Five Quick and Easy Ways to Get Cheaper Personalized Gifts and Promotional Products

Buying personalized gifts or promotional products is a minefield because the catalogue price and the price you pay are not always the same. It is all down to some hefty added costs to personalize promotional items or personalize gifts.

The extras to watch out for are (1) personalization, (2) origination, (3) extra colors and (4) artwork as well as (5) carriage and packing. It is always advisable to read the terms and conditions thoroughly before finalizing the deal. Make no mistake about it, additional costs are considerable but, here is the good news, they are all negotiable.

It is easy to get confused with all the terminology used in buying promotional products particularly when sales people use words like artwork, origination and personalization. It is arguable whether some sales people fully understand these terms. Let us clarify the meaning within the trade of these important terms.

Promotional product personalization usually refers to branding promotional gifts with a logo, contact details and/or a sales message although, in some cases, it will include a person's name. However, to the public, a personalized gift means just that; a personalized gift for a special occasion.

Origination is part of the personalization process and is sometimes misunderstood. It refers to the method used to brand the item such as a block, screen or transfer. The easiest way to imagine origination is to think in terms of potato printing. Here the potato is cut out with a design and then dunked in some paint and applied to a wall or paper. Using this method the potato is the origination in a similar way to using a rubber stamp. Following this parallel, think in terms of other forms of printing such as offset litho where a plate is prepared before printing. Alternatively, in screen-printing a screen is required for each color to be printed. In both cases, the plate and screen are origination.

Artwork is a further additional cost and causes some confusion in the buyer's mind. Some customers think a calling card or a letterhead is adequate artwork without realizing what is involved. The days of "cut and paste" are long gone and virtually all artwork is computer generated. However, somebody has to prepare the artwork and, whoever does it, the cost is considerable. On colored designs the manufacturer needs artwork color separated into CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black), or on occasions, RGB (red, green, blue).

Branding technology changes almost on a weekly basis and some marking processes now take the artwork straight from a computer without the need for any intermediate step. However, some inscribing processes will need the artwork prepared on a block, plate or screen.

Promotional product catalogues show prices for personalized gifts printed one color. However, if the logo has more than one color the costs will increase significantly. For instance if you choose a golf umbrella, priced in a catalogue as a one color one position print, and your logo has three colors, the cost will increase significantly for the two extra colors. Further, if you want the logo on four umbrella panels the extra cost will be considerable. In addition, you are not done yet because a screen-printed three-color design needs three screens; one for each color.

Most promotional products use a different personalization method but there are some promotional items personalized by more than one process. For example, promotional pens can be screen-printed, etched, embossed, pad printed or engraved.

You will save yourself a lot of money if you understand how much the personalization aspect of personalized gifts really costs. When you know and understand all the five extra charges, you are on your way to cheaper personalized gifts and promotional products.

Jack has been writing articles on sales and marketing in the personalized gift sector for nearly 4 years. Come visit his latest gift website which also helps people find the latest and best deals available in travel coffee mugs.

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