When you’re looking for an item that can promote your business, cause, or organization, it’s hard to find one that does the job as effectively as a pen. Promotional pens are among the most common items used for promotional purposes, and for good reason: they’re generally inexpensive, can be mass-produced for minimal cost, are easily personalized, and are an item that everyone needs on a daily basis.



From simple, inexpensive stick pens to higher end instruments made of exotic woods and metals, there are pens for every potential marketing opportunity, and the variety of materials and styles available grows larger almost every day. A walk down the aisle of a stationery store can attest to this: you will find anything from the basic ballpoint pen that’s been a staple of the industry for many years, through the wide range of gel, felt and marker tips, to pens that combine a couple of functions in one convenient package – and that won ‘t even scratch the surface of the high tech and high-end executive pens that are available. Truly, it’s a wide-open category, and one that’s made for promotional marketing.

At the most basic level, the simple stick pen can be easily personalized through screen-printing with a company name, logo, or slogan. Inexpensive and easy to produce, such pens can be used for external marketing (think of the sales representatives who hand out pens on every sales call, or the ubiquitous pens that are handed out at conferences and conventions) and internal use (at training seminars, meetings, offsite retreats, etc.) Slogans for internal customer service programs, safety drives, charity efforts, and the like can be imprinted on literally thousands of pens for very little individual cost, providing a way to get a message out to a large number of people in a cost effective manner.

Once you move above the level of stick pens, the options available for promotion are still vast. More expensive pens of metal and plastic, with higher quality materials and more elaborate mechanical workings (think of “click" pens, gel pens, or instruments that might include multicolor pens, pencils, highlighters, and/or PDA styluses) can be used as incentives by salespeople with favored clients, or to identify members of project teams and special efforts.

Promotional pens can also be personalized even farther, with names and dates of events. Many companies have used fine writing instruments as time in service awards, retirement gifts, or as rewards for extraordinary performance. Such pens frequently are engraved and include the name of the recipient.

At the very highest levels of the pen makers’ art are instruments made of exotic woods and precious metals. Gold, silver and platinum are not atypical at this level. Such items can be used for special presentations and awards, or to recognize a special client. Understated elegance and precision engraving are the watchwords here, with the pens in question being treated almost as carefully as fine jewelry. In the case of pens made with exotic woods, the relatively new technique of laser engraving offers a sharp and exciting alternative, giving you the opportunity to have logos and slogans replicated on the pens with almost photographic precision.

No matter what your price range or promotional need, pens offer one of the most effective and efficient ways of promotion and marketing for anyone looking to put their message into a competitive environment.