If you work with a talented promotional printing vendor, life is easy. That's why it's so important to pick a good printer for your organization's promotions.

How to Choose a Promotional Printer

When sourcing a promotional printer, we recommend you look for the following:

• Vendor Rapport – Odds are you'll be doing many promotional printing projects over the years to come. Pick a vendor who you get along with. Life is too short to deal with people whom you don't like.
• Knowledge of Promotional Options – You may be an amazing marketing professional or a seasoned print procurement professional, but do you regularly stay on top of the latest trends in promotional items? Make sure your promotional printing partner is somebody who knows about the latest trends and can keep you informed on what's new and what's hot.
• Creativity and Design Talent – If you don't have top design talent on staff, you'll need a promotional printing firm that does. Ask them what creative concepts they've come up with lately and get a feel for their creative instincts.
• Customer Service - There's nothing worse than working with a promotional printing vendor that is unresponsive. Do your homework on prospective vendors and make sure they deliver on their promises.
• A Track Record of Good Execution - It's probably not a good idea to entrust a mission-critical promotional project to a brand new vendor. Work with a firm that has been in business for a while and that has maintained a strong record over the course of many years.

Some Good Vendors for Promotional Items

The advice we've offered above will do right by you as you start evaluating promotional printers. However, if you are in a hurry, here are some folks we are more than happy to recommend:

• Managed Print Solutions from InnerWorkings – InnerWorkings is a global provider of managed print and promotional solutions for corporate clients. If you are a big firm with heavy promotional printing volume, InnerWorkings can be a great resource for you.
• Lucky Prints Promotional T-Shirts - Small but effective. That's how we'd describe Lucky Prints. When we need screen printed promotional T-shirts, they are our go-to supplier.
• AlphaGraphics - Once you find a great printer, you're happy to go back to them again and again. AlphaGraphics at O'Hare is a locally owned and operated, full-service printing and visual communications company. They will take great care of you and they do an exceptional job.
• VistaPrint - VistaPrint offers inexpensive printing solutions for everything from direct mail pieces to promotional items. You place your order via a very easy to use website and you'll get your printed pieces by mail. Worth checking out if you haven't used them before.

These vendors can help you with your print, direct mail, display or promotional products. If you do decide to use them, tell them you heard about them on the Gaebler.com site and do let us know how it works out.