Three Tips for Increasing Your Imprint Impact - By: Remy Lebeau

Positioning – When placing your logo on the item, look for the most obvious spot first. Put yourself in the position of your audience. Look at the product and find out where you would most likely see the artwork. For example, on a shirt the right breast pocket would be an obvious spot. On a mug, it would be the outside wall. On a baseball cap, the front part would be an ideal place for your brand.
Next, think of other possible places for imprinting. Ask yourself the following questions:
* Where will the product be used most?
* When will it be used?
* How will it be used?
Now, look at the marketing potential of unconventional imprint areas. For instance, if you're giving away a cap for a sporting event, look beyond placing the logo on the front. The back part is also a very good option. Imagine a stadium with bleachers – that answer the where question. It's in broad daylight – that answers when. People are sitting in rows while watching the game – that answers how. In this situation, people will be exposed to the back of other people's heads for the duration of the game. Having your logo on the back of the giveaway caps is like putting your brand right in front of your audience.
You can do the same exercise for other sets of promotional products. For mugs, you've got the outside covered, how about the inside? Getting your logo on both places is hitting two birds with one stone. Everyone who sees your recipient using the mug gets exposure to your brand, when the user finishes his or her drink, you get another hit.
Some promotional products have multiple imprint areas or at least very big ones, so take advantage of that as well. A lanyard is one example of such. It can take multiple imprints of your brand name without making the product look over-satiated with copy. T-shirts are another example. You can work the front and the back.
Colors – While you may be limited to your company's colors for the artwork itself, the backdrop is an entirely different issue. Here, you can play with a wide range of choices. Pick neons to highlights your brand. The gamut extremes – black and white – are great at complementing or contrasting any color. You can also go with your company's colors to lessen the number of colors to be imprinted. Keep the following tips in mind when choosing items and imprinting your colored logos:
* For screen printing, you need an underbase to let the dark colors show through on top of a dark substrate. That will incur an additional charge.
* Every logo color that you use for screen printing means a separate screen set-up and printing. That costs money, so the less colors the better.
* Custom logo colors that require PMS ink color matching may be priced more. As would specialized inks that provide metallic or glitter effects.
* If your substrate is glass, metal or leather, you might want to try imprinting methods that do not use colors. Embossing, debossing, etching and engraving are a classy way to render your logo. It looks perfect on these materials despite .
Size – Yes, it matters. Generally, bigger is better, but never sacrifice the quality of the artwork. If your logo is too big, it may look overstretched or worse, it may be unrecognizable to your audience. As for the copy (the words you use in your tag line or message), better to keep it short and simple. Too much information is overbearing and may be the very reason for audience resistance.
Remember, you are not printing a poster; you are imprinting a promotional product. Keep it to a size that says the item came from your company but you are not trying to use the recipient as an obvious walking ad.