I never realized how expensive promotional goods were. It made me realize how hard it is for small organizations, especially NGOs or non-profits, to brand themselves in material ways. I’ve been looking up lanyard pricing and comparing difference manufacturers and getting quotes. However, they were a lot more than I had expected. I honestly thought that one lanyard probably took about $1 to manufacture, however there were so many other factors that went into lanyard production that can change the price. $1 is usually for batches that are more than 3000 lanyards, and usually only for two colors. Ordering about 250 to 500 lanyards actually costs about $3 per lanyard. I did not know how drastic the price difference was. Although smaller companies would want the best pricing, they probably cannot get it because they might not be able to pass out all those lanyards or use them efficiently which will create waste. This also made me realize how important social media and technology is for smaller companies to grow and make an impact nationally or throughout a large region. Marketing through social media is very low cost for the amount of impact and effort that might go into it, especially compared to promoting the company materially whether it is passing out flyers on the streets or showing up to schools and trying to spread their vision.
