Tips for creating custom tote bags

In the world of promotional products, custom tote bags reign supreme. They’re up there with branded pens in terms of popularity, and it’s not hard to see why. As a marketing professional, you probably love handing out custom totes at trade shows and events because they’re great at advertising your brand – totes get over 7,000 impressions in their lifetimes. Tote bags leave the house, acting as walking billboards, so they provide a great return on investment.

Another selling point to branded totes is that there’s so much room to work with – literally. If you have a special logo, phrase or image that you want to clearly render front-and-center on some swag, the promo tote will do the job. Tote bags are beloved by recipients, too: they’re practical, versatile, and perfect for collecting swag at industry events. (Think about it – branded swag that holds other branded swag...nice!). Everyone has a use or three or twelve for another tote, so people tend to hang on to them for a long time.

At Pinnacle Promotions, we make designing your promotional products super simple, and we always have helpful customer service agents available for guidance, but it does help if you know a couple of simple tricks and tips before embarking on your first promotional tote endeavor. Use this guide before getting started, and make sure to check out some awesome branded tote bag ideas to ensure that your giveaways hit the mark.

As you probably know, promotional tote bags come in many shapes, sizes and styles that can be customized to suit your particular needs. We can help you choose the right promo totes based on your specific event. Often, we recommend affordable, quick-ship tote bags for events like trade shows, job fairs, and conventions. These are lower cost options that can be filled with literature and other swag items for a relatively low price.

We also offer custom grocery tote bags that are specifically designed for taking to the market. These totes are perfect for companies that focus on the environment (since they can be reused again and again) or food.

1. Choose Your Material — We have custom totes made of cotton, jute, polypropylene, recyclable materials, and others. For businesses that really want to reinforce their eco-friendly values, we recommend choosing promotional totes made from natural materials, like cotton, canvas, and jute.
2. Choose Your Size — We offer small 8-inch by 8-inch bags all the way up to larger 25-inch by 17-inch bags, with a wide variety of different strap lengths. Consider what you intend to carry in your tote when choosing a size.
3. Choose Your Imprint Type — Consider the method of personalization. We have totes that are printed, stamped, embroidered, screen printed, and transferred with a four-color design process for a totally eye-catching look. While we can work with just about any vision, some artwork looks better in some personalization styles, so if you're unsure, please ask us for advice.
4. Choose Your Price Point — Are you looking for an economic giveaway bag for a trade show or are you looking for a brand name bag to use for a client gift? Your end use will help guide you to a specific budget.
5. Choose Your Extra Features — Do you want an outside pocket for a water bottle? An insulated bag to take to the grocery store? A bag with a pen loop? A zippered closure? A morphing bag that folds down so it can be carried in a purse? All of these options help you create a custom tote that’s tailored to your target audience.

First things first: Before you place your promo tote order, make sure to review our artwork requirements. We prefer print-ready vector artwork delivered in .ai, .eps or .pdf formats, but we can accept some other file types as well. Here are some more quick tips for designing your promotional totes.

• File type is important. Proper print-ready vector artwork will ensure that you get a high-quality, vividly printed result that won’t be compromised when resized.
• We will send you a digital proof to approve before creating your order. Make sure to triple-check your proof before approval to ensure there are no typos or other issues with spacing, colors, or printing.

We know that sometimes it helps to see and feel promotional products in real life to make sure that it suits your company’s specific standards and branding efforts. For a sample of any of our promotional totes or other products, give us a call at 877-300-2007.