Everywhere we go, we see pens with a logo, and even I’ve been guilty of thinking, oh, just another pen, why don’t they get something more exciting? The truth is, pens are still an extremely effective marketing product. People who take pens keep it in their purse, car, or it ends up in their office or home where a family member or coworker ends up walking with it, uses it for a while and passes on to the next person. For whatever 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 it is, it’s great marketing, because people are spreading your logo all over the place, you couldn’t get that much exposure with any other product if you tried it!
In our company, each salesperson has their favorite items to show customers, one refuses to show pens because they think they are boring, and we have many more great products to present. We call another the queen of feathers because she sells thousands and thousands of feathers 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 in their budget somewhere, even if they have to use an office supply budget.
PPAI (Promotional Products Association International) surveyed the use of pens and found that 73% of people always carry a writing instrument with them. 83% use pens on a daily basis and will keep and use them if given as a gift. What else can you ask for from a promotional product? If you can get 83% retention on your item, you know that most people won’t just keep it or give it away. Pens are both a functional product that everyone uses and an effective promotional product, so it is essential that you make sure to present some pens to each customer.
Some interesting facts to think about when presenting pens or other writing instruments: Of the people surveyed about the types of writing instruments 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 markers. So if someone wants something a little different, there are other options in the writing instruments category. Of course, as everyone in the industry knows, there are probably millions of options that we can present to our clients.
PPB Statistics, a PPAI publication, July 2012
