Have you ever received a gift from someone that was delivered in a paper bag or a plastic sack that still had the tags on it and the receipt inside? If this is how you received your gift from your best friend, whom you knew had not had the time to take the extra step to wrap it and make a pretty presentation, this would be okay. But, if you received this gift from someone who came to a party or luncheon, given in your honor, and you did not know them very well, this lack of thoughtfulness would stand out as a glaring social faux pas.



Now, taking this thought a step further, do you think that distributing your promotional mugs in a box or with the plastic covering still attached might be a business faux pas? This probably all depends on the situation and the circumstances surrounding the distribution of the promotional mug.

Even so, it might be a good idea to take some time to think about how you and your employees or representatives actually make the promotional mug presentation. Sometimes the presentation, in and of itself, can sell your business to the receiver of the presentation can result in the recipient of the promotional mug knowing they never want to do business with you again.

There are unlimited things you can do to add value to your promotional mug distribution that do not cost much, if any, additional money. The concept of “value added" benefits or services is what you need to consider. What value added steps or strategies can you take to increase the likelihood that the promotional mugs you give away will result in increased revenues and customers and/or customer satisfaction. Consider these ideas.

1. If you are using your promotional mugs to reward customers or employees, you might add an enclosure card that simply says thank you. But, if you are really interested in value added strategies you might hand right your thank you note personalizing it with the customer or employee's name and adding a note that identifies the particular reason or reasons you appreciate them. Nothing goes further than saying thank you from the heart.

2. You might also consider adding something to the inside of the promotional mug that, once again, says to your customer or employee that you care about them as individuals and you appreciate the work they do for you or their business. Some ideas for little personal touches that don't increase the cost of the promotional item to any great extent include: filling the mug with potting soil and planting different kinds of seeds (herbs, flowers or aromatic plants), filling it come mug with brewed coffee or tea they can drink while they are conducting business with you or employees, and/or filling mug with your promotional pens with an enclosure card that has a cute little poem or jingle such as –

Accept our mug full of pretty pens that you can

giveaway to all of your friends.

It might be fun for you to ask staff to come up with ideas to add value to your promotional mug distribution project. This can be made into a contest by having all staff select the top five or six suggestions. The winners can receive a bonus of some sort - either monetary or extra time off for “good thinking".