All posts by Sherry Tisdale

Healthy Promotions

The Importance of Keeping your Cell Phone Clean

People tend to be negligent regarding the cleanliness of their phones. Many just wipe the screen off quickly, without concern for germs, bacteria, and fingerprints. That is, until the debris build becomes too much to hide. Then they start searching for ways to clean it!

Honestly, you should probably clean your phone on a regular basis – or at least once a day. It’s not a difficult task, and can be done easily and quickly. Keeping your cell phone and other electronic devices is important. Not only does it prolong the life of your device, it helps keeps you (and others) healthier by not the spreading germs and bacteria you pick up from others and transfer to your phone.

The information below outlines the quickest and easiest ways to keep your cell phone clean. It only takes a minute, but the benefits are numerous!

Microfiber Cleaning Cloths

Microfiber cleaning cloths are the perfect way to keep your phone clean and smudge free. Used alone or with a cleaner, these convenient cloths are very soft, and non-abrasive, so they won’t scratch your phone screen or case. They effectively remove fingerprints, dirt, and grime from your phone screen and case. We all know fingerprint smudges can’t be avoided on our phone screens, and microfiber cleaning cloths offers an easy, effective way to quickly clean up your screening.

To use a microfiber cleaning cloth, simply dampen it with water or disinfectant and wipe the screen. Remember, never pour water on your screen directly. You can even use the cloth dry without any kind of cleaner to effectively remove fingerprints! This works well for any screen – cell phone, tablet, or even laptop.

Alcohol-Based or Disinfectant Wipes

Since the appearance of Covid, people have taken every day health precautions to the next level. Alcohol-based disinfectants are the new pocket “must-have”. Once you leave your house, you are subjected to all kinds of public surfaces covered in other people’s germs. From door handles, to shopping carts, to seats and counters, it’s a never-ending realm of germs and bacteria left in places you can’t help buy touch!

And before you know it, you are using the same hands to touch your phone. Using disinfectant wipes or alcohol-based wipes not only cleans your phone, but also kills the germs and bacteria associated with viruses.

Don’t have a wipe handy? Spray a small amount of 70% alcohol-based solution on a microfiber cleaning cloth and gently wipe your phone. Be sure not to spray any into the ports, and completely dry the screen afterwards.

The Tape Trick

The tape trick is the best way to remove lint, dirt, and sand that have become stuck in small ports and crevices you can’t easily reach. To do this, place scotch tape along the ports, speakers, and crevices and gently roll it up. As you do that, the sand and lint stuck in your phone will adhere to the tape.

For a really small hole where the tape trick won’t work, you can use a toothpick. However, always be gentle while doing this and be sure not to puncture to deep!

Conclusion

Keeping your phone clean is not difficult, and if you wipe it down on a daily basis, you can help prevent the spread of germs and bacteria while maintaining a clear screen for viewing.

 

Promotions & Branding

Take Your Brand on a Summer Vacation

The last couple of years have been hard on us all. But now the winter blues are starting to lift. Many of us are starting to think about that well-deserved summer vacation. A beach holiday in the summer sun perhaps? Maybe a beautiful apartment with a lovely swimming pool. Or a wonderful city break to that destination you have been dreaming about for the last few years. We all deserve it, don’t we?

With restrictions starting to lift around the planet, those summer vacations are back on and it may just be a record-breaking year for the tourism industry! Well, let’s hope so, especially after the last couple of years!

Does Your Brand Need a Vacation?

Have you ever considered sending your brand on a summer holiday? Now before you question if I have already started on the summer cocktails, let me explain what I mean.

When we go on holiday there are a few items we regularly need! Sunglasses comes to mind, a bag to carry my kit to the hotel gym or down to the pool or beach, and even a bottle of sunscreen. Imagine if these items were promotional products that highlighted your brand!

In a previous article, we highlighted the value of using promotional products for great brand awareness. For someone to keep and use a promotional product it needs to fit two main criteria. It is something they will regularly use in their daily life, and it has to be of high quality. Here at Promotional Webstores, we offer a great range of quality sunglasses, sunscreen, and bags that can be customized to your brand. All at competitive prices! Hand these out to your clients, let them use them not only in their daily lives but also when they go on vacation. Then suddenly you have international exposure!

Now you might be sitting there reading this, thinking my brand does not really need international exposure. So, this really does not apply to me. Before you click away let me convince you that this is might not be the case!

Social Media is a Powerful Advertising Tool

With the boom of picture-based and video social media, your products have the potential to be viewed by millions of people worldwide along with the whole of the US. Just one great photo or video where your branded product is in full view and before you know it you may just become a viral sensation!

Just think how many pictures and videos will be posted and viewed this summer, of people enjoying their summer vacations with the most wonderful views, on the most beautiful beaches, at a great romantic restaurant, or at that tropical swimming pool. Each picture potentially has your branded sunglasses, sunscreen, or bag in that photo. Viewed by all their followers who suddenly start thinking…. I wonder who that company is?

Still not convinced?

Think back to your last holiday. We look at everything, taking it all in. We see everyone. Intrigued by their appearance, what they are wearing and carrying. Then we take pictures and videos and post them on social media for the world to see!

I bet you can picture someone you saw on your travels with a certain bag or product, and you remember the name of that company that was printed on it. Maybe you even googled them. Maybe you ended up being one of their customers…

Promotions & Branding

History of the Umbrella

The use of the umbrella dates back over 3,500 years to ancient Egypt, and possibly China, Assyria, and Greece. The first known use of the then called “Parasol” was in Egypt, which was typically made from palm leaves attached to a stick. Parasols were meant to protect users only from the sun, not rain or other elements.

Status of Wealth and Nobility

Umbrellas during this time symbolized wealth and nobility and were used to protect royalty so they could maintain the pale skin their status demanded. Hieroglyphics were discovered from ancient Egypt showing gods and royalty depicted with parasols being held over them by servants.

The Greeks and Romans perceived umbrellas as a luxury item used by women of affluence and status, which were often carried by servants. Men during this time deemed umbrellas a feminine item.  Their pride demanded they not use them, and instead wore hats and coats. After the fall of Rome, the use of umbrellas was almost non-existent, due to the loss of wealth and status in most areas.

Sometime in the 11th century, China created the first waterproof umbrella, but due to the high price of leather and silk, they were mainly used by royalty and the extremely wealthy. Signaling power and affluence, a tradition of multi-tiered, elaborate umbrellas began and spread across the region. The Chinese Emperor reportedly carried an umbrella with as many as four tiers, while rulers in nearby regions had umbrellas with as many as 24 layers.

Mainstream Acceptance

The umbrella was considered a feminine accessory until the middle of the 18th century, when Jonas Hanway, founder of English Magdalen Hospital, began carrying an umbrella almost everywhere we went. This led to the eventual acceptance of stronger and more masculine umbrellas being sold and used by men everywhere.  Through the years umbrellas were updated to adapt to the times and fashion of the era, ranging from plain leaves on sticks to the elaborate, to the functionality of the modern umbrella. The first steel umbrella was created in 1852, the pocket umbrella in 1928, and the folding umbrella in 1969, leading to a new era of umbrella use.

Today, umbrellas are considered an everyday item used by people of all classes and come in many styles, options, and colors to fit every budget and personality. One thing undeniable is the umbrella today has come a long way from the original palm leaf and stick parasol of ancient times!

 

Healthy Promotions

Why Hand Sanitizer is Still Important in 2022

Before the pandemic changed our lives, how many of us really ever thought about hand sanitizer? Not many unless you worked in a medical environment. Over the last two years, it has become one of the must-have items in our daily lives, at times being the reason for some crazy panic buying! In the US alone the hand sanitizer market was worth over 4.3 billion USD by the end of 2020 and is forecasted to grow a further 3.6% over the next 5 years.

Now you won’t say this too loudly, but there are signs on the horizon that the world might be returning to normal. Or at least a version of whatever normal is or was to us all. The numbers of worldwide infections have decreased over the last few weeks, a pattern mirrored in the US and much of Europe. The number of individuals vaccinated is ever-increasing and many countries are starting to lift all signs of restrictions. So, does this all mean we no longer need this once essential product?

Back to normal?

Many people work from home today. For some this is how they have always worked, for others, it became necessary during the pandemic. Working from home has its positives, but it does have its downside. It can be quite a lonely way of working. Interacting with the same four walls every single day and only speaking to people via a computer screen or phone.

But as restrictions are being lifted there are murmurings that some countries are now looking to live with the virus. Many are starting to venture into the office more and more, once again.

A day out

Working from home, spending time out in the world is often a treat. During the pandemic, shopping was only a necessity, and coffee and dinner with friends was a luxury. For many, shopping was done online for delivery to eliminate any unnecessary contact with others who may or may not be ill. Not everyone adheres to the recommendations of the CDC, and although hand sanitizer was available at every store, not all took advantage of it. Even being around someone with a cough would often send people into a panic!

The weekend

Saturday hits and you have plans with friends or family. Coffee out, a trip to the shops, and then an afternoon of chores while the weekend’s sport is on in the background. Then if all goes well, you plan to meet some friends for dinner in the evening.

But when you wake up, you just don’t feel yourself. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but something is not quite right. Trying not to dwell on it, you start your weekend with all the excitement that it brings knowing the working week is behind you. Lunchtime arrives, and wait. That can’t be, can it? Did you just cough?

The test

The coughing gets worse over the next couple of hours, so you decided to take a Covid test. Because that is what we have become programmed to do. You find the at-home kit you have and follow the instructions to the letter. You need to be sure after all! You get ready to wait the fifteen minutes out staring at this test, but after just three minutes your heart starts to sink. Surely not. It can’t be, can it? Those two red lines appear. Oh no you have Coronavirus!

Later that evening the cough becomes more prominent, your joints begin to ache, your nose starts to run, and you become congested. The hot and cold feelings come and go every few minutes and you feel awful.

But you thought the pandemic was coming to an end? You are double vaccinated and for so long during this pandemic, you were so careful when you were out. But habits have slipped. you have become too relaxed! Maybe Coronavirus will never go away and we are all going to have to live with it. Along with Flu, the common cold, and many other little bugs that try so hard to bring us down!

The downfall

It could have all been prevented. Simple really. Using hand sanitizer. You don’t even know why you stopped using it. You have been so careful throughout the pandemic. Maybe it’s “Covid fatigue” or you just started to believe (or wanted to believe) it was all going away. Let’s be fair, it’s been two years and we are all sick of it! (Yes, that was a joke!)

Your journey out into the world brings so many opportunities to catch the infection. The hundred passengers on the train or bus, and the ones who sat in your seat before you did. The coffee barista who handled your coffee. The hundreds of people you interacted with throughout the day. Endless opportunities.

We can never control what everyone else is doing, but we can control what we do. And while we all learn to live with Coronavirus and all the other bugs out there, we can take one simple precaution that would have saved you from a rough week in bed. Regularly sanitizing our hands. A good thirty seconds would have saved your whole week. Seems silly now, when you look back.

Learn from your lesson

Don’t let those exciting times on the horizon be stopped by not continuing to do the little things like regularly washing your hands with soap or water, or using hand sanitizer when you are out and about. That quick 30-second habit might just allow you to enjoy that holiday in the sun, the concert that has been postponed three times, or that meal out you have been looking forward to for months with your friends.

 

Promotions & Branding

Boost your Brand with Custom Bags

Having your brand name and marketing message seen all over town is a goal many business owners strive to achieve. The more you put your brand in the eyes of potential customers, the quicker your business brand becomes a household name in your industry. While some people solely rely on the digital space to advertise their brands, you can go far beyond that to leverage the power of promotional products.

As a business owner, it’s important to understand that the world’s digital market economy is characterized by congested and aggressive advertising. As a result, you must look for smarter ways to build brand awareness outside the digital space. Promotional products are items you can personalize to drive your brand marketing campaign locally or nationally. Business owners who understand the power of traditional advertising include promotional items in their marketing efforts.

Regardless of the type of business, custom tote bags, lunch bags, grocery, messenger, business, gym, and duffel bags can be used for effective physical brand promotion. Not only do they make great customer gifts, but they provide the added value of repeated use and brand exposure. Unlike a disposable plastic bag, tote bags are reusable; and recipients will use them over and over again, giving you extended brand exposure. The longer they use these bags with your promotional message imprinted on them, the higher the exposure your brand gets.

Why Use Custom Bags as a Marketing Strategy?

Imagine what it will look like when people are seen in shopping malls, offices, streets, and event arenas with your personalized bags. Of course, this will go a long way to improving your brand visibility. But this isn’t the only reason you need custom bags for your business marketing.

Here are some other reasons why more businesses are paying attention to the use of reusable bags for their brand marketing:

Promotional products are cost-effective

The cost of advertising your business using custom bags is less when compared to the use of radio, television commercials, or billboard advertising. As such, even small business owners can depend on it. And with the added value of repeat exposure over longer periods of time, you get more for your advertising dollar!

Custom bags come in different types, styles, and sizes, making it easier for you to pick one that fits your budget. At The Custom Bag Store, you can see the different designs, materials, and prices that fit your advertising budget.

Nothing beats the reusability of custom bags. People have the habit of reusing custom bags multiple times and for different purposes. You can easily benefit from this habit by customizing a bag with your business logo, promotional message, and contact details. Not only will the recipient be reminded of your business, but you can potentially gain new customers from the exposure you get when it is used around town.

There is no doubt about the importance of using promotional custom bags for your brand awareness. Whether you are using them to promote your business at a tradeshow, or a customer and employee gifts, you stand a higher chance of benefiting from this marketing with a unique bag for your business. Get started today, by creating walking billboards through customers that will provide you years of return exposure!

Healthy Promotions

The Benefits of Using Hand Sanitizer

Differences Between Hand Sanitizer and Soap & Water

There’s no doubt the hand sanitizer industry took a swift turn in recent years, and justifiably so. There are germs everywhere! Potentially everything you touch has germs that can cling onto your hands, clothes, and anywhere else really.

Washing your hands is certainly the recommended action, however, that is not always the most practical solution. You might be out shopping, riding a bus, or someplace else where you can’t safely wash your hands, that’s where hand sanitizer comes in. Its mobility and size allow us to take it anywhere, and with just a few drops, your hands are clean and germ-free.

An effective hand sanitizer contains at least 60% alcohol to effectively kill the germs and bacteria needed to keep your hands sanitized. However, there are significant differences between cleaning your hands with soap and water and using hand sanitizer. And depending on the situation, hand sanitizer might be the better choice.

Soap and water are a great combination to remove all or most germs. On the other hand, sanitizer, containing at least 60% alcohol, kills up to 99% of all germs and bacteria – it doesn’t just wash them off. That said, while hand sanitizers might be great for killing germs, they don’t work as well when it comes to cleaning your hands from chemicals or even pesticides. Knowing when to use hand sanitizer and when to wash your hands can maximize your protection against germs and other components that might not be good for you.

The Hand Sanitizer Industry

During the past couple of years, the hand sanitizer industry has grown tremendously due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Revenues of hand sanitizer grew to $92.3 million in 2021 and are expected to grow another 6-7% in the following years. While the virus may seem to be leveling off, people are still hyper-vigilant about their health and protecting themselves and their families.

How does it Work?

Everyone knows the basics of using hand sanitizer correctly. But are you using it correctly to ensure its effectiveness?

With hand sanitizer, there’s no need to combine it with water as the gel is simply absorbed by your skin. The first step is to make sure there’s no organic matter in your hands, or at least visible matter, such as dirt. Be sure to clean off any visible dirt and grime with a clean cloth before applying the hand sanitizer.

You don’t need to use a lot of hand sanitizer, just squeeze a small amount about the size of a nickel to a quarter into the palm of your hand, depending on the size of your hands. Then rub your hands together repeatedly, making sure you cover your entire hand and fingers up to about 2 inches of your wrist. Continue until you don’t feel any gel remaining and your hands feel dry.

One of the best things about hand sanitizer is that you can use it anywhere! It doesn’t require water, takes less time than soap and water, and doesn’t require a towel to dry afterward. Hand sanitizer works quickly and kills most germs and bacteria leaving your hands clean and germ-free.

Healthy Promotions

After the Burn – Using Aloe Vera to Heal

You didn’t heed the warnings and spent time at the beach, gardening, or another outdoor activity without the proper use of an SPF sunscreen product. Now you’re paying the price! From a painful burn to subsequent skin irritations, the consequences of not using sunscreen, or not using it properly, are yours to bear. The best way to combat a sunburn is by using Aloe vera to ease the pain and promote healing.

Benefits of Aloe Vera

Aloe vera soothes and softens the skin, bringing relief to the discomfort and pain associated with sunburns by promoting regeneration while moisturizing the skin. An extraordinary cactus-like plant, Aloe vera contains a healing gel-like substance comprised of vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and amino acids to help inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria and accelerate the healing process.

Aloe Vera Uses

Not just for sunburns, aloe vera is used for various skin conditions including burns, bug bites, psoriasis, frostbite, psoriasis, cold sores, and acne. Aloe vera gel also treats the itching and inflammation associated with these conditions. As a bonus, it also helps fight the visible signs of aging, prevents dark spots, reduced dental plaque, treats canker sores, and more.

How to use Aloe Vera

Using an aloe plant can be a bit daunting, given the spiky ends of the plant’s leaves, and isn’t very practical for everyday use for today’s on-the-go lifestyles. Luckily you can easily purchase this wonderful product in convenient travel-sized bottles you can toss in a purse, backpack, or briefcase for quick relief anytime you need it. Custom aloe vera gel makes a great promotional item as well. Whether handed out alone or alongside a promotional sunscreen, customers will appreciate the gift and think of your business each time they use it! You can find everything you need at the Custom Sunscreen Store to both prevent and treat a sunburn.

Promotions & Branding

Why Use Promotional Products?

A promotional product is any product you gift to someone, to promote your business, organization, or service. Each product is personalized, containing the brand name, logo, contact information, website address, or anything else that highlights your brand! Gifting these personalized products is a great marketing tool and can really help to boost your brand awareness!

The Benefits of Promotional Products

Companies already use promotional products to increase their brand awareness. Whether it’s handing out customized products when they visit the office in an attempt to sell you their product, or at trade shows trying to increase their customer base. But why do they do this? Let us look at an example.

Imagine as part of your promotional strategy, you give a potential client a personalized product they can use daily that promotes your brand. Marketing research has shown that people in the US are likely to keep a promotional product for on average 12 months. That person will be continually exposed to your brand for 365 days! Now let us imagine that just 2 different friends or work colleagues see that product each day over that same period. Your brand awareness has now reached over 700 people within a year.

Now imagine you gift 100 products. Your brand exposure is now potentially over 70,000. For 1000 products it grows to over 700,000.

Now, this is a simplistic view, but you can see how by using promotional products you can achieve massive brand awareness very quickly. In practice, with the right product, that brand awareness may even be higher. Think about gifting travel mugs. How many people may see that mug daily? That lovely barista that makes you your morning coffee, the customers in the queue, the people on your commute, the staff in the office. That earlier example has suddenly gone from 700 people for one product in a year to over 7000! Just by using a type of product that people will use in their daily lives! You can see how you can expose your brand to large numbers of people with the right product!

At What Cost?

Well as always, the answer to that question is “it depends on the product”. But let’s look at our travel coffee mug example. At our Custom Drinkware Store, we have great options for personalized travel mugs for under $4 each. So, for just $4 you can reach potentially over 7000 people with your brand within a year.

And we don’t just do travel mugs. We have great options to suit all your brand awareness needs! Such as personalized coffee mugs for under $2, personalized pens for under 25¢, personalized bags for under $1, and so many more fantastic options.

What Types of Products Should You Use for Promotion?

To achieve maximum exposure, you want a promotional product that can be used in someone’s everyday life. Market research has shown that the two main reasons people keep promotional products for a long time are the quality and usefulness of that product. So, think about what you use every day either at work or on the go. Pens in the office, coffee mugs (all the time!), bags on the go!

Here at Promotional Webstores, we have a wide variety of stores that sell products that are both high in quality and products that people will use repeatedly giving your brand massive exposure!

From pens to coffee mugs, we have the office covered. From bags to sunglasses, we have the everyday fashion sorted. We even can supply you with high-quality, personalized hand sanitizer gels. A must have item to keep your clients safe in this Covid world.

If you want to take your brand awareness to the next level, then check out our stores! With so many products to choose from, we can help you achieve massive brand awareness!

 

Promotions & Branding

Benefits of Beeswax Lip Balm

When looking for a lip balm, one of the best choices you can make is to use one containing Beeswax. Naturally produced wax secreted by bees, beeswax has natural properties that carry many surprising benefits. Below we will discuss 4 of these benefits to help you understand why our natural beeswax lip balms make a great promotional product to market your business or event.

 

The Benefits

 

1. Natural and Chemical Free

Naturally derived beeswax is free of unnecessary chemicals and parabens that can irritate your skin. It is also free of alcohol, which is can dry lips out. Beeswax is non-irritating and helps to retain moisture, keeping lips soft and supple. Additionally, beeswax is non-comedogenic so it won’t clog.


2. Organic Moisturizing

Beeswax contains natural emulsifiers to help keep lips moist, plump, and soft without the use of chemicals or added ingredients. It heals while softening, making it ideal to help prevent and repair dry, chapped, or cracked lips year round.


3. Protective and Antibacterial

Beeswax is a natural protectant against the sun and other environmental elements. Some of our beeswax lip balms include SPF 15 to provide an additional layer of protection. If your lips are sensitive or prone to infection, the antibacterial properties of beeswax will go a long way in protecting your lips against inflammation and irritation.


4. Anti-Aging

Beeswax is rich in Vitamin A which aids in cell turnover, which diminishes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. This prolongs the process of wrinkles and age spots forming on the lips!

 

Promote Your Business with Beeswax Lip Balm !

If you’re as impressed as we were with the benefits of beeswax lip balms, we invite you to explore your available options for custom promotional lip balms. Personalized with your logo, you have a great giveaway for all your marketing needs. Here’s a quick list of options you can choose from:

Promotions & Branding

Why Lip Balm is King in the Promotional Industry

Custom lip balm is one of the most popular promotional tools in any industry, and it’s no wonder as to why! With their low price and popularity, custom lip balm allows companies of all sizes to easily and affordably promote their brand on a grand scale. Here are just a few reasons why lip balm is so popular for promotions:

Affordability

Custom lip balm is a budget-friendly way to promote any size business. It provides you with an economical and practical promotional item that is not only inexpensive and reusable, but also a customer favorite.

Convenience

Small and portable, personalized lip balm is perfect for any promotion. Ideal for keeping in a  brief case or bag to leave behind when visiting clients, lip balm is very portable and easy to transport in large quantities for marketing events and tradeshows. Not only are lip balm tubes easy to carry, you create an attractive display with a glass or plastic fish bowl or other item to dispense them that will hold a large amount to minimize restocking

Brand awareness

Custom lip balm is a great way to promote your company to the masses! Whether people keep it or pass it on to someone else, your business will gain positive recognition. Lip balm labels can be customized for any special or promotional event and handed out to everyone who attends. The recipient will remember your brand each time they use the lip balm, and with a colorful and unique label everyone around them will notice your logo and make them aware of your brand.<

Versatile

You can put anything you want on a lip balm label! While the standard is a company logo, you can easily customize a lip balm with a full color graphic to make your promotion stand out from the rest. Whether you are promoting your business or a special event, custom lip balm is a wonderful promotional tool. People love them for large events such as tradeshows, as well as small, personal events like weddings. They make great take-home gifts to remind people of your event or special day.

Popularity

There are so many kinds of gifts you can personalize for brand awareness and promotional events, but the truth is people prefer to receive gifts that are practical and reusable as opposed to one-use products, gimmicks, or promotional flyers and business cards. A gimmicky fad gift will be tossed after a day or so at the most, while lip balm will be used for months, each day reminding the recipient of your brand.

Custom lip balm is the perfect addition to any marketing campaign, whether used as a stand-alone promotional item or included in a group of personalized products. And with the enormous choice of flavors and styles, you can find the lip balm that is right for you and your promotion at the Custom Lip Balm Store!