Insulated Promotional Bags

Set your promotional bag apart from the rest by going with an insulated bag. These bags are fantastic for keeping frozen items chilly on the way home from the store, or keeping takeout warm after you pick it up. An insulated reusable bag is also great for bringing a hot or cold dish to a party. The insulating layers will seal in the cold or heat and if you toss ice in the bag the water-tight design will prevent leaks. Go with a smaller insulated bag to create the perfect lunch tote. The great thing about marketing your brand on a lunch bag is that when people pack their lunch and bring it to work your customized bag will end up in the fridge which is a very popular spot in most work places, so just about everyone in the company will see your logo and branding message when they open the refrigerator.

Our insulated cooler bags can be completely customized – you can choose the size, shape, and closure, handle length, colors and more to create something that fits how you envision your customers using it.

Wine Totes for Promotions

Promote the opening of a new store or winery with a custom bag. Our wine bags feature dividers so bottles are kept safe and separate. Wine totes are great for carrying a purchase home from the store, but they are also handy when people bring bottled wine or liquor as a host gift. The dividers ensure everything travels well, and they fold neatly and compactly to take up minimal space when not in use. These bags also put your logo on prime display and are sure to elicit questions like ‘where did you get that bag?!’ from friends and relatives who see your customers conveniently carrying your promotional wine tote. Our selection of wine totes can accommodate different capacities of bottles so select something that you think would be a good fit for your customers or select multiple bags of varying bottle capacities so your clients can select what they prefer.

Create Something Completely Custom

We offer a lot of different size and style options, but just because you do not see what you had in mind does not mean we cannot help make your idea a reality. Select the size, style and everything else to create something that fits your client’s needs and your brand. A niche design will fill a void and show your customers that you are thoughtful and concerned about them, your product and the environment. Consider creating a bag that is custom designed to fit your products or let us know if you have an idea for something completely different because we can make it happen.

When designing your promotional bag think about how your customers will use the bag. You want to create something that is functional and useful and that will have your customers using it again and again. Reusable shopping bags are a great fit for many companies and they may work out great for your brand, too, but we offer a lot of great options for one-of-a-kind promotional bags that will allow you to spread the word about your brand in an eco way while also filling a need.

To help you get started check out our website to get an idea of what you may want. Also, check out these additional features that can be added to your promotional bag to really elevate the usefulness of the bag and give it a custom, one of a kind look and feel.

Promotional Bag Gusset Color

The gussets are the side panels of a bag that expand and create depth and space. Selecting an alternate color for the gusset is a nice way to include a pop of color in a subtle and tasteful way. Consider utilizing an accent color from your logo or select a color that will complement the primary color. Using a color for the gusset that differs from the rest of the bag makes the bag look custom and well suited to your brand. It is also a nice way to tie the branding and look together and create a cohesive appearance. Utilizing a different color for the gusset of your reusable promotional bag in an inexpensive way to make the finished bags look high end and polished.

Get a Handle on Things

Everything about the handle of a reusable bag can be customized. Select the handle color to match your corporate colors and maybe use the same accent color as the gusset. You can choose the handle length as well to create a bag that is a good fit and comfortable to carry. The width of the handle is also significant. If you are designing a bag that will be worn on the shoulder you may want to consider a wider strap or maybe even possibly a padded strap. A bag that will be carried by hand will not need as wide of a strap, but make sure to still feature a strap that is comfortable to carry. Too narrow of a handle may not be comfortable and may dig into the carrier’s hands if the bag is fully loaded.

Zippers or Snaps

Depending on what and how the bag will be used you may want to include a way to close and secure the bag. A lunch bag or insulated bag will benefit from a zipper or maybe even snaps to keep the contents secure, while a messenger bag will benefit from snap closure to fasten the flap in place or maybe even a zipper to secure the main compartment. It is a huge perk for your customers and clients who will be using the bags to close and secure the bags so items are safe while traveling in crowed areas, but also so if they toss the bag in the backseat or trunk of a car all of the contents of the bag will not spill out should the bag tip.

Promotional Pockets

Get organized with custom pockets to hold keys, a mobile phone or a water bottle. You can also include a hook to hold a key ring. A simple divider in a  custom messenger bag can help people sort papers and notebooks for easy retrieval, while more customized pockets create specific places for specific items. Pockets are a great way to add function to a bag. The more useful a customized reusable bag is the more your customers will use it and the more they use it the more visibility your brand gets.

Get Creative with Your Customized Promotional Bags

With so many options deciding to completely design your reusable promotional bag will take some thinking and deciding. Check out our selection of stock bags to get ideas and think about how your clients will use the bag and how you want them to use it and remember we are here to help! You want a bag your customers will covet and turn to again and again. Creating something that is comfortable, stylish and functional will ensure your customers will love your bag and use it every chance they get. 

Chances are when your customers are using your promotional product they will think of your brand. At Factory Direct Promos we specialize in custom promotional bags that will showcase your branding message and ensure customers remember your company.

Create a One-of-a-Kind Promotional Bag

You have a lot of choices to make when it comes to designing your custom reusable bag. Select the material, style, size, colors and more to create something that is unique and conveys the message you want your customers to associate with your brand. We can help you narrow down your options so please get in touch and tell us what you are looking for. If you select a promotional bag from our in stock selection we can turn it around for you in a mere 2 weeks, so you can be handing out customized bags in no time. If you want to create something more distinctive we can help you design something that is completely unmatched and unique. All of our reusable bags offer great value, but because you can design every aspect of our custom bags they offer a fantastic value for the cost. All custom bags are created at our overseas production facility. Taking advantage of our overseas production requires a 60 – 90 day turnaround, but the reward is a promotional bag you built from the ground up that features everything you want.

Advantages of Promoting Your Brand with a Reusable Bag

1. Everyone Has a Need for a Reusable Bag

Reusable bags make such a great promotional tool because they are convenient. Everyone has a use for a reusable bag whether to tote groceries home from the store, or to lug books to class or work home from the office, they also make great gym or overnight bags, or you can create something completely custom and unique like a cooler bag or a specialized bag designed to hold wine bottles. Reusable bags are just plain handy. We offer a wide range of stock designs, but due to our custom capabilities the possibilities are endless. A reusable bag is a practical and convenient item.

2. Use Your Customers to Expand Your Reach

You want a promotional item that your customers will love and want to use because happy customers are repeat customers. It is also very likely that your customers have friends or relatives or coworkers who are also part of your ideal demographic, so giving them a custom promotional product is an opportunity to showcase your branding message in front of potential customers and increase your brand recognition where it matters most.

3. Promotional Bags are Universally Appealing

Making the decision to go with a promotional item that fits a niche need or market may cause you to miss out on the chance to promote your brand to a wider audience. If you sell a product or provide a service that only caters to a small and specific demographic and you create a promotional item that is only useful to that demographic your branding message will reach a limited audience – albeit an important audience, but you may miss out of converting new groups to your brand. Your ideal customer base is certainly a group you want to market your company to, but utilizing a custom promotional bag ensures people from outside your target demographic can and will use the item. While people from outside your demographic may not buy your product or service they will function as a mobile billboard when they carry your custom reusable bag and they may expose your marketing message and campaign to people who are in your target demographic who may not have heard of your company otherwise. You may also create a buzz and generate interest in your brand by handing out your promotional item to folks from beyond your demographic. It is a smart move to create a marketing item that is universally appealing and useful, so people outside of your demographic can also use your bag and help spread the word.

Make Sure Your Brand is Seen

Everyday people are inundated with logos and branding messages. Advertisements are all around us. You need to get your logo and branding message out there for everyone to see and there is no better way to do this than by creating a customized promotional bag that bears your company’s logo. Taking advantage of advertising your brand with a custom promotional bag ensures your branding is seen by the people who use your bag, but also all of the people who come into contact with that individual throughout the day.

Jute

Jute is a natural plant that grows throughout India and Bangladesh. It grows as a long fiber that can be spun into thread or rope and woven into textiles. A unique aspect of jute is that it is composed for cellulose and lignin – these materials are the primary building blocks of plant fiber and wood fiber respectively. This distinctive blend lends the material strength and durability that is unmatched. For the jute plant to grow it requires a lot of water, and that is pretty much it - fertilizer and pesticides are not much of a help. The temperatures and rainy seasons in India and Bangladesh create the ideal conditions for the plant, so that is why jute flourishes so well in these areas.

Jute is usually left in a raw state that showcases the natural fibers. This helps give the material a shabby yet chic look that is very eco and green. Since the material is natural it is also biodegradable and because the fibers are pesticide-free that is a huge selling feature. It is best to hand wash and line dry reusable bags constructed from jute since the material tends to have more of an open weave. Jute offers the durability necessary for reusable bags perfectly merged with the sustainable and biodegradable aspects that make it a green material.

Cotton

Cotton grows as a shrub in tropical and subtropical areas. The plant can be somewhat high maintenance as it requires a moderate rainfall – too much rain can be damaging and not enough will prevent the plants from thriving. There are also a number of insects that can destroy the plants and the crop. Despite these issues cotton continues to be one of the most grown crops in the world due largely to the fact that is can be woven into durable material that can easily be washed and used again and again.

There are different methods of growing cotton. Some farms utilize genetically modified (GM) cotton, in which a strain of bacteria is inserted into the seeds so the plant will naturally produce a chemical harmful to some inserts – this natural pesticide only works on specific types of insects and does not completely eliminate the need or use of other pesticides. There has been a movement towards organic growing methods – that is cotton that has not been genetically modified or grown with the use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Organic cotton production promotes biodiversity and biological cycles and is regulated by the National Organic Program (NOP).Growing cotton may require a lot of work, but the finished product is well worth it. This biodegradable material is green through and through and can stand up to daily use.

Bamboo

Bamboo is an amazing plant that can be used for just about anything. When harvested some forms of the plant can be used to construct homes and buildings while other varieties can even be cooked and eaten. Bamboo also grows incredibly fast – some species can grow 3 feet in a single day. The plant does not require fertilizers or pesticides and it can convert a high rate of carbon dioxide (typically known as a greenhouse gas) into breathable oxygen. All plants convert greenhouse gases into oxygen, but bamboo does it much quicker so it is able to turnaround a higher quantity.

Bamboo fibers are relatively short so there is a manufacturing process to turn the plant fibers into textile. However, the finished product is a durable material that can generally withstand a spin in a washing machine and when sewn into a reusable shopping bag can typically deliver 3 – 6 years of dependable use. Bamboo is usually touted as an incredible environmentally friendly product and it is deserving of all of these accolades. Since it is a natural material is it also biodegradable, so when the material is no longer useful it can be composted and it will safely break down.

Selecting the material for your reusable promotional bag can have a strong impact on the overall look, feel and message the finished product relays. Take your time and choose a material that you like and that fits your brand. Think about the texture and how the material will need to be cared for – it is important to wash reusable shopping bags and not all materials can be laundered the same way. Make sure to let your customers know how to care for their reusable biodegradable bags so your customers are healthy and get lots of use out of the bags, but also so the bags hold up and look their best while displaying your branding message.

Choosing to create environmentally friendly promotional bags drives home the point to your customers that your company is concerned and aware of your impact on the environment. It would be easy to just pick any material and have your branding message printed on it, but you took the time to research the materials and go with something that will not break down or jeopardize the environment, wildlife’s welfare or their habitats. Utilizing green biodegradable materials makes it clear that your brand does not just talk the talk, but you actually live your green message.

Increase Brand Loyalty with Biodegradable Reusable Bags

Being green has become a lifestyle. People who really believe in the cause and support these ideals are loyal to brands that hold similar values. These folks care enough to make sure they limit their carbon footprint and the impact they have on the environment and the businesses they support are extensions of themselves. If they support a business that has questionable environmental practices it is as if they are causing that harm and by doing business with corporations that wreak havoc on the planet they are financing that damage. Utilizing biodegradable promotional bags allows customers to get behind your brand and showcase your message without compromising what they believe in.

Biodegradable Promotional Bags are Green on Two Fronts

Promoting your brand with biodegradabls bags puts an end to the use of disposable plastic bags which immediately scores points for being green. Producing disposable bags use up valuable resources and because they do not safely break down they continue to be a nuisance indefinitely. Since only a very small percentage of the disposable bags unleashed on the world are recycled it is more likely they will sit in landfills where they will just continue to be piled on top of more disposable bags and go nowhere, or they will become litter. When disposable plastic bags become litter they are an eyesore that mars people’s homes and neighborhoods, as well as parks and wilderness areas. Litter is also a health risk to animals that can easily mistake the bags for food or become tangled which may prevent them from being able to fend for themselves in the wild. A simple change like making the switch to reusable shopping bags alleviates the need for disposable plastic bags, and ultimately all of the problems that result from disposable bags.

The second way biodegradable reusable bags endear themselves to folks dedicated to living a green lifestyle is that they safely break down. All good things must come to an end and after years of faithful service reusable bags will wear out and need to be replaced. When the time comes to disposable of your reusable bags your customers will have a couple options. The bags can be thrown in the trash which will lead them to a landfill. Once in the landfill they will begin to break down and eventually there will be no visible reminder that the bag was ever there. The material will break apart into smaller and smaller pieces and the natural fibers will break down and safely permeate into the ground. If you would like to encourage your customers to minimize the waste stream you can ask them to compost your marketing item with it is past its usefulness, so it can break down and do good. There is no reason why a biodegradable bag cannot be tossed in a compost heap where is will return the nutrients from the material back to the soil. Consider having a message printed on the bag letting your clients know the bag can be composted or make sure to tell people when you hand the bags out, so they are aware this option exists.

You’ve worked so hard to make your business what it is and your green plan has taken a lot of time and consideration. Taking advantage of sustainable, biodegradable materials to create promotional products lets you stay true to your green message and show your customers that you are serious when your say you are green. Every aspect of your promotional product speaks to your brand. Make sure that message states loud and clear that your company is dedicated to being green and helping the environment.

Quality Products Made From Quality Materials

Sometimes biodegradable or green materials are thought of as being lower quality and maybe not very durable; however, nothing could be further from the truth. Biodegradable does not mean flimsy. Reusable bags made from materials such as bamboo can safely break down after delivering years of dependable service. By comparison disposable plastic bags are only intended to be used once. Many folks do in fact re-use their disposable bags; however, plastic bags are typically re-used to line trash cans or pick up pet waste so these bags are done after only a couple uses. Plastic bags are thin and easily tear and rip so re-using them may not even be an option. Our custom reusable bags can be used day in and day out for about 3 - 5 years. When you weigh the cost of each of our custom biodegradable bags against how much use your clients will get out of the bags the numbers are staggering. There is a huge value and your marketing dollars will stretch so much further when you utilize durable products constructed from quality materials.

Plastic shopping bags came about because they could quickly be mass produced and they offered shoppers the convenience of tossing their goods in a bag without costing the stores who purchase the bags for their customers a lot of money. In theory this seems like a great idea, but things just did not work out that way. The plastic film used to create disposable bags does not break down. If plastic bags end up in a landfill they just become buried under layers and layers of trash and they go nowhere. Plastic bags are also incredibly likely to end up as litter due largely to the lightweight construction of the bags – they can easily be lifted by gusts of wind and deposited in tree branches or fences or bodies of water. Over time and given the right conditions disposable plastic bags may break apart into smaller pieces, but there is a serious risk to the environment, water supplies, animals and their habitats and the food chain in the process.  If a biodegradable bag were to end up in any of these situations it would simply break down instead of being the environmental hazard and eyesore that plastic bags become. 

Giving Back with Biodegradable Bags

Biodegradable materials safely break down over a reasonable amount of time into the organic compounds that the material was comprised of. In order for biodegradable items to break down micro-organisms come into play and safely dismantle the raw materials into smaller and more basic components that are easy on the environment. Many biodegradable products actually infuse the soil with nutrients as they break down, so they give back to the environment at a very basic level. When you choose to market your brand with biodegradable bags you can rest assured knowing that these products are not causing harm or damage in any regard.

Leaving a Biodegradable Legacy

Once you hand over a promotional product it becomes your customer’s job to use and handle the product in a responsible manner. Unfortunately, you cannot guarantee that your marketing item will not end up as litter, utilizing biodegradable materials ensures that should your promotional bag wind up in a landfill or as litter it will safely break down. Your brand will not be linked to the harm caused by products and materials that do not break down.

Using biodegradable material to construct a promotional bag sends the message that your brand strives to be green and does right by the environment. You want your brand to be known and remembered for the top-notch product or service you provide. Your promotional products should support this message and be a positive reminder to customers that your brand is committed to being the best possible. Using biodegradable materials like bamboo, jute or cotton that easily break down without any ill effects on the environment show your customers that your company does not just wax poetically about being green – you actually are green.

Holiday Gifts

Ring in the holidays and spread some cheer with customized products. Send your dealers or vendors or sales reps travel coffee mugs or water bottles that are emblazoned with your company’s logo. First, this is a nice gesture to the people you work with who help you do the things you do. People like to feel appreciated and telling someone thank you goes a long way, but following that up with a gift is the cherry on top. Second, if you work with reps and dealers or people who work with you as well as your competitors these individuals are your front line when it comes to sales, and you need to do whatever you can to keep your brand at the tip of their lips (in this case literally) when they are talking with customers. These individuals work with a wide array of folks and it will help your brand if you display your logo and messaging in front of prospective clients.

Contest Giveaways

Get people engaged, generate buzz and get your brand noticed by holding a contest and giving away custom reusable bags or eco USB drives or other customized promotional items. The contest can be anything of your choosing. Ask people to submit ideas for your next slogan, names for a new product release or photos of them using your product or anything else you can think of. Select a winner and maybe some runners up and hook people up with your environmentally friendly promotional products. The beauty of holding a contest is that it gets people talking and thinking about your brand before and during the contest and the winners will put your logo and branding message on display every time they use their prizes.

Start a Rewards Program

Do you have loyal customers who give you a lot of business? Set a milestone, whether it be a dollar amount of orders placed or a certain amount of product purchased and when a regular customer hits that mark give them an eco shirt or hat with your logo. This concept can also be adapted for your staff. If you have a sales rep who continually delivers or other employees who go above and beyond commemorate a job well done with customized bags or water bottles.

Put Your Gear Up for Sale

You probably have some real loyal fans out and they would love to sport a shirt or lanyard or something with your branding message printed on it. Usually to get promotional gear people have to be at the right place at the right time when you’re handing stuff out. It sounds kind of obvious to put stuff up for sale, but it’s an easy way to get your gear to the people who want it and will use it.

Handing out promotional gear at tradeshows is key to marketing your brand to people in your industry and you should definitely do this, but don’t count other folks out. You have clients, dealers, reps, vendors, loyal followers and a stellar staff. Give these individuals a chance to get their hands on your custom promotional products and showcase your brand. The more people who own and use your marketing products the more visibility your brand will enjoy and the more your brand recognition and customer base will increase. Be sure to check out our page on picking the right promotional product for your brand.

Going Green Can Create Loyalty

Just about everyone is trying to go green it seems. People are picking up reusable products to avoid using disposable items when they can and making sure to recycle as much as possible. Many people feel so passionately about the environment that they will look to deal with companies that express similar views. People will stick with a company that follows an ideology they believe in.

Green Practices are a Win-Win

There are tons of ways you can practice sustainability and do right by the environment in business. How you promote your brand is a huge opportunity to go green. It is very easy to use promotional items that are not environmentally friendly and this is such as shame. Promotional items made from Eco Friendly material are a tangible piece of your corporate identity that your customers can hold in their hands and bring into their homes and lives. Giving them something that is recyclable and/or made from recycled or sustainable materials send the message that your company is serious about the environment. Once they see past the logo and color scheme and slogans they will see that you gave the item careful thought and consideration and you are not just working to build your business, but you are also working to help our shared planet.

By locking into a green and sustainable marketing campaign people who are on the look-out for green business practices are sure to take notice and throw their support behind you. The great thing about supporting the environment is that it is an issue everyone can support. The diehards will appreciate what you’re doing and maybe they will even take to their blog and tell their readers to check you out. This word of mouth reference and networking will help spread your corporate message and get you noticed by consumers who may not have found you as soon, or at all. Even people who are not overly passionate about the environment, people who are somewhat concerned and interested can still find value in your efforts and give you their business. Best case scenario people will applaud you for your actions and drum up support for you; another likely outcome is that people will buy your product or service over a competitor because of your green practices.

Smart for So Many Reasons

Environmentalists tend to be a dedicated bunch, so if you can get them onboard by implementing green practices into your business that is a big get. There is also a significant amount of folks out there, who may not consider themselves environmentalists, but they still want to help the planet, and when it comes to fixing the environmental wrongs many individuals feel supporting people who get it (and not supporting those who cause harm) is just as important as one’s own actions and impacts. It is key to practice what you preach, so make sure you go green in every way you can. If consumers find a gap in your green efforts they may perceive you as a fraud, so take care to make sure you really doing everything you can to practice sustainability, recycle and minimize your impact on the planet. While it is usually considered impolite to brag, there is nothing wrong with letting people know what you are doing to help out. Mention your green efforts in your blog, newsletters, emails, social media accounts and any other communication you send out.

For more information check out our article on how to pick the right promotional product for your brand.

A Useful Design Will Be Used More

Think about how your customers will use the bag. If you are handing the bag out at a busy tradeshow a bag with long handles or a shoulder strap or a drawstring backpack may be very well received. You want to focus on something that can be carried hands free like a messenger bag, and the more comfortable the straps the better – if you go with a shopping bag style make sure the handles are long enough to comfortably be worn on a shoulder. People hand out a lot of items at tradeshows, so if you give your clients a way to hold their trappings that will win them over, but as they walk the show other industry folks will see your bag and your brand on display. The sneaky perk of using a bag to market your company at a tradeshow or convention is that people will use your bag to carry your competitor’s giveaways, so your brand is on full display while your competitor’s item will be hidden from view (at least during the show when all of the industry people are around). A top-notch bag will create a buzz and other folks will be sure to stop by your booth to see if they can snag one. The beauty of a well-designed reusable bag is that people will use it long after the industry event is over.

Pick Features Your Demographic Is Sure to Like

Think about your target demographic. Drawstring backpacks are popular with younger people, but they may not be picked up as quickly by an older crowd - unless they are taking them for their children or grandchildren which is okay, but if younger people are not your prime group you could be missing the mark. Also consider how you want your clients to use the bag after the convention or tradeshow is over. You want to create a bag that will be used again and again – partly because you want the high-quality design and function of the bag to be associated with your brand, but also because you want your clients to continue to carry the bag and showoff your logo. If the bag is used day in and day out whether to carry items to and from work or to carry groceries home or as a gym bag every person your client encounters while carrying the bag will be exposed to your branding message and it will become familiar to them.

If your brand is aimed at a more professional crowd a messenger bag may be the way to go. Think about a bag that is appropriate for the office and easily accommodates folders and notebooks. Small pockets for keys or flash drives add to the functionality of the bag while an adjustable shoulder strap allows for a custom and comfortable fit. We offer bags designed to easily carry wine bottles which is great if that relates to your product or service and there are insulated bags that are ideal for maintaining temperatures either warm or cold if you use the bag to transport frozen food home from the grocery store or to bring a warm dish to a party.

When In Doubt Stick with a Classic

The reusable shopping bag is a tried and true design that is handy for just about anything. Whether grocery shopping, lugging a change of cloths to the gym or beach or toting lunch to work or standing in as a carryon while traveling this design works and is very popular. The straps can easily be slung over a shoulder and keep the user’s hands free for multitasking, but the bag can also be carried by the handles. No matter how the bag is carried items are close at hand if something from inside is needed.

Giving some consideration to the style of bag you customize will help ensure it works for your clients. You want a bag that ties into your brand and appeals to the group most likely to use your product or service, so give the people what they want. A well thought out design will get plenty of use and help you market your company.

Create Something Memorable

Brand building custom bags are a fantastic tool to build or reaffirm your brand recognition because they fill a function. People always have a need for reusable bags – they are handy to carry just about anything where ever you need to go. By marketing your brand with a useful promotional tool your customers will be sure to use the bag again and again, so your logo and branding message will become commonplace and familiar to them, but also to everyone they encounter while using the bag, from cashiers at the supermarket, to people on the street, coworkers if they use the bag at work, and friends and family. Your corporate colors and images and slogans will sink in and become a regular sight – and this is when brand recognition starts to take root and grow.

You can create something memorable that will stay with people and easily market your brand by completely customizing our bags. Select every detail to create a bag that showcases your brand. Pick colors and styles that are in line with your advertisements and logo for a cohesive look. Give careful thought to the design and material so the finished product is something people will love and want to use again and again. Take care to curate your brand and maintain consistency. If you drastically or constantly switch colors or fonts or imagery people may not recognize your message as part of the same brand.

A Long Term Solution

It can take years to build your brand recognition and you are never done. Large successful brands that have a very high level of recognition constantly work to keep their branding message out there and visible, so their customers are constantly reminded of them. Maintaining ones brand recognition is easier once it is established, but there is never a time when you should say ‘that’s enough.’ If you are using a custom bag as a promotional item at a tradeshow or maybe as a holiday gift, consider coming out with a new bag each year. You can make minor changes to update the look and keep things fresh, but the overall style should feel similar. If you are using the bags in a retail setting either as giveaways or for sale switch things up design-wise from time to time so people will want to get the newest and latest custom bag.

Custom designed bags are an opportunity to get your brand out there and get noticed. Since you can build the bag from the ground up it allows you to get creative and make something that will achieve whatever goals you want. You can create something flashy that will turn heads or something subdued but stylish and highly functional. Whatever you decide to go with stay true to your branding and make sure to get your bags out there and circulating, so you can start building your brand recognition.

Choose Products Your Clients Will Connect With

If you hand out promotional gear with your logo and maybe some basic info, like a phone number and web address, it will go like hot cakes and people will learn a little bit about you. The key is to select an item the people most likely to use your product or service will like and want to use, because the more they use it the more your branding will become commonplace and constant. Also, the more your promotional items are used the more likely people your customers encounter throughout their day while using the gear will also see your branding and learn about your company. Do some research on your customer base and choose an item that they will connect with.

Custom Bags

Reusable shopping bags generate a lot of buzz due to the various cities and towns and even states across the country that have or are trying to implement plastic bag bans. If you live in an area that has a plastic bag ban or if there is one in the works this is a prime opportunity to help your customers out and give them a reusable bag they can use when they go shopping. Their shopping trips will also turn into an advertising session for your brand since your logo will be put on display. You cannot go wrong placing your branding message on a reusable grocery bag, but don’t draw the line there. We can set you up with messenger bags, drawstring backpacks, wine bottle totes, insulated bags and more. You can even design a completely custom bag, so let your imagination run wild and we can help you create something that is truly one-of-a-kind.

Reusable Water Bottles and Travel Mugs           

Disposable plastic water bottles and foam and paper coffee cups have earned a bad reputation due to the ill effect they have on the environment. Many people have begun to shun these items in favor of reusable alternatives which also pack a hidden cost savings since people can take their own drinks from home to go instead of paying for expensive versions at shops and coffeehouses. Reusable water bottles are also very popular and it has become common for people to carry a water bottle around with them all the time. Branding reusable drinkware with your marking message is an opportunity for you to capitalize on this trend, give your customers something handy that they will use, help the environment and show your customers that you are concerned and proactive on environmental issues.

Flash Drives

Going paperless is very appealing since it reduces waste which helps the environment and it saves money which helps the bottom line. Flash drives let people take large amounts of data with them and feature a compact size, making them great for work, school or personal use. If you are appealing to a business or student demographic a flash drive is a handy way to offer them the convenience of taking their data mobile all while getting your name noticed.

Seed Paper

Hand out business cards or a flyer with a unique twist – embedded wildflower seeds that will sprout when the paper is planted. This feature will certainly stick with your clients and make them remember you long after the paper has broken down into the soil and the plants have blossomed.

Pens

Pens are just handy and everyone can always use an extra pen, so they make great promotional items. Our wide selection of eco pens are made from recycled or sustainable materials so you can do right by the environment and give your customers something to remember you by that is also a great conversation piece. If you decide to go with a pen as a promotional item bundle it with a notepad made from recycled paper to make the item more appealing and extra useful.

Lanyards and Clothing

Shirts, hats and lanyards also great marketing items because when worn they prominently display your corporate message. Our clothing options are made from recycled materials so you can continue to use the environmental aspect to promote your brand in a sustainable fashion.

Ultimately the promotional item you choose depends on what you feel will be a good fit for your brand. Think it over and select an item you feel your prime demographic will use and appreciate. We can help you create wonderful high-quality marketing tools, but if it isn’t something your clients are apt to use than you’ll miss the mark, whereas a well-planned promotional item will become a favorite of your customers and turn heads.

We have a streamlined route for creating custom reusable bags that will be a fantastic vehicle to advertise your corporate message and put your brand in the forefront of your customer’s mind. Letting your brand and corporate message shine through is effortless with a high-quality bag.  There is a 3-step process to producing custom reusable bags.

• Concept
• Create
• Your bag

Concept Your Custom Bag

Every aspect of a bag can be customized to look and function exactly how you want it to. Choose messenger style bags or reusable shopping bags or any other shape or style that fits your wants and needs. Pick the material for your one-of-a-kind bag based on the aesthetic and look or choose the material based on the eco qualities it possesses.  Natural fibers like jute can lend the bag a boho chic look while material made from bamboo or RPET which is made from recycled plastic bottles have a more sleek finish, but are also popular for the eco qualities.   

You can also select the gusset and handle colors, as well as the handle length, and add zipper or snap closure and pockets for a water bottle to make a unique bag unlike anything else available. We can produce bags in the size, quantity and color that fit YOUR marketing needs. We offer free color printing (one color, one side – additional printing options are available) that let you put YOUR company’s message on every bag you order. By concepting and designing the bag from the ground up you can create something that is a cohesive part of your brand. A custom bag is a showpiece that spreads your branding message, so make sure you are heard loud and clear.

Creating Unique Reusable Bags

Custom jobs require a minimum order of 3,000 and can be produced in our overseas production facility in 60 – 90 days. Given that you can create a truly one-of-a-kind bag this is an extremely quick turnaround. All of our bags go through a rigorous quality check, so you can rest assured knowing that every single bag you order and receive will be of top quality. Ultimately the cost is determined by the design of the bag, but the prices are extremely reasonable and when you factor in the turnaround and quality of the product you receive it is really an amazing value.

Start Promoting Your Brand

The final step to the custom bag process is to start handing your bags out and getting your brand noticed. A custom bag showcases your brand and increases your brand recognition. When your customers carry your custom reusable bag they are advertising for you by walking around and showcasing your logo. The bag functions like a mobile billboard. The people your clients encounter will become accustomed to your logo and any slogans on the bag and your brand recognition will be the better for it. Our bags are well-made and durable. This quality construction ensures our bags can be used again and again. Clients will appreciate the functionality and usefulness of a well-made bag, but the better the quality of the bag the more apt your clients will be to use the bag, and the more they use the bag the more they carry around your branding message and get your logo some attention.

Position Your Brand to Capitalize on the Green Movement

Whether or not you agree with the argument of banning plastic bags, using custom reusable bags to support your business allows you to take advantage of the environmentally friendly trend while building a solid rapport with customers who support green businesses. The beauty of supporting environmental issues is that it is something just about everyone can get behind and agree with- at least to some degree. Environmental issues are not as polarizing as some topics, and while there are certainly some individuals who support environmental concerns much more than others, no one is against the environment. Reusable bags are a way to support the environment, practice sustainability and show your customers that you believe in and practice these concepts all while promoting your brand. People who are not passionate about the environment will still appreciate the usefulness of your bags, even if they do not fully support or care about the eco qualities – either way your branding message still gets out there. Utilizing a custom bag to showcase your green business initiatives can create loyalty between your brand and the people who own and use the bag, but the bag will also spread your company’s message. 

Over the past century, folks have gotten pretty comfortable with the convenience of throwaway bags and containers. Recently however, the tide has turned: increasingly, the more thoughtful and informed among us are realizing that we live on a finite planet with finite resources – and if we don't change our behaviors PDQ, there may not be much of a world left for our children and grandchildren.                                                                     

This is a fact that you can use when it comes to promoting your brand, your products and/or your services. Increasingly, consumers are beginning to flex their collective muscle by voting with their dollars. When your company makes a public commitment to the environment, the public will sit up and take notice. In many cases, this commitment is a large part of a customer's decision as to whether or not to do business with a particularly company. 

One easy and inexpensive way to get started promoting your business as a green one is to offer reusable, non-woven polypropylene bags. Although made of plastic, these eco-friendly bags have the look and feel of actual cloth, making them attractive to eco-minded consumers.

Here's ten ideas for using polypropylene bags to promote your business: 

If you've been exploring our website, you've probably run across this factoid already - but here it is again: people around the world are tossing out anywhere between 500 billion and a trillion disposable plastic shopping bags every year!

            How much is a trillion?  Let's just say that a trillion seconds is longer than all of recorded history. A trillion seconds ago, we were living in caves, hunting wooly mammoths and hiding from saber-toothed tigers.  A trillion gallons is the amount of water that goes over Niagara Falls over the course of three weeks. A trillion dollar bills laid end-to-end would reach from Earth to the Sun and back again.

Although most of our customers use Recycled bags to promote their businesses, their not just for large companies or retail stores. Recyclable bags are great for non-profits and other organizations looking to raise money for a good cause.

Let's face it - not everyone can eat candy and/or cookies, and these days, with so much information available for free over the Internet,  magazine subscriptions can be a hard sell. Coupon books are popular, but can sometimes be pricey - and don't leave your organization a lot of room for markup. Besides that, someone who buys a coupon book might find only a small part of it to be useful in any way.

            On the other hand, virtually everyone needs something to carry stuff in.

Not only that, but people are becoming increasingly conscious of the need to reduce, reuse and recycle.  Using recyclable bags are  a great way to do just that -easily and inexpensively. In fact, many retailers offer customers incentives to bring their own bags when shopping by giving discounts (not strictly out of the goodness of their hearts: supplying customers with bags takes a substantial chunk out of the bottom line).

The advantage for your organization is, recyclable bags are a heck of a bargain, starting at well under .99c per bag - which includes single-color printing of your organization's name or logo. You can then sell these for anywhere from $2 to $5 apiece, which is not a lot for something so useful.

Here's a great idea for schools: team up with some local retailers. Purchase recycled bags in the school colors, add a sponsoring business' logo or name, and set them out at those locations. Or, if you're willing to spend a little more on printing, include some information or an image that lets people know what you're raising funds for. 

Get a little brainstorming session going today - reach out to the community - and  and see this type of "green" fundraising can get results...then contact us and help you get started.

Plastic has gotten a bad rap over the years. In the early days, the word “plastic” was associated with low-quality, goods made on the cheap, and even phoniness. These days, people understand that plastic is made from petroleum, that useful – but in many ways, nasty – stuff that on one hand, fuels our vehicles and can be turned into a million and one useful products, and on the other, contributes to greenhouse gases and can make a heck of a mess when it gets spilled into the ocean. Folks are also concerned about that big, Texas-sized (literally!) garbage patch out in the Pacific Ocean, a large amount of which is plastic.

Well, we're predicting that one day, some enterprising individual is going to build a fleet of boats that will carry crews to go out there and start mining that patch in order to reclaim all that plastic for reuse. The bottom line is that plastic, such as polypropylene, is an endlessly useful substance. And when we say “endlessly,” we're not kidding. The petroleum from which polypropylene is made is not renewable (well, actually it is – it just takes hundreds of millions of years and massive geologic processes), but once it's made into plastic, that substance can be used over and over.

But let's take a look at the life cycle of your typical polypropylene plastic product.

Step 1 – Drilling for Oil

There's not much to be said, here. The word “petra-oleum” is Latin for “rock oil,” but this isn't completely accurate. And, with all due respect to a certain oil company that once used a brontosaurus as its mascot, the fact is that the origins today's oil deposits go back a lot further than the dinosaurs.

Petroleum is actually the remains of plants and animals that existed 250-500 million years ago. When these plants and animals died, the organic remains of these critters settled to the bottoms of lakes, rivers and oceans. Layers of this stuff piled up over the eons, faster than it could decompose. This created incredible pressures which in turn, transformed all this organic matter into a waxy material known as “kerogen.” When this stuff sank into the ground and got squeezed by millions of tons of rock, it started to excrete natural gas and petroleum.

That's the short explanation – and now you know why engineers have to go to so much trouble to get this stuff out of the ground.

Step 2 – Refining

At an oil refinery, the raw petroleum gets separated into various grades, or fractions, each of which has its own uses. The highest fractions are LP gas and butane, while the lower grades consist of stove oil and diesel fuel. It's based on boiling points. Higher grades have a much lower boiling point, and vice-versa; for example, LP gas boils at forty below zero, while diesel has a boiling point of almost 600 degrees.

The petroleum product used in the manufacture of plastics such as polypropylene is known as alkene. Interestingly, one of the primary methods of creating this substance involves the condensation of LP gases such as propane.

Step 3 - Manufacture

While there are many different types of plastics, they all fall into one of two broad categories:

- thermosetting polymers

- thermoplastics

The first type of plastic is basically a one-time-only proposition. Once it has been formed into something and cools, that's it – it can't be used again. The second type however – thermoplastics – can be melted down and used over and over.

Happily, that's what our polypropylene is – a thermoplastic. When this material leaves the refinery, it is in the form of pellets.

Step 4 – Manufacturing and Distribution

After these these pellets are delivered to the factory, they are melted down and made into a thin, film-like material. This film can then be blown like glass into a myriad of shapes and even be stitched together like fabric. The end products – plastic bags of all sorts as well as plastic bottles, containers, and even clothing – are quite durable and useful. These products are delivered to other businesses, including grocers, food service establishments, manufacturers, packing companies, retailers – you can't throw a rock without hitting some business or institution that is making use of polypropylene products.

Ultimately, these products make their way into the hands of end-users, the consumers. However, the same durability that makes these products so useful is  also a potential downfall; simply tossed into landfills and waterways, these plastic products  can outlast the pyramids.

Okay, maybe they won't last that long...but they'll still be around for a good four or five hundred years, and the chemicals inside that leach into the soil will remain a good while longer than that.

Step 5 – The Choice

Unfortunately, items such as plastic bags and bottles get used two, maybe three times before they're thrown away. Fortunately, we all have another choice – and this is something that you can remind your customers and clients about every time you choose polypropylene bags and bottles. Many of these products come stamped with the the three-arrowed symbol, “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle,” reminding users that the material in their product can be used repeatedly – even with the product itself breaks or wears out.

Your company's name and/or logo on these products serve to remind your clients and customers that you are committed to these same principles – and they'll remember this whenever they open their pocketbooks. To learn more read our article on the reasons you should use non-woven polypropylene bags to promote your business.

You'll be promoting your company using Tradeshow Bags - and so will all your competitors. So - how do you make your trade show bags stand out from the rest?

Keep in mind that whatever you put on your trade show bags are essentially print ads - so the principles of great print advertising will apply to the message you have imprinted on your bags. Now, contrary to what you may be thinking, this does not have to cost a lot of money. It does however require a bit of thought and planning.

Tradeshow bag Design In General

"White space" is an excellent concept to keep in mind when designing a tradeshow bag that stands out. When your logo or company name, in white or bright yellow, is surrounded by a solid, dark color such as maroon or forest green, it draws attention to itself much better than if it were surrounded by busy designs.

That said, let's get started with a review of the two basic approaches to print advertising: Plain and Fancy. (Yes, that was the name of a Broadway musical as well.)                            

The Tradeshow Bag Plain Approach

While this may seem counter-intuitive - after all, people love shiny things and stuff that goes "BOOM" - often, the plain approach can be quite powerful when handled correctly. In this case, a minimalist image or a very simple phrase can draw curiosity. People, who are usually curious by nature, will want to find out more about what these tantalizing hints mean and where they will lead. The best part of the Plain approach is that a simple design can get into a person's consciousness very quickly and remain there - which is the main point of advertising. 

The Fancy Approach

A fancy ad with lots of bling is going to be busy, with lots and color and design to draw attention. Be careful, though: if you attempt to get too fancy, your potential customers and clients won't be able to see the forest for the trees.  Also remember that the main purpose of a print ad is to get your company's name to stick in prospects' minds. With a fancy, complicated ad or image, it is more likely that people will remember the image itself - but will probably forget who put it there.  It's true that the person who actually receives the bag and carries it home and uses it regularly will have plenty of time to look at your elaborate design and understand who it stands for, but that's not going to help when it comes to the primary reason for using trade show bags, which is to display your brand to as many people as possible - most of whom will only have a few seconds to see it. 

Some Other Ideas For Tradeshow Bags

If you're giving stuff away at your booth, have you thought about putting that stuff into your trade show bags? Visitors enjoy picking up something and getting just a little more than they bargained for. 

Another idea requires some advance planning and a willingness to spend a few extra bucks - but if at all possible, get a corner booth on the right hand side near the entrance.  Since the majority of people are right-handed, chances are yours is the first booth they will come to - and pick up your bags first.

Industry tradeshows are golden opportunities to showcase your business, not only to potential customers and clients, but to other businesses as well.

Now, chances are, you've given away pens, pencils, brochures, and perhaps even coffee mugs – but have you considered the advantages of giving away custom-made tradeshow bags with your logo?

Here's the usual things that are given away at tradeshoow booths:

• pens and pencils
• coffee mugs
• notepads
• USB drives
• refrigerator magnets
• sticky notes
• key chains

Now...what are tradeshow visitors going to do with this stuff – specifically, what are they going to carry it in? Chances are they didn't think to bring a tote back with them...but that's a problem you can solve for them!

In fact, chances are excellent that the first booth visitors are going to head to the booth that's handing out bags so they have something to toss everything else into.  They'll be carrying it all in one bag – and that bag will have your company's name on it!

Talk about a walking billboard...

Other things to think about:

• Pens walk away
• pencils get used up quickly
• mugs are not only expensive, they get broken and lost.
• Keychains, USB drives and refrigerator magnets aren't all that visible

Tradeshow bags on the other hand are out there for the world to see – and get used for months and even years.

Tradeshow bags are Useful On So Many Levels

It's true – professional research studies have shown that even paper tradeshow bags are often used for months afterwards for a wide range of purposes  by those who receive them – starting the moment they get them! They're good for:

• carrying groceries
• carrying books (kids love 'em)
• general storage

And once these starting getting used, they're rarely thrown away until they wear out.

Going Green with Tradeshow Bags

Here's another plus: by offering tradeshow bags, you're showing your potential clients and customers that you are committed to the environment. Nothing says “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” like tradeshow bags made from recyclable materials. It may be something that visitors to your booth are consciously considering, or not – but either way, they're going to like that bag, and they're going to like your company for providing it in an environment in which it is most needed.

Getting Started Using Tradeshow Bags

So, let's summarize the reasons for using  tradeshow bags:

1. They're a  traveling, highly-visible advertisement for your brand
2. They get used over and over for months – reminding their owners of who you are
3. They're eco-friendly!

At Factory Direct Promos, we offer a wide variety of tradeshow bags in different styles made from recyclable materials – starting from as little as .49 per unit. The price includes a one-color imprint of your company's logo (multiple colors extra). Take a look at the choices and options we have to offer, then give us a call at 866-222-0949 and let's talk tradeshow bags!

        (1) What's Good for You, Your Business and the Bottom Line        
        (2) What's Good for The Environment

Let's take a look at these one at a time.

Enlightened Self-Interest

In case you haven't noticed recently, consumers are beginning to understand that – at least in many cases – they have some real power to affect a company's bottom line by choosing where they spend their hard-earned bucks. Among the other various and sundry issues about which they are increasingly concerned are those relating to the future of Planet Earth.

We're not kidding. Look at the number of Fortune 500  that have been “going green” over the past few years:

• Marriott
• Starbucks
• Ford
• McDonalds
• Dell
• Toyota
• HP
• Microsoft
• GE
• CocaCola
• Staples

...just to mention a few.

Are they doing it out of real concern for the planet? We can't speak to that, but one thing is abundantly clear – when the company goes green, they see more green.  Sure, it may cost more up front, but an investment in recycled materials and green technologies is proving to be an excellent investment when it comes to attracting new customers and gaining their long-term loyalty. 

The Seventh Generation

“Seventh Generation” is a popular brand of household products that you've probably heard of – but have you ever  stopped to think where that phrase comes from?

It's actually from an old Iroquois practice. When this Indian Nation's council had important  decisions to make, custom demanded that whatever was decided take into consideration the effect it would have seven generations into the future.

Today, other people are starting to clue in to the fact that what we do today is going to have major repercussions that can last for centuries. Case in point – those throwaway plastic shopping bags.

Here are some stats to chew on:

• Number of throwaway plastic bags used in the U.S. Every second: 12,000. The amount of waste produced every year would fill up the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper.
• Amount of petroleum required to manufacture them: 12 million barrels. That represents about half a billion dollars our country could be spending on alternative energy technology. (That amount of oil would also power our automobiles for over 7 million miles.
• Length of time it takes them to decompose in a landfill: anywhere from four hundred to a thousand years. And that's not taking into consideration the chemical residues left behind.
• Number of marine animals that die every year because of plastic bags: 100,000. In fact, there is about six times as much plastic in our oceans today as there is plankton.

Paper shopping bags actually do break down in the environment – but because they rely on paper made from trees that take decades, even centuries to grow, this is not a great alternative.  Reusable canvas made from organic cotton is also an alternative – but cotton cultivation uses a lot of water resources in places that can least afford it.

The question is – what are YOU going to do about it?

Our Recycled Bags

At FactoryDirectPromos, you'll see a lot of different recycled bags and other “green” prducts from which to choose, starting at under .30c per unit. Some of the choices offered include: 

• RPET recylced bottle bags: the name says it all. These bags are made from 85% recycled RPET, the type of plastic used for soda and water bottles, thus cutting back on a major source of pollution.
• metallic shopping bags: these are sleek and upscale-looking as well as fully recyclable. Printed with your company's logo, these sharp bags will make for a fine promotion of your products wherever they go.
• recycled paper bags: for many customers, there is nothing that can replace the feel and texture of good old fashioned brown paper bags. However, our bags are made from 100% recycled paper.  And, they're made right here in the USA!

When you offer any of our environmentally-friendly bags imprinted with your company's logo, it makes a statement that customers respond to.  It tells them your company has made a commitment to the future – and it gives them something useful and attractive that they'll use for years while keeping garbage out of our landfills, streams and rivers and oceans.

            To learn more, give us a call at 866-222-0949

            Non-woven polypropylene is literally a "miracle fabric." It's the result of research and development that has been going on for over half a century - the same technology that has given us comfortable synthetic fabrics such as Ultrasuede, and  sleeping bag and matress fillings like PrimaSoft - which has been a blessing to those allergic to down feathers. You may be surprised to learn that  Non-Woven Polypropylene is even used in the surgical masks and gowns used by surgeons and health care professionals.

            In fact, you'd be amazed at how many everyday things contain the same kind of microfibers you find in Non-Woven Polypropylene - the miracle that is now used to make the latest generation of reusable bags. For your customers, our customized Non-Woven Polypropylene Bags offer:

• Durability: they are strong and long-lasting
• Washable: they can be wiped clean with a damp cloth - or even washed in a machine (cold setting) and hung out to drip dry
• Recyclable: Non-Woven Polypropylene bags are made of No. 5 plastic; when they wear out, they can be made into new bags!

There's even more on that last point. Non-Woven Polypropylene  bags actually take less energy to manufacture than similar bags made from natural cotton!  If all American manufacturers of reusable tote bags switched to using  Non-Woven Polypropylene, it would save several million barrels of oil every year (as compared to producing dispoable plastic bags).

            All well and good,  you say – but what's in it for my company's bottom line?

            Keeping in mind that if the Earth is to be saved, it's up to all of us – and customers admire companies that are making visible, good-faith efforts to help clean up the planet -  here are a few numbers to put it all in perspective:

• Number of disposable plastic bags used annually around the world : one trillion (that's a one follwed by 12 zeros, folks – and a trillion seconds ago, the world was locked in an Ice Age, people lived in caves and wooly elephants roamed North America)
• Amount of time they sit in a landfill: One thousand years (remember that a thousand years ago, the Vikings were still rampaging around Europe)
• Amount of oil required to manufacture disposable plastic bags in the U.S. Alone: twelve million (if you could count a number every second, 24/7, it would take you over four months to count that high).

            As we've seen in recent months, consumers are discovering their power to influence a company's bottom line, forcing even major Fortune 500 companies to change their behaviors by voting with their pocketbooks.  At the same time, increasing numbers of consumers are waking up to the fact that we live on a finite planet with finite resources – and if we don't all collectively act now,  there may not be anything left for our children and grandchildren.

            By taking a public stand for the environment, you will be earning respect and admiration from the public – and this will invariably translate into customer loyalty and an improved bottom line for you. Besides that:

• Well under .50 apiece – including printing – Non-Woven Polypropylene bags are a heck of a bargain
• They weigh almost nothing – so they're cheap to move and store

Besides that,  Non-Woven Polypropylene bags are being used by an increasing number of Fortune 500 companies as well as small and mid-sized firms in order to increase visibility and promote their brands.  When you offer your customers these bags, imprinted with your own logo and other information, you'll be joining a club that includes:

• Disney
• Home Depot
• PepsiCo
• Target
• Wal-Mart
• Warner Brothers

...among thousands of others.

             Non-Woven Polypropylene bags are one of the best investments you can make when it comes to promoting your company, its products and services, and its brand.

            Want to know more? Call us today at 1-866-222-0949 and let's talk!

In fact, paper manufacturers have been making this unique material for several centuries. However, it only started getting popular in the U.S. when the country's entry into the Second World War started motivating people to plant "Victory Gardens." It was a very popular and practical method of making the most of limited resources on the Home Front.

Now, chances are that you already have your hands full with the day-to-day operation of your company to sit down and brainstorm all the possibilities when it comes to marketing your products and services with this fun and unique product. Toward that end, we offer some suggestions:

• Create a calendar for your customers (and be certain your company's name and contact info is on it!)
• Have seed paper business cards made up - and distribute freely.
• Have some business stationery made with your company's logo and letterhead.
• Use your seed-paper stationery when doing direct-mail marketing.
• Send your customers thank-you notes, birthday greetings, holiday greetings, etc. on seed-paper.
• Partner with a non-competing business for cross promotion - particularly garden and food retailers (if that's not your business already).
• Offer seed-paper shopping bags - they're the ultimate in recycling!
• Use seed-paper ornaments for holiday promotions.

Need more suggestions? Check out our page on using seed paper to promote your business. Don't see it offered on our website? Give us a call at 1.866-222-0949 and let's talk about how we can help!

We use six different materials for your company’s reusable bags:

• Recycled Plastic (RPET)
• Non-Woven Polypropylene
• Jute
• Cotton
• Bamboo
• Bioplastic

RPET Reusable Bags

Recycled plastic bags are made from recycled plastic bottles (often soda bottles). The recycled post-consumer material is 85% of the feedstock, with 15% new plastic used to provide strength and durability.

These recycled bags are excellent at promoting an explicitly “green” image, strengthen local recycling efforts by providing a market for post-consumer feedstock, and are strong, durable, inexpensive, and convenient.

More than 23% of this type of plastic was recycled as of 2005, and using this material encourages this positive trend. The EPA calculates that using recycled plastic saves more than 65% of the energy cost of producing new plastic.

Non-Woven Polypropylene Reusable Bags

Polypropylene bags are essentially made from virgin plastic. This is not as “green” a solution, but does provide exceptional durability and strength. This type of bag is best marketed as a permanent replacement for shopping bags, with an emphasis on its extremely long life, ease of reuse and washing, and very high strength.

Among plastics, polypropylene has a number of characteristics that make it useful for products like bags. It contains no BPA (an additive thought by many to have carcinogenic properties), and it is very resistant to high heat. This makes polypropylene bags easy to wash and microwave-safe, and thus well-suited for food applications.

Jute Reusable Bags

Jute is a very old fiber, in use by many cultures for thousands of years if not longer. Simple to produce, jute fibers are taken from the jute plant which grows almost as a weed in a wide variety of climates and soils. Spun jute is then woven into cloth, which can be easily imprinted. Jute is somewhat unfinished in appearance and feel, but is highly biodegradable, durable, and gives a strong “eco” feel to any product.

The vast majority of the world’s jute production comes from India and Bangladesh. Use of jute products thus supports the textile and agricultural sectors in these developing nations.

Cotton Reusable Bags

Another millennia-old renewable product, cotton fibers are easily woven into a strong, durable, and attractive fabric. Cotton is biodegradable, strong, easily printed with colorful messages or slogans, and is very attractive and gives a finished, refined impression.

Bamboo Reusable Bags

Less commonly known for its fabric in the West than cotton or jute, but no less useful than the other natural fibers, bamboo is a highly renewable plant crop with a wide variety of uses. When used as a plant fiber, bamboo can be woven into an extremely strong fabric that is nonetheless biodegradable and attractive.

Bamboo has a number of environmentally-friendly characteristics. It grows almost anywhere, and requires no pesticides, fertilizer, or other chemicals for its cultivation. Bamboo plants grow extremely fast – as much as two feet per day in ideal circumstances – and give off more oxygen than other plants. There are also mechanical processes for producting the textile fiber from the raw plant which require no harsh chemicals or environmentally-destructive practices, making bamboo a highly suitable choice for companies that wish to emphasize their green business approach.

Bioplastic Reusable Bags

Bioplastics are the latest thing in material science.  Most plastics derive from crude oil or natural gas, and use naturally-occurring hydrocarbons as “feed stock” for the production of the solid material. Bioplastics replace the oil or gas with similar substances produced by living organisms – most commonly, corn starch or vegetable oils.

Although more expensive than other forms of plastic, bioplastics also degrade readily and provide all of the utility of plastic without the environmental cost.

With Eco-Friendly reusable bags, we have to be aware of food safety issues. When reusable bags are used to transport food, particularly food like meat and fish and dairy products, they can retain harmful bacteria from those foods. That bacteria can sometimes grow and thrive in the bag’s environment, causing subsequent infection of other foods or items placed in the bag later.

Unfortunately, if your business is handing out these bags and consumers get sick from using them, they are going to assign the blame to you and not to their own poor food-handling. So it is incumbent upon you, as the company promoting your business with these reusable bags, to ensure that customers know the risks and how to mitigate them.

People have known and understood the risks of food contamination for a long time, and so they automatically take steps to minimize and deal with the problem. Cooks wipe down the counter periodically without even thinking about it. People pop knives used for meat cutting into the dishwasher right away, or wash off the plate that had cheese on it before even thinking about using it again. All that you need to do is help your customers to understand the need for applying similar rules of thumb to their reusable bags.

Fortunately, all of the reusable bags produced by Factory Direct Promos are easy to wash and easy to keep in a state of good hygiene. Just include an insert into your promotional bags emphasizing how much you care about your customers’ health and well-being, and explaining how they can keep their bags – like their other household items used around food – safe and hygienic.

The points that need to be made:

• Bags should be washed whenever they have been used a few times, simply to clean off any accumulated dirt from the environment.
• Bags should be washed immediately after being used to carry meat, fish, poultry, unwrapped fruits or vegetables, or other types of “raw” food.
• Wrapped, canned, bottled or otherwise contained food does not require an immediate wash.
• Washing bags is easy. Most bags can simply be put in the washing machine or dishwasher; an ordinary wash cycle in either machine will sterilize them quite well.
• Bags that need to be cleaned immediately for reuse, can be hand-washed with dish soap or a mild vinegar solution, depending on the fabric.
• It is important that bags be thoroughly dried, as wet environments are ideal for bacteria to grow and thrive. Bags can be machine dried on low heat, or simply puffed open and hung to air dry. Polypropylene bags can even be dried in the microwave.
• A good wash-up and a simple air drying will turn even the yuckiest used bag back into a clean, green, carrying machine.

Just make sure that your customers know these simple rules for bag reuse, and they will do the rest themselves. You might even print up these instructions ON the bags – associating your company not only with the green initiative, but also with the promotion of hygiene and healthy living.

In the United States, plantable seed paper has been produced by specialty stationers for the last 70 years or so, but the idea has been around for centuries. However, seed papers used to be hand-produced (and still are by some artisanal paper makers) but modern technology has made it possible to mass-produce seed papers, leading to an explosion in the popularity of this expressive product.

Factory Direct Promos is a leader in the seed paper industry for the following reasons:

• Independent lab testing shows that our papers have the highest germination rates in their class – meaning happier customers and better outcomes for your marketing effort.
• Our paper is made from 100% post-industrial, recycled paper stock.
• We dye our colored seed papers using all-natural, ecologically-friendly, vegetable-oil-based inks.
• We have more than 20 different sheet, shape, and color combinations.
• We can produce bookmarks, postcards, business cards, greeting cards, and custom shapes.
• Many of our products include FREE 4-color process printing – no need to reprint or use your own expensive ink and toner.

In addition, we use a wide and beautiful mix of annual and perennial wildflower seeds, carefully selected to thrive in all climate zones and produce crops of beautiful flowers for year after year. The flowers we embed in our 100% green-friendly seed papers include:

• Sweet William Pinks
• Zinnias
• Wallflowers
• Corn Poppies
• Forget-Me-Nots
• Baby Blue Eyes
• and many more!

So how can your business use this innovative and ecology-promoting product to boost your own business and build customer loyalty? It’s easy!

• Give our seed paper business cards to your sales staff. These days most business cards recipient scan or input business card information into their electronic databases, then toss the card. Seed paper cards become a lovely flower patch instead. To add value, you can have your team give out free small planters (pennies apiece) with their cards – every prospect will have their own little flower garden that will remind them of your firm every time they see it.
• Use our seed paper postcards to send out marketing offers by direct mail. Consumers can plant their cards in their yards and gardens and remember your company whenever they go outside.
• Send greeting cards for holidays important to your clientele – instead of ending up the landfill, your cards will end up in the garden. A monthly card mailing can become a monthly builder of a customer relationship.

There’s no limit to the creativity and innovation you can unleash with our line of seed paper products. Contact us at 866-222-0949 to get more information on how to get seed paper products for your marketing efforts today.

• There’s an environmental crisis being caused by disposable plastic bags
• Being part of the solution is an incredible promotional opportunity for your company
• Your company can build long-term “green” credentials for a very low cost

The Crisis In Brief

Disposable plastic bags are a plague on the planet, with somewhere between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags produced and used each year.

The average person uses between 380 and 500 disposable plastic bags per year – at least a new bag every day.

Plastic bags don’t biodegrade – they photodegrade, meaning that the plastic breaks up into smaller chunks of plastic. Those smaller chunks are just as artificial and toxic as the original bag – but now the fragments are smaller and enter the food chain more easily.

Even photodegradadation takes up to 1,000 years to happen in a landfill – imagine what the world would look like if the garbage produced by your great-(40-times)-grandparents, and everyone born since their time, was still sitting around.

The vast majority of plastic bags are not reused – less than one percent in some countries. Even in the most recycling-friendly areas, 90% or more of bags are used once, then thrown away.

Literally millions of tons of disposable plastic bags are produced each year, and nearly all of them end up in landfills, or worse yet, in our rivers and waterways. That plastic waste is estimated to kill more than 1 million sea creatures (fish, birds, and mammals) every year. Fully 70% of disposable plastic bags end up in the ocean.

Crisis and Opportunity

Although the situation is grim, there are things that consumers and companies can do to help.

Though most bags are never recycled, most people *want* to recycle them. More than 90% of Americans recycle at least some of their plastic bags. Their hearts are in the right place – they want to do things right!

Unfortunately, the two most common responses to the problem are “let’s ban plastic bags” and “let’s switch to paper”. Banning plastic bags simply shifts consumers into using paper bags – and paper bags are actually worse for the environment than disposable plastic! They do degrade – but they cost far more to make, use far more energy, and burn far more fuel (because they are much heavier than plastic) in being transported for use. Plastic isn’t good, but paper is worse.

The right solution is to impose costs on the use of disposable plastic bags, and to encourage individual consumers to start using reusable bags.

Consumers want reusable bags – they would use disposable bags over and over again, if they were durable instead of flimsy.

In Ireland in 2001, the government imposed a very nominal fee for the use of disposable plastic bags – just a few cents per bag used. The result was dramatic – people switched to reusable bags en masse. The production and use of disposable plastic bags dropped by almost 95% - a person who had previously used 300 disposable bags a year now used about 20.

Some companies have done very well, in Ireland and in other countries, selling reusable bags to consumers.

Consumers are eager for these bags – so eager that once they have them, they use them over and over again. The consumption figures in Ireland indicate that the typical consumer is using reusable bags at least 20 times per year.

Every time a consumer goes out shopping with a reusable bag, that bag is seen by dozens or even hundreds of other consumers. Any logo or corporate branding message on that bag is similarly visible.

How much would you pay someone to walk around the shops carrying an ad for your company, product, or service? $50 per day? $100? Yet providing that person with a reusable bag with your company’s ad on it would cost you only .49 cents – and the person would want to carry your message around with them.

Promotional giveaways of reusable bags of high quality, carrying a compelling company identification or marketing message, are the most cost-effective method of advertising products or services invented in the last hundred years.

Go Green, Make Green…But Don’t Spend Green

Durable, high-quality, long-wearing reusable bags are much less expensive than you might think. In quantities of 1,000 or more, outstanding shopping bags (which lasts for years) cost just .49 cents apiece.

The image-boosting impact of a promotional bag giveaway will be immediate and large.

The long-term benefits are even greater. Many studies indicate that marketing messages become more effective with repetition – the “golden number” is anywhere from 5 to 20 times, depending on who you ask.

Every time your customer takes their promotional bag shopping, or uses it to carry things conveniently, or just looks at it in the car, is another advertising impression. Every time they take their bag in public, it’s dozens or hundred of impressions to the people around your customer.

Your customers won’t think they’re doing you a favor by carrying your ad around – they will consider that you have done THEM a favor, by giving them a bag! Marketing research indicates that people who believe they have been given something of value are FAR more likely to continue doing business with the company that was generous to them, and FAR more likely to make referrals and recommendations for that company.

Low cost, high impact, tremendously effective – the question isn’t “should my company be giving away promotional reusable bags?” The question is, “Why on earth HAVEN’T we been?”

The moment is ripe to market your company with this innovative, money-saving, and highly effective approach. More and more consumers are turning to a “green” ethic of sustainable lifestyles, reuse of materials, and a commitment to living a more environmentally conscious life. For literally pennies per customer, you can permanently associate your company with this new way of living and harvest enormous returns on your advertising investment almost as a side benefit. There’s never been a better time for promoting your business with high-quality durable reusable bags – contact our support team at 866-222-0949 to find out more.