It is cold and flu season-that most wonderful time of the year when everyone at the office is sneezing and coughing and you wish you could wear a hazmat suit to work. While wearing coveralls and a gas mask may not be practical, there are easier ways to help reduce the risk of getting sick. Here are some small steps you can take to help keep everyone well at the office and reduce sick days.
Promote your business, organization, or cause with earth-friendly promotional products. Look for products made from recycled/recyclable materials, products that are biodegradable, and/or products that help reduce waste, such as reusable grocery bags.
Earth Day is on April 22, but you don’t have to wait for a holiday to choose earth-friendly products for promotion. Here are some ideas of ways you can promote your business and do a small part to help the environment.
Biodegradable and Reusable Tote Bag
This cotton tote bag is the perfect earth-friendly promotional product! Sustainable and spacious, this tote bag is made of 6 oz. biodegradable cotton canvas. A reusable bag takes the place of hundreds of plastic grocery bags, saving landfill space, sea creatures, gas and oil, and more.
Recycled Cardboard Notebook and Pen
A recyclable and biodegradable spiral notebook, which also includes a recyclable and biodegradable cardboard pen! Includes 60 sheets of spiral bound, white, lined paper. Great for a conference giveaway.
Seed Paper Mini Cards
Plantable mini cards are a unique promotional idea. The seed card is made of wildflower seeds that you can simply plant the card, water it, and enjoy lovely flowers. Each one is handmade from 100% recycled paper.
If you need more ideas for earth-friendly promotions, give us a call at 918-252-4100. We have many other options including recycled sticky note pads, recycled pens, plantable coasters, seed pencils, and more. Of course, we always have many “green” choices for office supplies, janitorial, and breakroom products. We can help you make sure everything your company uses is as eco-friendly as possible, from recycled clipboards and folders, to waste-reducing cleaning chemicals. Make every day Earth Day with earth-friendly products. Every little bit adds up to help make our planet healthy for us and for future generations.
Promotional pens are the most popular promotional product in the world. Open up a random desk drawer, and you will probably find at least one promotional pen with a company name and phone number on it.
Why are promotional pens so popular?
Pens are one of the most economical options available. Pens can cost as low as 27 cents each, providing a low-cost way to market a business or organization. Furthermore, pens are useful and likely to be kept.
The drawback to promoting a business with pens is that everyone else is doing it. So, how can a business make its promotional pen stand out?
Don’t just go with any pen. Choose the best promotional pen to suit marketing needs and to impress the target audience.
Here are some examples of different audiences a company may want to target, and the best promotional pens to reach these audiences.
Young Adults
Millennials care about the environment, and 72% of them are willing to pay more for products they see as eco-friendly. Any business looking to target the younger generation should consider a recycled cardboard pen. Not only does it show that a business cares about the planet, but it also is a pen that will definitely stand out from the rest with its unique look.
Children and Parents of Young Children
Try a fun, crazy pen for kids, or for parents to share with their children. We love this Flower Bend-a-Pen. It features a bendable body and arms, and the feet work as both a stand and a cap. Customize it with a logo or message to create a lasting impression on clients with children.
Tech Savvy
Potential clients who spend more time using a tablet or smartphone than writing on actual paper will appreciate a pen and stylus combination. The Bic Honor Stylus Pen is a great choice, featuring stylish color accents.
Teachers and Writers
People who write with a pen often will appreciate a pen that not only looks great, but also writes well. The Bic Gel-Ocity pen features smooth, vivid gel ink.
Luxury Seekers
Giving a boxed, luxury pen set as a gift will show a client appreciation and value. This cross pen set has a contemporary, chic style. Featuring an ergonomic design coupled in both a ballpoint and roller ball silhouette, the deep, sophisticated basalt black finish reflects contemporary fashion for modern metals. Superior black Cross® ink cartridges, premium gift packaging and lifetime mechanical guarantee complete the writing experience.
Festival Attendees
Whether it will be given away at a booth, or in a swag bag for attendees, a fun, unusual pen is a must-have for any type of festival, holiday event, or concert. A groovy, colorful mood pen is a great choice. Plastic mood grip changes color with the heat of your hand. Comes with chrome trim and bright white barrels. A fun and flashy way to get exposure!
Fashionable
A stylish promotional pen is perfect for fashion and retail brands. For the modern, sleek look try the Luxe Carrara pen. On trend marble pattern completes the bottom barrel. Shiny polished chrome upper barrel. Subtle Luxe branding on center band. Pen includes premium black ballpoint ink. Includes Luxe gift packaging.
For a more trendy and colorful look, try the Silver Jubilee pen and stylus. It features a chrome body with stylish, colorful accents, including a rubber grip dot pattern.
Color authority Pantone has chosen the color Greenery as the color of the year for 2017. According to Pantone, the color is symbolic of new beginnings, freshness, and nature. The describe it as “a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.”You can incorporate the freshness of Greenery in your office! Here are some basic office supplies in this lovely shade of zesty green. Click the photos to shop these items at Sundance.
PaperPro Stapler
Swingline Electric Pencil Sharpener
Scotch Expressions Tape
Astrobrights Color Copy Paper
Sharpie Highlighters
If you are ordering any print items and are preparing your own artwork, here are a few things to keep in mind to make sure your artwork is print-ready. For more information please see this post about resolution and this post about file types. Once you have the correct resolution and file type, make sure your file has the correct layout so the printer can cut it properly.
Make sure your file has at least .125 inches of bleed on each side. What this means is that the artwork for your postcard, brochure, business card, etc. must be .125 inches larger on all sides than the finished product. For example, a standard business card is 3.5 inches by 2 inches. Your artwork should therefore be 3.75 inches by 2.25 inches. This is to ensure that there is no white space around the card when it is cut by the printer.
2. Safe Area
Make sure all text and important pictures are inside the “safe area.” This is to make sure that important pieces don’t accidentally get cut off. Text and logos should not be close to the edge.
3. Cut Line
Finally, look at your final artwork and make sure that you have .125 inches of bleed beyond the cut line. See the diagram below for a standard business card. Artwork should extend beyond the red line.
With the holidays rapidly approaching, now is the time to think about corporate gifts. Thoughtfully chosen corporate gifts show appreciation for employees or clients. Create a positive vibe around the office with gifts for the staff, or keep clients loyal with personalized luxury gifts.
The best corporate gifts are useful. Useful doesn’t necessarily mean the gift has to be practical. A luxurious, pampering gift such as a spa gift box engraved with your logo or scented candles will make the recipient feel appreciated. Food items such as chocolates or nuts are always appreciated, as well. Practical gifts are great, too, because the recipient may use the gift often-for example a mobile charger or thermal mug.
Corporate gifts can help keep your company on the mind of your customer, and associate your company with a positive feeling. Customers and clients will think of your company when they use the gift, and will feel valued. Send an elegant gift such as a leather journal personalized with his or her name embossed on the cover, or a gift basket tailored to his or her interests.
To truly make customers and employees feel appreciated and valued, include a personal, handwritten note with the gift. This shows more effort and will have a greater impact than simply sending out the same gift and generic card to everyone. A handwritten note makes the recipient feel that time and effort was put into the gift. Customized note cards with your company logo and message are a great, as long as a personal written note is inside.
Don’t forget your employees who keep your business running. As with gifts for clients, the best gifts for employees are thoughtful and useful. Gifts such as a basket of gourmet snacks, a gift card to a favorite restaurant, or tech gadgets are popular corporate gift items.
Corporate gifts are not just for the holidays! Gifts are even more appreciated at unexpected times. Surprise an employee with a gift recognizing an above-and-beyond effort, or send a client a fun gift on a different holiday such as St. Patrick’s Day or Valentine’s Day.
Need some more gift ideas? Give us a call at 918-252-4100 and we will be happy to help you come up with great ideas sure to make an impact!
Have you noticed that Sundance has had a makeover? We have a new logo, a new look, and a new website, but we are still the same Sundance that has served the office supply needs of Eastern Oklahoma since 1989.
We hope that our new look will help emphasize that Sundance is more than an office supply company-we can help with just about everything an office or facility needs from promotional products to janitorial supplies to furniture.
Our new slogan, “more wow in your workday” is more than just a tagline. We have always worked to wow our customers with great prices, exceptional service, and our famous free cookies! We will continue to wow you as we expand our product selection and services.
At Sundance Office, we believe that everyone deserves more WOW in the workday. That’s why we bring more solutions to supply every part of your office; more savings to keep your budget in check; and more personalized service so you can accomplish more in your day.
More WOW makes your workday more productive and more fun.
One source can supply the entire workplace. Sundance is the one source to save you time and money on everything in the workplace from office products and furniture to janitorial and breakroom supplies.
Wow! Cleaning supplies, furniture, paper and snacks all from one supplier.
Systematic savings you can count on. From our eagle- eye review of every order to our monthly “best value” reports, we make sure you always know your savings opportunities so you can manage your budget with confidence.
Wow! Someone double-checked my order and found even more savings.
Personal attention every day. Can’t find what you’re looking for? We’re on it. Need a special order? No problem. We’re flexible and responsive to your needs, delivered daily with a dose of happiness.
Wow! Fresh baked cookies with every $75 order.
How can we wow you today?
When ordering custom promotional products, it is important to make sure that you have artwork in the correct format and size for printing. In a previous post, we discussed vector artwork which is needed for custom promotional products such as clothing, bags, drinkware, etc. This post will focus on printed paper products such as business cards, brochures, invitations, postcards, and folders.
A vector file is not necessary for most printed items. However, a high-resolution file is a must. A .pdf is the most common file format used for printed promotional products. For the tech savvy: the .pdf file needs to be in CMYK format, at least 300 dpi, and the same size or bigger as the final product.
If all of this is a foreign language to you, don’t worry! Give us a call and we can help.
To put it simply, a picture grabbed from a website will most likely not work for your print project. Sharp on the screen does not mean it will look sharp and crisp in print. Here is a visual example:
The picture looked fine on the computer screen, but when it printed, it looked blurry and pixelated. We don’t want this to happen on your printed custom promotional products. When you place an order, we will check your artwork to see if it is print-ready and help you find or create* artwork that will work for your particular project.
Call us today so we can help you create eye-catching, professional business cards, promotional materials, brochures, mailers, and more to make your business or organization stand out. Also, browse our website for new custom products to help promote your business.
*there may be an artwork fee depending on the amount of work involved. We will provide an estimate before beginning any work if a fee is involved.
Preparing print ready artwork to be used on printed materials and promotional products can be confusing. We can help you get your files ready for print, convert your current artwork to a vector file, or even create artwork for you.*
In this series of blog posts, we will explain what type of artwork is needed and why to help you understand a little more about the printing process.
First, there are many different types of printing processes and each process requires a certain type of artwork. For this post, we will discuss only one type of printing.
The type of printing (for example, screen printing) used for most promotional products like t-shirts, hats, cups, large signs, or any other non-paper product requires a vector to be considered print ready artwork. Embroidered items also generally require a vector file. If you have vector artwork already, great! If not, we can help you.
A vector is a type of file that can be expanded to any size without becoming pixelated or blurred. Here is an example of a vector file compared with a raster file:
First, where did you get the file? If it came from a webpage or social media, it is most likely not a vector. Next, look at the file extension (the letters after the period in the name of the file.) If it is .ai, .eps or .pdf it could possibly be a vector. If it is a .jpg, .doc, .png, .gif, or .bmp it is not a vector file.
If it is an .ai, .eps, or .pdf, it could still be a raster file. Confused yet? Don’t worry. If you are ordering promotional products, simply send us your file and we can let you know what type of file it is.
Most printing methods only use vector files. Furthermore, even if they did use other file types, the printing would look terrible. We don’t want to sell you something that doesn’t look absolutely amazing!
Ask your marketing department if they have a vector file, or contact the graphic designer who created your logo for the vector file.
If no vector is available, we can re-create a vector file for you in most cases. Please note that this is a manual process that can take a lot of time depending on the artwork. We will let you know how long it will take and if there will be a charge for this service.
Unfortunately, no. It will still not be a vector and will not be print ready artwork.
No worries! Give us a call at 918-252-4100
*there may be an artwork fee depending on the amount of work involved. We will provide an estimate before beginning any work if a fee is involved.
Order on Monday May 23, 2016 to support Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa (IHCRC) which provides health care and related services to Native American members in the Tulsa community.
SunDANCE will donate 1% of all orders on that day to IHCRC.
Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa has provided quality, culturally-sensitive health care to Indian members of the Tulsa community for nearly 40 years. Their services include medical, dental, optometry, health education, summer camps for children, and more. Indian Health Care Resource Center is also an active member of the Tulsa County Wellness partnership and seeks to improve the health of Tulsans “from healthy nutrition to fitness and exercise programs as well as coalition efforts for environmental changes, IHCRC is focused on better health for our community.”
The camps for children include a wellness adventure camp which focuses on diabetes prevention, healthy lifestyles, leadership, team-building, and problem-solving, a cultural enrichment camp which focuses on traditional games, arts, crafts, and cultural field trips, and a spring break camp.
Indian Health Care Resource Center is a 501(c)(3) charitable, non-profit organization which relies on donations to continue its valuable service to the Tulsa community.
To donate an extra $1, add item DONATE to your order!
To donate directly, visit
http://www.ihcrc2moons.org/medicine-wheel/