In June we celebrate national writing day, an annual nationwide celebration of the pleasure and power of creative writing. Of course, this conjures up images of fictional novels and booker prize awards, however, it’s easy to forget the importance of creative writing in the business world with copywriting being a true art form.
In our day to day business life the importance good writing skills extends further than creating your next marketing piece to taking accurate notes, giving someone clear instructions or labeling something correctly. So in our ever evolving world how do you do your writing? Is your tool of choice the QWERTY keyboard, maybe you use a tablet and stylus, or are you still in love with your good old trusty pen or pencil? It’s certainly a lot easier to do some fancy doodling using a pen and paper when you are in your 100th meeting of the day!
So what does science say? Which should you use and why? A study by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer, published in 2014 in the Journal of Psychological Science focused on how people take notes. It concluded that “laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning” (you can read the study here if you want to learn more). So there you have it – the pen Is mightier than the keyboard!
Truth be told there is probably a place for all of the different types of writing “tools”, and ultimately it will come down to individual choice. If you are anything like me then you will flip between typing an email to using a pen to scribble down some notes. I have to say it is nice to detach myself from my keyboard, all of the distractions of the internet and the glare of the computer screen, and use a pen and paper when I need to write something.
From a sales promotional perspective paper, pens and pencils offer a brilliant branding opportunity for your company.They are everyday items, that everyone uses, giving lots of day to day exposure, and constantly reinforcing your brand. They are light, easy to ship and useful.
There are a whole selection of promotional pens available that can be personalised with your corporate messaging, putting your brand directly in a customer’s hand. Pens and pencils are available at different price points from affordable bulk purchase items (great for volume marketing activities like trade shows) through to more expensive higher quality items for those really key customers.
There is a vast choice of different types of pens and pencils available, including those manufactured from sustainable and recycled materials, ones with fun games built into them, highlighter pens, waterproof pens, and we even offer pens with an antibacterial coating.
There are many types of paper based promotional items available, including sticky notes, note pads, note blocks, desk pads, diaries, planners, calendars and note books. At Full Square we can offer unique customized die cut shaped pieces that can give a fun dimension to note taking. As with pens and pencils, paper products are available at different price points, offering you the flexibility to use them at different points in a customers buying journey and with different customer persona types.
For those looking for an altogether more quirky writing experience we can offer you a pencil made from recycled bank notes and a memo pad that’s been impregnated with grass seeds, so after you have used it you can plant it in your garden and grow your very own meadow!
Finally on the subject of doodling in a meeting, as it turns out doodling can actually help you focus and make it easier to listen. It can also help relieve stress and improve memory retention and productivity – so doodle away my friends!
Learn more about the range of promotional pens that Full Square provides – click here!
