Christmas is upon us and all our plans for the season now have either been fulfilled or have to be abandoned with intentions of being better organised next year!

What we can do at this time of year is take stock of what was good and bad in 2010 and endeavour to learn the lessons to make 2011 an even better year. One thing that lots of us are guilty of in this busy world is leaving decisions until the last minute. This ultimately puts more pressure on and can sometimes lead to poor decisions or perhaps compromises at best. This is one of my personal struggles, as there are always pressures on time, but I know from experience that on the occasions when I do get things done in a timely manner, the outcome is usually more satisfying and the process a lot less stressful. There lies my recurring New Year’s resolution, and I will stick to it this year!

When it comes to the business of promotional gifts the same applies. Sooner is always better than later. Although there are many good promotional products which can be printed and delivered within a few days when you’re really up against a deadline, you can have more choice and perhaps even achieve a better price if you can get your order in early. Sourcing promotional merchandise from overseas can often reduce the unit cost, but the lead time is obviously much longer. The sooner you make your decisions about the promotional items you would like to support your campaigns and marketing events, the more options you have.

The next seasonal gifts to come into play will be for Valentine’s Day (14th February), Burn’s Birthday (25th January), St David’s Day (1st March), St. Patrick’s Day (17th March), Mothering Sunday (3rd April), St George’s Day (23rd April), and Easter (24th April). Don’t forget the end of the financial year (31st March) with budgets to be used and then the extra bonus of the Royal Wedding this time round on 29th April. Lots of national occasions in the first part of the year to hang your marketing and promotional hat on and not too far round the corner now. It’s never too early to start but can be too late!

Here’s to a prosperous 2011 for us all! We look forward to working with you.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Promotional Gifts, Promotional Item, Promotional Products, Seasonal Promotional Gifts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.