When considering green products for your next order, it is imperative that you understand the green terminology. There are so many terms being thrown around that it proves difficult for even the most educated to have an intelligent conversation concerning green products. As inhabitants of this planet, it is important to educate ourselves on the importance of saving the environment. Here is a green dictionary of terms that can help you get started becoming GREEN!

ECO-FRIENDLY: A product or process that has little or no impact on the environment and does not negatively impact the Earth or its resources.

• Polypropylene...

COST: For a while, imported products were preferred over USA products due to cost efficiency. However, with increased issues of inventory and the overseas currency deprecating their values, imported products and usa made products are becoming more comparable in price. Currently consumers can appreciate the better quality of USA made products for a much more reasonable price.

QUALITY: We often don’t know what goes in to an imported product while the United States has spent 100 years developing a highly sophisticated regulatory apparatus. Knowing the machine settings and the ingredients that go into a product, producers are able to make the same high quality product month to month and year to year.

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• CAMERA READY ARTWORK—The traditional reference to artwork that is complete and ready to use without further modifications. “Camera Ready” often consists of a black image on white paper, exactly 100% of the printed size, on high-quality photographic paper. While many office laser printers are capable of creating acceptable results, most ink jet printers are not. Remember, the final result will depend entirely on the quality of the artwork. Bad art=Bad print.

• COLOR SEPERATIONS—With multi-color artwork, there is a separate piece of camera ready art for each printed color, and registration marks on each sheet to ensure that all the colors line up to create the desired result.

Art vs. Artwork

While art may be considered anything that is creative and artistic—from a simple crayon drawing on a napkin to a graphic drawn on the computer—artwork adheres to accepted guidelines and professional procedures so that suppliers can reproduce it with a crisp edge reproduction an a wide variety of promotional products.

When re-creating an existing company logo, the goal is to duplicate the original as precisely as possible. Our clients to have a camera-ready version of their own company logo, usually in what...

Our standard t-shirt is a Port and Company 6.1 oz. or the Gildan 2000 which both come in a variety of colors, cuts and sizes with color palettes for youth, men and ladies.

1. The cost of the t-shirt depends on the color and size. White shirts are always the most inexpensive. Light color shirts are a little more expensive then white but dark colored shirts always cost the most. Pricing for sizes S-XL are one price with larger sizes incurring more costs, youth shirts are priced like an adult S-XL.

* Special Notes: Youth XL is larger than Adult S and if you only want one screen charge your image will be sized to the smallest shirt in the group. Using a family reunion as an example if you size the image as large as it will fit to maximize a youth L it will on some of the...

1. The cost of the shirt. Start with the base cost of your shirt from the catalog and then add the cost for the embroidery. 

2. Digitizing Fee. There is a one time digitizing fee. Once we have your logo digitized there are no additional fees as long as you do not change the size of your logo. Embroidery is done by a machine that reads a file like a mathematical map; therefore you can not add stitches such as an outline or remove stitches. This is also why the size can not change with out a new set up fee.

3. Quantity of shirts. It’s simple: the more shirts you buy, the less your embroidery costs. Price...

Make sure to look for these features when purchasing a high quality umbrella to avoid handle cracks, fabric bleeding, and broken or bent shafts:

• Auto open and close feature
• Vented umbrellas to prevent against sudden surges of wind to keep the umbrella from inverting
• In order to avoid fading or peeling over time, silk-screened umbrellas are the best way to decorate
• Fiberglass handles are more comfortable for holding
• Cool transfers allow four color and multi color processes, but...
• Heat transfers' waterproof coating to nylon and polyester umbrellas are not durable over time

Check out this website to see some of our featured umbrellas: read more »

       It’s no secret that educational institutions and non profit organizations suffer when the economy has dips; funding is often short of needs. Given our owner's background in teaching, leadership roles with PTA and serving on local non profit boards she is able to create unique ideas that are results driven. There are over 900,000 types of ad specialty products available for promotions. By tailoring cost effective ideas with the specific needs of your organization we will help organizations reach their goals when allocating budgets for income from a successful for walk, race or charity auction. We can even create programs to collect data from your website rewarding your target audience. Ask our team to share some case studies with results from our archives file of school programs for success.

          While traveling for Dun and Bradstreet, Ed Rigsbee conducted research while teaching management seminars targeted to businesses. He’d ask every seminar audience, “What can your company or your boss do to improve your loyalty to the company? “ More than 50% of the responses showed that employees would be more loyal to the company if they were recognized. Recognition can be tied to many types of incentives and rewards. Employee programs that are part a of a larger goal such as re-organization, a sales and marketing campaign, research or part of a larger community or civic project with each area representing how individuals feel part of a larger objective. In reading articles related to employee recognition one theme is re-occurring; providing an employee a gift they can not buy offers long lasting good will. Employees are reminded...

How would you like to be honored after years of service to on organization or company? Both of these unique pieces were created by renowned artisan Adam Jablonski, a certified glass technologist who has been pursuing the art of glass making since 1952. Jablonski's art is prominently displayed in over 30 countries globally and has been presented to such dignitaries as kings, presidents and prime ministers. Imagine how you'd feel to be the recipient of one of his masterpieces for your home.

To view the images, click here: http://promotionalpartners.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-effectively-honor-years-of.html

      At Promotional Partners, we are vested in education in our community. Our owner Olivia serves on local business alliance committees, actively participates in career days and educational fairs, she serves on the Apex Chamber Education Committee and started a program for local high school internships. Throughout the Promotional Partners intern program, Olivia interacts with high school juniors or seniors. Our program provides the option for a 90 hour or 180 hour intern program for students that are interested in small business- entrepreneurship or marketing and sales. Olivia works closely with the partnering high school career development educators to help provide these opportunities. To date, we have had 4 high school students successfully complete our program each earning credit within the guidelines of their sponsoring school. Interns are provided opportunities to learn about the complete...

Nameless, Faceless: 

Today we created a new relationship with a client that had previously been shopping on the internet for their promotional items because that company let them know only days before their event and two weeks after that they the order was placed on stock was not available. Unfortunately we see regularly new clients that thought they had a "deal on line" only to find that the imprint quality, the product quality, the shipping charges or the availability of stock left them unhappy. Our suppliers are graded by our industry, by distributors like us. These suppliers fight for the relationships by insuring their products quality, accuracy, on time delivery so that our clients associate our...

Our clients ask great questions and we like having the answers!

Why can’t I use the set up fee I paid on the pens for the pad folios I want to buy? It’s with the same company? While a legitimate question, the answer is not that simple. Often times decoration methods are different such as pad printing, silk screening, laser etching, debossing, embossing, foiling and embroidery. Different machinery and production methods are required for each and are often done in different parts of a factory with different crews. Imprint size and shape for products is rarely the same...

What’s unique, what’s new, what’s different? We hear these questions all the time in our industry. Fortunately our industry is constantly re-tooling ideas and being resourceful with the latest technology to provide our clients solutions. Knowing what is new however means reading the latest journal publications, attending shows during the year with our suppliers, and keeping in touch with our representatives within companies for on site visits or participating in webinar communications. Our company is dedicated to providing our clients current, relevant and accurate information from the industry which means going back to school! Owner Olivia Scott is working towards her CAS- MAS accreditation. What exactly is the CAS-MAS certification?

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Promotional Partners is pleased to announce the latest addition to our website.  Under the company store icon, you can access our NEW apparel website.  The website is full of over 900 products from your basic t-shirt to cashmere.  We have added new lines, colors and an expanded selection of bags and caps.  Our new brands and styles are from industry leaders like Columbia Sportswear, Ogio, Port Authority and Nike Golf, just to name a few.

When exploring the new site, click on 15 categories for apparel lines. One in your choice category, select the item of your choice to few special features, color selection and download spec. sheets for sizing. Each image is set up to change the model image to your choice of color for viewing with a link to share that image electronically with others in your group. If you have specific needs,...

Have you taken time to really explore the options available to you on our website? 

On the home page is the access to your client log in with our entire on line catalog showing your company logo. If you’ve forgotten your log in or password simply contact us today! 

Search for products, whether you type in a category, price point or go to an icon such as fundraising or eco friendly, please keep in mind the products displayed represent a very narrow window to what we have access to show...

Congratulations to our quarterly referral program winner, Paula Lipford. This referral program offers us a way to thank our business partners for referring new clients to our company based on their own client satisfaction. Our winner for the quarter, is currently serving as the Manager of Volunteer Support for the Eastern North Carolina Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Paula's job is to focus on recruiting volunteers to take on leadership of important strategic initiatives. The national MS society is a collective of passionate individuals who want to help create a world free of MS. MS is the #1 disabling disease of young adults in the US and it is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system. Diagnosis with the disease has increased 58% in Eastern NC since 2001 and strikes people mainly between the ages of 20-50.

In addition to her work with the MS society, Paula is a "heavyweight volunteer" in her community. She is now serving her...

Once you are our partner, we want to provide you the tools that will make you more successful.  Ask us to send you any of the following documents:

Calendar of Events by Year

Tips on Developing a Marketing Plan

Quick Reference for Branding Tips

Tips for Direct Mail Success

Strategies for Tradeshow Success

Industry Vocabulary

Information on Apparel Terms and Fabric Content

Making Eco-Friendly Easy to Understand

Do you need ideas for holiday gifts or parties?

What are your incentives for employees that exceed goals?

How do you show your clients that you appreciate their business and value their relationship?

Do you need products that reflect your business plan?

Are you interested in seasonal campaigns, green friendly products, US made, union made or tradeshow ideas? 

Whether you are seeking corporate gifts, planning a tournament, recognizing volunteers or creating employee incentive and reward plans, we can help. Partners will get monthly newsetters with tips and products chosen for that time of the year. Every quarter, educational newsletters with marketing tools, branding tips and industry trends will guide our partners. If you are not currently enrolled as a partner, please click the newsletter link on this site to be added today.

Let us break it down the year for you month by month, one day at a time!

Click our event planner tab to see dates highlighted and suggestions for product choices for that event. Plan ahead and shop early to receive the best selection, shipping and production rates. Early planning offers you time to look at samples and consider ideas before you select products. While most products can arrive "door to door" in about 7-10 business days, please allow a minimum of 4-6 weeks when planning large products.