Every now and again your Chocolate Priestess gets a request to test a product and tell you all about it even though the product in question has nothing to do with chocolate. Normally I turn such requests down unless I can figure out a way to make them connect to what we do. One of our missions here on The Chocolate Cult is to spread knowledge about chocolate and help you, our readers, make better decisions about what to spend your money on. So today I'm going to be looking at the process I went through to get some promotional stickers with our name and website address on them through Grandstand Ink, an online event printing company. Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.
Setting up an account was very easy - name, email, password, the standards of any online business you might use. After signing up at the Grandstand Ink website, I received a telephone call from a representative to discuss what sort of product might work for me. I mentioned that out of the products I had been offered to review that the stickers sounded the most useful and unique but I couldn't find them online. This is where the phone call from them was very useful because he listened to me talk, asked a few questions about what I would be using the promotional material for (other than to review), and offered some suggestions. Based on what we discussed, I decided to go with a large, bookmark size sticker using our logo that I have on our business cards. In total I received 150 stickers in exchange for writing this review.
After I uploaded the logo pdf I was able to check the product a few days later and approve what it looked like. Then I waited for about a week before I sent a follow up email since I was supposed to get another check in from the representative. They said they had been slammed by orders, a good thing from the business's viewpoint, and I'd hear from someone in a few days.
The same customer rep I'd been working with called back in two days. He asked about the website address on the logo and if I wanted any further text placed on the sticker. I decided to add my email so that it might get companies to contact me more easily but I primarily wanted a clean image. He made those changes and said I would get notice about the printing in a day or so. I couldn't however check a proof of the product again.
As promised I received a notice that the sticker was going to the printer the next day. A week after that I got an email notice that it had been shipped along with a tracking number that worked. I really find it annoying when a tracking number doesn't work with the link provided so this was a plus for me. On schedule a box arrived with this stack of stickers.
The stickers are 5.5 X 2 inches so nice and large, very much like a bookmark as I discussed with the Grandstand Ink representative that I initially spoke with on the telephone. They have several places, marked by double triangles, where you can peel back the paper to get the adhesive side of the sticker. The final product was exactly what I was expecting and the entire process took 20 days from being selected for the testing to the delivery of the stickers.
I really liked the one-on-one conversations with a representative and that I was sent an email for each step of the process. Being busy is understandable, in fact a sign of good business, and they did a good job of getting back to me when I checked in. The representative took time to explain things and to make adjustments to the image and text that fit into the color and design scheme. Being able to check that again would have been a good idea though. Over all Grandstand Ink provided excellent service and a quality product in the time period promised for a fair price. If you are doing an event and need stickers, business cards, lanyards, signs, and other materials you should check them out.
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
The same customer rep I'd been working with called back in two days. He asked about the website address on the logo and if I wanted any further text placed on the sticker. I decided to add my email so that it might get companies to contact me more easily but I primarily wanted a clean image. He made those changes and said I would get notice about the printing in a day or so. I couldn't however check a proof of the product again.
I really liked the one-on-one conversations with a representative and that I was sent an email for each step of the process. Being busy is understandable, in fact a sign of good business, and they did a good job of getting back to me when I checked in. The representative took time to explain things and to make adjustments to the image and text that fit into the color and design scheme. Being able to check that again would have been a good idea though. Over all Grandstand Ink provided excellent service and a quality product in the time period promised for a fair price. If you are doing an event and need stickers, business cards, lanyards, signs, and other materials you should check them out.
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
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