Promotional Buffalo Stress Balls – Check Out This Success Story

September 4th, 2010

Buffalo products like top quality buffalo mozzarella, milk and meat are all the rage at the moment. The meat, for those of you who haven’t tried it is very similar to beef but not as fatty. The mozzarella is the best available.

Not far from where I live is a buffalo farm. There aren’t many in England so most buffalo products have to be imported from Europe.

The owners of my local family run buffalo farm sell their buffalo products at five farmers’ markets every week. This is where they sell the majority of their goods but they also have a small farm shop on their farm that they are trying to promote.

One of the owners, Ben, phoned me recently looking for promotional merchandise to promote his farm shop. He wanted to find a product or two that would get people interested in driving into the country to purchase from his farm shop.

I immediately thought about the buffalo stress balls that are a real niche shape. They are rarely requested like other shapes. I sent him a couple of printed samples in the post and he loved the idea.

Ben did not have a logo for his business so I had our designer draw up a few logos, one of which he loved. We then had 500 buffalo stress balls manufactured and printed with the new logo and his web address. We also supplied 25 polo shirts for him and his staff to wear at the shop and at the markets. They too were personalised with the new logo.

They started handing out the buffalo stress toys to people who visited their market stall. While handing over the free gift they promoted the benefits of visiting their shops such as all the extras they could not feature on their market stall. Products such as fresh vegetables, local beers, freshly baked bread, seasonings and spices.

To date my customer has gone through 2000 buffalo shaped stress toys and they have just ordered another thousand. They have also started selling aprons, caps and polo shirts like those they wear themselves at the shop. People like to purchase products with the logo of places they like to shop.

The shop’s trade has increased substantially. In fact Ben is now considering adding on to the shop. Most of their customers from the market have made their way out to Ben’s shop and brought friends with them.

Did you know that promotional stress toys are available in almost every animal shape imaginable? Even if the shape you want is not, it can easily be customer made. What animal shaped stress reliever would you like to see a sample of to promote your business? Feel free to share your ideas, thoughts or experiences here by leaving a comment.

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Promotional Stress Balls-A Guide To Creating Your Own

September 3rd, 2010

Everyone loves receiving promotional stress balls.

Promotional stress toys may be low cost business gifts but they are popular enough to make a person stop in their tracks and head straight for your trade show stand. I have personally seen this happen on many occasions.

Stress toys also have the added bonus of being light weight and easy to put in the post. Receiving such an eye-catching promotional gift will make people notice your brand.

Have you ever consider using promotional stress relievers to promote your business? One of my customers was at first sceptical but his stress ball promotion was tremendously successful!

Following is his story…

Kevin worked for a company that produced the armour needed to manufacture armoured vehicles. He loved stress balls and actually had a few that were given to him by his suppliers. He was struggling, however, to think of a way they could promote his business.

His armour products just happened to be used to produce an armoured desert vehicle which was famous with people interested in such things. The armoured vehicle looked like a tank but instead of having a row of wheels on each side, it had four sets of three wheels and it didn’t have a gun.

The armoured vehicle was said to be the fastest vehicle in difficult desert conditions.

I recommended that he have a miniature version of the tank-car manufactured as a stress ball. He loved the idea and after getting permission from the manufacturer we went to work.

Kevin send images of the armoured vehicle from as many angles as possible and then sat back while I my design team used the photographs to create a model.

Within a couple of days he had a clay visual to approve. It looked just like the armoured vehicle his company helped produce and he was over the moon with the results!

Once the design was approved, we went to work creating 3000 miniature armoured stress balls vehicles. Instead of being beige like the actual product, he chose to have them manufactured in grey with blue print – his company colours.

Within four weeks we had delivered 3000 custom made stress relievers which he used at a large armour exhibition in Las Vegas – yes there really are armour exhibitions!

The squishy toys helped promote what his company was capable of doing. Most of the visitors to the show knew the famous armoured vehicle but they did not necessarily know Kevin’s company played a major part in its manufacture.

Now they did. Soon he was enjoying an increase in business beyond his wildest beliefs.

Have you ever considered custom made stress balls to promote your products? Made to order stress balls are a unique and eye-catching way to promote your brand. They also happen to be quite inexpensive!

Feel free to share your experiences and thought or just ask a question by leaving a comment.

By Dan Toombs

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Promotional Pig Shaped Stress Balls-One of the Best Restaurant Promotions Ever

September 2nd, 2010

I stem from California originally and have quite a few customers from the US. I may supply promotional stress balls primarily to the UK but stressballs can be manufactured and easily shipped anywhere in the world for about the same price. You can have stress toys sent directly from the factory to your door!

So when I received an email from a well known ribs restaurant near my home town of Turlock, California, I jumped at the chance to quote for the job.

The restaurant owner, a very big, round man who called himself Boss Hogg after the famous Dukes of Hazard series, wanted to promote his restaurant with promotional pig shaped stress balls.

He had two reasons for doing this. First, he was famous for his pork ribs and pork chops. Second, he wanted to give people a fun incentive to order his biggest and most expensive meal that consisted of two racks of ribs with all the slightly fattening fixings.

His first order was for 1000 stress pigs which he made sure were always in view. They were on shelves behind the bar. A few were on sale next to t-shirts and caps behind a glass cabinet. Everywhere you looked in the popular eatery you saw these little squishy pigs!

On the backs of the pigs that were for sale he had his logo printed. All of the other pigs included his logo and the text ‘I ate two racks of ribs at Sammy’s!’

Anyone who ordered his two rack signature dish received a free stress ball pig as a prize. You would not believe the amazing results.

Sales for his signature rib lovers meal skyrocketed. People who normally just went for the one rack meal were suddenly challenging themselves to eat one heck of a lot more. Children and adults were all to be seen stuffing themselves with gigantic portions of pork.

My customers restaurant is now just as famous for the food as it is for the stress toys. He has purchased thousands more over the years and given them away all most as fast as he orders them. That is brand building at its best!

Now then…

I think my next article will be about heart shaped stress balls and how they can help promote a more healthy lifestyle which will prevent heart disease! What do you think?

By Dan Toombs

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How Do I Know Which Promotional Stress Balls are Best For Me?

September 1st, 2010

When we purchase products to promote our businesses, we are not necessarily purchasing products but great results!

Any company can sell you products such as promotional stress balls but if you don’t get the results you have wasted your money.

Before placing an order you need to be convinced that the company you are using will get you the results you want. If you are not convinced than move quickly on! Perfect promotions using promotional stress toys will only come about if they are well planned out. That is how you get excellent value for your money.

How would you go about finding the best stress toys for your business? Here are a few tips that will help ensure you do.

Think About the Shapes

What do you do in your business? Chances are there are already stress shapes available that can help you promote whatever it is you do. If not, you can have a new shape designed for you which will be unique to your company. There is usually a 1000 unit minimum for custom shapes but your promotion will certainly be memorable.

Consider Colour

Don’t just settle for the stock stress toys supplied by most promotional gifts suppliers. If you deal with a company that imports directly from the manufacturer you can choose the colours in which they are manufactured. Pantone matching is easily done and should not cost you any more. In fact, if you have your stress relievers specially made and imported for you, you could save up to 50% compared to the prices of stress ball held in stock.

Get Samples

Any good supplier will be happy to show you the work they have done on behalf of their other clients. Some stress balls are excellent quality where other are not fit for purpose. Asking for samples will help ensure you are giving your customers quality products that they will want to keep.

I am a firm believer that excellent, successful promotions only really happen when they are well thought out. If you take some time considering the shape and colour of your stress toys, ask for printed samples and ensure you print an eye-catching design that says it all, your promotion will go down a treat.

Have you ever used promotional stressballs for promoting your business? Did you print a fun tagline along with your logo? You can share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment here.

By Dan Toombs

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They Laughed When I Suggested Promotional Stress Balls – But When The Event Started…

August 31st, 2010

It would be fair to think that promotional stress balls are low cost promotional gifts. They are. Promotional gifts do not need to be expensive to achieve excellent results. Stress toys – cheap – yes!

That is exactly their strength and here I will show you why.

A few months ago I was contacted by a friend of mine who is a lawyer. He was looking for promotional gifts to promote his law firm at a ritzy event his firm was sponsoring.

As the event was being held at the Ritz in London the gift had to be good. The cost of the venue had already eaten away substantially at his budget so he did not have a lot of money to spend. They were expecting 500 guests.

Now being invited to such a nice venue with complementary canapes, dinner and drink was a gift in itself. Who wouldn’t want to be part of such a nice evening? Realising this and the fact that he was low on funds I recommended promotional stress relievers.

He and his colleagues laughed. They couldn’t possibly hand out promotional stress relievers to their guests! Nice metal clocks, cufflinks, promotional gift pens – maybe, but stress balls?

I pushed my idea further. Promotional stress toys were inexpensive, metal clocks and personalised cufflinks weren’t.

“What if you were to place a mobile phone holder stressball at each dinner place setting.” I suggested. “Each could be of the highest quality, printed with your firm’s logo and tagline along with your telephone number and web address.”

He and his colleagues were not convinced but as money was an issue they agreed.

When the big night arrived, the stress balls were all in place. By the time the guests sat down to dinner they had already had a few canapes and cocktails. The stressball mobile phone holders soon caught their eyes.

People were deep in discussion squeezing their new gifts as they did. The stress toys were both eye-catching and fun. They were much more entertaining than a couple of cheap cufflink and as they were made to hold a mobile on the desktop, they had a much better chance of promoting my friends firm daily for a long time.

Have you ever considered promotional mobile phone stress balls? Have you ever held a good quality stress ball in your hand? If not, why not ask for a sample and see for yourself why these fun promotional items are so popular.

By Dan Toombs

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Promotional Gifts-No Detail is Too Small-Or So Some Think

August 30th, 2010

Often corporate print policy should be put to the the side and forgotten for the sake of the job.

Unfortunately, contrary to professional advice, this often does not happen. Just three weeks ago I received an order for 2500 promotional stress balls. There were two logos to be printed, two web addresses, two telephone numbers and about ten lines of text both in English and in Welsh.

Having worked quite hard to get the order in the first place, I could feel my mouth drop when confronted with so much to print on these 70mm diameter stress balls.

I went to work right away to prove that it could be done. Our company designer separated the two logos, placing one on one side of the ball and the other on the opposite side. He then typeset the text in a more readable font than those supplied and placed the text under the correct logos.

Everything was quite small but we did it! Or so I thought…

I had already decided to give my customer the additional print position free of charge and very confidently emailed a visual to her to approve.

In less than five minutes I received her emailed reply which was – ‘What have you done with our design? Please print everything as we supplied it!’

I spent the next ten minutes on the phone trying to convince her that printing the two logos side by side with all the text under it was a bad idea because nothing would be legible. She wouldn’t budge and I did as she asked. I supplied a revised visual which was signed off immediately just under the large red text that state – SOME OR ALL OF THE PRINTED TEXT WILL FILL IN AND MAY NOT BE LEGIBLE.

My customer received her stress toys just the other day. It didn’t take long before I received an email from her boss complaining that the text and logos were too small to read.

Really?!?! – You don’t say.

As the job had been signed off there was little more he could say. I have been in the promotional gifts industry for over 20 years and I know what will and will not print well. I can give advice but at the end of the day it is up to the person ordering the goods who has the final decision.

Let’s hope company policy doesn’t get the best of your next promotion.

Have you ever been in the position where you had to stick to corporate print guidelines against your supplier’s advice? What happened? Please feel free to share your comments and experiences by leaving a comment.

By Dan Toombs

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See How Easily You Can Promote Your Eco Friendly Message With Promotional Stress Balls

August 29th, 2010
globe stress balls

The globe is just one of many shapes in our recycled eco range.

What do you think of when you picture eco friendly promotional gifts?

I bet you think of the most popular eco gifts such as recycled and biodegradable pens, desktop gifts and organic non-woven clothing.

Am I right or at least partially right? These gifts are all very popular and increased demand for such products has ensured that many more are produced for business promotion.

But what about the stress ball? These popular promotional items are not always perceived to be eco friendly though there are now quite a few shapes that promote eco issues such as recycling bins, wind turbines, and the eco sign.

But let’s go one better. How would you like to give your customers excellent quality promotional stress balls that are manufactured from recycled Polyurethane?

You can and these excellent quality gifts are available to you regardless of where in the world you do business.

A manufacturer in North East England has become the first stress toy manufacturer to produce stressballs from recycled polyurethane. The company is the only factory in the western world that manufactures stress balls. The quality is better than 90% of those produced in the Far East.

These new eco friendly stress toys are all made to order. They are not available off the shelf so you will need to wait from four to six weeks for delivery. I can assure you that the wait will be worth it! You are going to love these stress toys.

The fact that they are made to order means you can choose from over 300 shapes. Choose a shape that represents you corporate image or perhaps even what you do.

There are medicals shapes, industry shapes, food and drink shapes and many more.

There could be one downside which should be pointed out. When purchasing promotional merchandise that is also eco friendly, it is best to order products that do not need to travel long distances from the factory to you. You need to consider the fuel that will need to be used so that you can have your eco friendly promotional gifts.

Therefore, these eco stress balls will be much more eco friendly for a business in England or Europe than they will be for a business in the US.

That said, if you live and work in the US, your stress balls are going to need to travel long distances whether you purchase standard Chinese manufactured stress toys or if you purchase eco friendly UK manufactured stress toys.

So then… would you like to see a sample of these exceptional eco gifts? Have you used them before for promoting your brand? Are you interested in using eco stress toys in the future? Please feel free to share your thoughts or experiences by leaving a comment.

By Dan Toombs

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Warning: Promotional Stress Balls Are Not All The Same

August 28th, 2010
promotional stress balls

Promotional stress balls are best when purchased from CompuGift

Every day I get the same type of enquiry. I receive an phone call or email from someone looking for the lowest prices for promotional stress balls. I submit a quotation and then ensure that they know they will also be receiving a few samples in the post.

Why do I do this? Because stress balls are not all the same! There are many substandard products on the market that look exactly the same when viewed online or in a printed catalogue as the high quality stress products on offer.

My company has been importing promotional stress balls from the Far East for over ten years. The majority of promotional stress toys are manufactured in China and it takes a lot of time and effort to ensure we are using the best suppliers. it is important not only to look at the service and products supplied by these Chinese factories but to ensure they are ethical companies who do not use child labour and treat their adult staff well.

This can only be done by meeting with them and seeing how they run their businesses.

I feel confident that the Chinese suppliers I work with on a daily basis are good people who supply superior product and service.

At the end of the day, you as a marketer are not looking for products but excellent end results. It is your supplier’s job to get the product side right so you can enjoy the excellent results of a successful marketing campaign using these fun promotional stress relievers.

I always recommend asking for samples. Compare them with those of several other suppliers to ensure you are getting the best value for your money. Handing out inferior hard, poorly printed stress relievers to your customers will not do your business any good even if they are cheaper.

This is important! Many promotional gift suppliers are trying to compete with those companies that actually import stressballs themselves by selling low cost, poor quality products purchased through wholesalers.

Try looking for suppliers that actually have websites dedicated to promotional stress relievers. This will at least be an indication that they take the products seriously and there is a better chance they will import themselves.

Ask for samples, get prices and then make a decision. If you hold the best products in your hand, you should be able to visualise just how successful and fun your next promotion with stress toys will be!

Have you had a bad experience with poor quality promotional stress balls? Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts.

By Dan Toombs

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Oil Drum Shaped Promotional Stress Balls-Who Can Benefit From Using Them?

August 27th, 2010
oil drum stress balls

Check our our high quality stress balls by asking for a sample today.

Refining crude oil is a complex operation that is responsible for creating the building blocks of almost every product we use in our daily lives.

Different types of crude oil are refined in different ways and the resulting products and bi-products are not just limited to the automotive industry as many people falsely believe.

I only know this because I have sold promotional oil drum stress balls to companies specialising in everything from grease lubricants to wax candles to cosmetics. You name it, if it is a physical manufactured product, chances are refining crude oil has played a part in its construction.

It is therefore little wonder that promotional oil drum stress balls are so popular.

Promotional oil drum stress toys can be manufactured to order in your company colours. Pantone matched colours could give your promotion that extra boost it need to really stand out. There are not many promotional products that can be manufactured to order in perfectly Pantone matched colours.

If these fun squeeze shapes are of interest to you, look for online suppliers that specialise in promotional stress toys. Your supplier should be an importer of these Chinese manufactured promotional products and not just a middleman.

Purchasing direct from the importer could save you up to 50% so it is important you find the right source.

Oil drum stress relievers offer quite a few different print areas for your logo and message. In fact I recommend you use as many of the print areas as possible as the end result looks fantastic.

Think about the way in which your products are produced. Do they include a crude oil product? If you are not sure, type your product into Google along with the words crude and oil and see what comes up. You could find a whole new way to promote your products to your customers just as many other marketers have.

Promotional stress relievers are easily sent in the post without fear of breakage. They also look great on exhibition stands and decorating displays at conferences. The oil drum shape has the added bonus of having two flat sides. This makes them perfect desktop gifts that could sit happily on your customers’ desktops for many years promoting your brand.

I hope I have given you a few ideas for you next promotion. Try to think of a way you can work these fun desktop gifts into your marketing. While you are thinking about it, why not order a sample or two and see first hand how addictive the stress products are to squeeze.

By Dan Toombs

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Posted in Industry Stress Balls, Pharmaceutical stress balls | No Comments »

Top Quality Promotional Stress Balls – Half Price!

August 26th, 2010
pound sign stress balls

You will save up to 50% when you buy direct from stressballs.co.uk

Have you ever purchase promotional stress balls? These popular promotional gifts get results but if you are not careful you could be paying way too much. Up to 50% more than you should, in fact.

It is important to note that most promotional items are manufactured in the Far East, including stress balls. The majority of promotional merchandise suppliers do not import these gifts themselves but purchase through a wholesaler instead.

This is an excellent system for heavy and bulky gifts such as conference folder and executive metal clocks because they are mass produced. What you see is what you get. These gifts are purchased by wholesalers and imported in large quantities which they sell to promotional merchandise suppliers who then sell on to you to promote your business.

The promotional gifts industry is changing and changing very quickly. Some corporate merchandise suppliers have started dealing directly with the Far East manufacturers. This is not an easy process as there are a lot of things to consider before dealing directly with Far East manufacturers such as ethical issues and building trust.

Promotional stress toys and indeed many other business gifts are ideal products for promotional merchandise suppliers to import because they are usually made to order. There may well be wholesalers who keep large stocks but most companies want their stress ball manufactured to order. They like to have them manufactured in their own company colours or even order special shapes.

Here is how you save…

Don’t forget that a wholesaler needs to make a profit which is usually at least 30%. If your promotional gift supplier purchases from a wholesaler and then puts their markup on, you are paying way over the odds.

Purchase your promotional stress relievers from an importer and you will be cutting out the wholesaler and that other middleman.

Check it out for yourself. Try googling ‘promotional stress balls’ or ‘promotional stressballs’ and check out the sites on the first couple of pages. Compare their prices and ask for samples. You will soon see who is importing the goods themselves and who is not.

If they can back their low prices up with excellent quality stress relievers and exceptional personalised service, you have found yourself a good new supplier.

If you have read this far, you have already found the UK’s leading online suppliers of promotional stress balls. We import and can manufacuture your stress relievers to order.

Posted by Dan Toombs

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