Promo Products

It's now 2012. We still don't have flying cars or robot maids, but this month's mystery product takes full advantage of those powerful pocket-sized computers we call smartphones.

Trade show supplies, lunch and tote bags, pens and other fun and useful items topped the annual list of 4imprint's highest customer rated promotional products. The online promotional products retailer announced the 2011 ranking on December 8.

Every business knows it's better to not just tell potential customers about your products, but to show them

If you're like most people, your daily to-do list is long. Staff meetings. Sales presentations. Client orders. Production scheduling. Proof approvals. Follow-ups. You have to be organized to keep up with all the tasks.

Looking to add a little "great" to your season's greetings? Take a peek at the list below to punch up your skills with the holiday mainstays of greeting cards and seasonal food baskets. After all, as Santa himself knows well, what's holiday gift-giving without a little list-making?

Women are projected to comprise 46.9 percent of the labor force in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Promo Marketing, the sister publication of Print Professional, recently announced the winners of its 2011 Supplier Excellence Awards. Every year readers choose the companies they think have the best products, turnover time and customer service in the promotional products industry.

Promo Marketing, a sister publication of Print Professional, has compiled a new Top 50 Suppliers ranking. Despite stricter regulations on the safety and sales of promotional products, 2010 and the first half of 2011 have shown a sales resurgence in the industry. The returning fiscal strength of the industry is evident from the list, which is based on revenue numbers from 2010. Overall, the top 50 suppliers raked in more than $500 million more than they did in 2009. These companies have increased their margins, upped the interest in their products and committed themselves to making it through the financial crises stronger than before, and they are being rewarded for it.

Low-tech. Boring. Unsexy. Woefully utilitarian. As promotional items, calendars might seem about as interesting as a sixth-grade play on the metric system (about two hours too long and as exciting as repeatedly listening to a small, affectless human dully counting to 30). Repeated counting to 30 aside, thankfully the boring reputation of calendars is more myth than fact.

It's easy to lose track of time when surfing the Internet, catching up on e-mails or chatting on Facebook. Two minutes may easily turn into two hours.