggestions.  There is no point in suggesting the same things that any other company online suggests because then we bring no value to the table.  We want to learn what makes your company unique and bring your messaging to life through the branded promotional products you purchase with us.  If you purchase a product that brings no return, then your marketing budget has gone to waste and you will not be reordering with us.  We would rather tell you why we think you should or shouldn’t order a specific product so that we can maximize the potential for the returns your company is after.  If we successfully accomplish this then your company grows, your company comes back to order from Be Branded again, and we grow together!  Now we have formed a partnership that is much stronger than the transactional outcomes you will receive from the low-cost online providers all over the internet.

Rush Orders For The Unexpected Moments 

Did you mean to send an email, but it got left in your Draft Folder?  Is it Tuesday, and your race is on Saturday, and there is no way you can just tell all the participants that their shirts aren’t coming anymore?  Be Branded made it happen.  Did you lose the awards delivered to you two weeks ago in your massive staging warehouse, and now you need a replacement order to send those awards directly to the participants after the race is finished? Be Branded made it happen.  Do you need some butter mints in precisely one week because another supplier failed to come through for you, and now you are hoping for a miracle?  Be Branded made it happen.  Do you need some backdrops sent to Hawaii, and your team has so many cooks in the kitchen that by the time all approvals come through, it will be crunch time?  Be Branded made it happen.  Rush orders are never intentional.  Having a supplier that you can depend on in those times of need.  Don’t trust the timelines displayed on random online websites.  At Be Branded, we work with those same suppliers, and in the 11 years that we have been doing business, we have missed a rush job’s deadline ONCE.  One time in 11 years is a pretty excellent track record.  I guess you can’t win them all, but we are pretty close to Be Branded when it comes to rush orders!

What Items Qualify For Rush Orders?

The answer here is it depends.  This is a moving target, depending on the time of year.  Sometimes, suppliers can do more products through their rush line, and sometimes, they have to pull back the available options that qualify for the rush.  Some printing processes can be rushed, and others can’t be.  The best thing to do is reach out to Be Branded with your project and the timeline.  From there, we will strategize with you to develop the best and closest solution to your original idea.  Sometimes, it will be precisely what you wanted, and other times, you will have to change to a different product to accomplish the rush order.

How Fast Can I Ship a Rush Order?

Rush orders through 2019 and 2023 and moving forward are two completely different beasts.  In the pre-Covid Era, standard orders could typically be shipped within one week after placing an order and delivered within two weeks quickly.  Nowadays, the standard production time on promotional products is more in line with two and a half weeks on average plus additional transit time, but it is getting quicker as processes regulate closer to the pre-COVID times.  Now, how fast can Be Branded ship a rush order?  The answer is it depends on the product.  Can water bottles, pens, and other products ship quickly within 2-3 business days?  Yes, there are.  In 2023, some butter mints were ordered on a Monday and delivered that same Friday.  The two ways to expedite an order that you need to rush on are expediting production and expediting transit time.  If something says it can ship within 24 hours, that doesn’t mean within 24 hours.  It means that after you submit the order, the supplier does a mockup, and you approve the proof before a designated cutoff time by the supplier, THEN that product will ship during their next business day.  If that cutoff is at noon MST time and you approve a rush order proof at 11 am MST on Thursday the 10th, it would ship on Friday the 11th and deliver as fast as your selected transit time.  If the same scenario plays out and you approve it on Thursday the 10th at 2 pm MST with a 12 pm MST cutoff, then that product would not ship out until Monday the 14th.  Screen-printed apparel can usually ship finished products within about one week if a rush is needed, but only between January and August.  As timelines approach the Holidays, those production facilities get filled up, rush options get more scarce, and you’d likely be looking at two weeks for rush and four weeks for standard printing.  To summarize how fast Be Branded can ship a rush order – it depends.  Reach out to us, and we will evaluate your need and use our highly vetted suppliers to see the possibilities of delivering your rush order as fast as possible!

Are There Restrictions on Rush Orders?

Rush orders do typically have restrictions on them.  For most screen-printed handouts, the rush will be limited to a product with one color imprint in one location.  If you want a rush order with two colors of print or more than one location, your order will revert to the default standard timeline.  Sometimes, with rush orders, you will also not see a digital mockup of your logo's placement on the product before the charge goes to production.  To ensure that your rush order is printed correctly, Be Branded will provide a template for your art team to place the vector AI or EPS logo.  In doing this, there will be no questions at the time of production, and your printing expectations will be met.

How Much Does a Rush Order Cost?

Sometimes, customers think a project is a rush project when it isn’t, and there is no additional cost. Usually, with rush orders, there are two primary components of increased cost.  The first is expedited production time.  For your project to jump over approved standard production time projects, there is an entry fee to have the project fast-forward to the finish line.  Rush projects are exceptions to standard processes and have to be micro-managed.  That extra attention has a cost.  What is that cost?  It could be a flat fee of $50.  Some suppliers charge a 10% additional cost for every day, faster than standard production.  There is no standard fee in the Promotional Products Industry for rush orders and the associated costs.  Just know it will be more, and asking for a discount in a rush order situation is likely futile.  At Disney, you must pay additional to use their Genie+ or Lightning Lane passes. In the promo world, you have to pay rush fees. Typically, the only other fee with rush orders is expedited freight costs.  If the standard amount of days to ship your product to the destination is four days, and you want to get it there 1, 2, or 3 days after shipping instead, then there is an additional cost to get it there quicker.  At Be Branded, we balance the cost of rush production and shipping by seeing which is more affordable.  Usually, rush production is more affordable than rush shipping, but we still look at each case to see if rush shipping is more affordable.

Be Branded Can Keep You On Time With Our Rush Order Process 

Although rush orders genuinely need to be the last option, Be Branded can help your company when you have that need. Maybe you forgot to order because there were other priorities.  Maybe you signed up for a last-minute conference, and there was no preventing this rush need.  Maybe your boss just forgot to tell you to order a product, and now it is up to you to be the hero who ensures you aren’t empty-handed.  When a rush order project comes to Be Branded, we will make sure that we ask all pertinent questions in the first conversation.  This way, we can expedite the process to the finish line.  There have been many times where, within the first 15-20 minutes, a phone call to Be Branded that the product is already ordered, off the customer’s plate, and into production.  We aren’t miracle workers, but we are close!  After delivery on a rush project, please thank whichever promotional product provider you use.  Rush is a stressful process, and reputations are on the line.  After doing a rush order with Be Branded, we will also evaluate your calendar of events to see if there is a way to avoid the expense and stress of doing future rush orders.

How Custom Travel Mugs Can Help You Make a Lasting Impact

Custom Travel Mugs are not promotional handouts that customers and employees tend to throw away.  The catch here is that you must choose a travel mug that has enough quality value and is in line with current trends.  

If we successfully check those boxes, the travel mugs will be taken to the gym, the office, and anywhere else the recipient goes.  Everyone drinks water daily, and consumers are more aware of their choices between sustainable and single-use options.  

What Are the Benefits Of Custom Logo Travel Mugs? 

Logged travel mugs prevent more single-use plastic bottles from being added to landfills.  There is a reason why so many fill stations show you how many bottles would have been added to the landfill had you made a different decision.  It feels like your choice to inconvenience yourself by having to carry around a travel mug is almost altruistic.  

The personal benefits of staying hydrated cannot be overlooked.  

Have you been at the airport and had to spend $5 on a bottle of water?  How many times has that happened?  What if you just had your custom travel mug with you?  Problem solved!

How Can Travel Mugs Make a High Impact?

If given the option to choose between a travel mug or a pen, which would you choose?  What about if we threw a sticky note in there?  A stress ball?  What if we put a travel mug up against a notebook?  

Custom travel mugs have a higher impact than traditional handouts because of scarcity.  Less companies hand out travel mugs to their employees, customers, and prospects.  This means that the experience of receiving a travel mug is more memorable and takes up more space in someone’s thoughts than a pen, sticky note, stress ball, or notebook.  

Being different instead of camouflaging your efforts by doing what every other business does is one ingredient in a winning marketing strategy!  When customers see your quality merch, it can reinforce the perception of your brand as premium and reputable.

The Importance of Long-Term Logo Placement

Impressions matter!  What is the point if you can purchase 1000 pens, but 75% of those pens get thrown away?  Did you provide any value by giving that pen to the recipient?  The best promotional travel mugs that provide impressions for years don’t get thrown away.  Those years of use are much more valuable long-term, but convincing companies to consider the value of long-term impressions versus the short-term cost is challenging.  

Staying power and handing out items that won’t get thrown away must be top of mind; otherwise, we are just buying bulk throwaway items because that’s “just what we’ve always done.”

Promotional Products that People Need 

Plastic Water Bottles will eventually get banned with the direction that the world is heading in. Sustainability is here to stay and getting more popular, taking up more market space every year. Multi-functional and fashionable Water Bottles will be the water bottles that everyone chooses to use. 

Single-purpose water bottles JUST for drinking water had their place in the past, but we need to do better.  This isn’t about global warming or anything intensely political. We have a choice to add to the landfill or to not add to the landfill.  It is almost to the point that we need to put a custom travel mug, water bottle, or portable drinkware in every human’s hands to enjoy the earth as long as we are supposed to.

Be Branded is The Best Company for Custom Travel Mugs 

At Be Branded, we know the trends in the promotional products industry surrounding custom travel mugs.  The best promotional travel mugs have better “technology” than even some of the most recognizable brands, so you don’t need to break the bank to purchase these travel mugs. If we had to define good, better, and best travel mugs with a range of prices, then good is between $10-$20 per travel mug, better is between $20-$40 per travel mug, and best will come in at $40+ per travel mug. 

What Features Should I Look For With My Custom Travel Mug?

When considering which travel mug is best for you, there are a few things to consider beyond the physical appearance of it.  First, does your custom logo travel mug hold cold-temperature and hot-temperature drinks for extended periods? You don’t need your travel mug to hold cold and hot temperatures for 48 hours, but there are options out there that accomplish that if you want it to.  Second, does it fit in your cup holder?  So many travel mugs are too large to fit in a standard cup holder, and you are stuck holding it in one hand while driving, which is both a nuisance and dangerous!  Lastly, is my travel mug spill-resistant or spill-proof?  

Accidents happen, and with the right option, your travel mug tipping over won’t ruin your day!