SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER NEWSLETTER 2022

Thank you for your patience as we caught up the backlog from our Summer Break – unfortunately we also had the chaos of the Parcelforce strike to contend with that week and as it is ongoing, also this week – so apologies if deliveries have been, or will be delayed. Good news, is that we’re all refreshed and ready to hit the ground running – as we prepare for the start of the great Christmas run in!

Still hanging onto the last weeks of summer, we’ve added some lovely nature shapes to our range in the form of bee-autiful buzzing bees! But Halloween is now creeping ever closer, so get your orders in soon in time to market these shapes for the Spooky Season!

Our Project for this issue is all about utilising practical products for the Home and Office! We’ll be highlighting some fab existing products you can use in different ways, and we’ve also revamped another of our website sections…

We have also added some brand new Build Your Own items for you to check out that are perfect for Halloween, Christmas and beyond – so a jam packed newsletter as ever!

Important Dates:

• Christmas Shutdown – Wednesday 21st Dec to Bank Holiday Monday 2nd Jan (We re-open on Tuesday 3rd!)

We’re giving you a lot of notice for our Christmas Shutdown to allow you to plan your orders accordingly – before and after the break!

September/October Free Gift

The free gift for September and October is our newest and most economical sizes of Coaster – the 85 x 85 mm Budget Coaster in 0.5 mm Brushed Silver with either – drum roll please – an MDF (pre-applied) backing or 5 cork bumps!

This ties in with our project’s theme of ‘products with a purpose’ with Home and Office in mind, since Coasters are a must-have! This size coaster is also available in an Xtra Value Pack of 100 – in both Brushed Silver and Brushed Gold.

September/October Special Offer

September and October’s Special Offer is…our NEW! Coaster and Placemat Luxury Gift Set! A choice of 4 or 6 Placemats with 4 or 6 Coasters in an A4 super tough white plastic box with a choice of printable toppers – a super elegant set, packaged AND priced to sell and send (or give) and an extra 20% off till Oct 31st!

New Products

• NEW! Coaster and Placemat Luxury Gift Set
• NEW! Luxury Placemat Set
• NEW! Build Your Own – Bunting Sets
• NEW! MDF Slotted Display Bases
• NEW! Build Your Own: Christmas Hanging Wall Art
• NEW! Build Your Own: Mini Panel Hanging Wall Art
• NEW! ‘Natural’ Shape Coasters
• NEW! ‘Object’ Shape Coasters
• NEW! ‘Natural’ Shaped Placemats and Pot Stands
• NEW! ‘Object’ Shaped Placemats and Pot Stands
• NEW! Standard Shaped Placemats and Pot Stands
• NEW! Cute Bee or Snail Shape
• NEW! Realistic Bee Shape
• NEW! Flying Bee Shape
• NEW! Beehive Shape
• NEW! Hexagon Frame
• NEW! Keyhole Shape and Keyhole Frame

Customer ‘Share To Win’ Photos

In this issue’s Share To Win we have Printed Creations fantastic Family Planner using our A3 Ricoh Dry Wipe Sign – 283 x 405 mm. Family Planners are a super useful tool for any busy family! This idea also fits in great with our Practical Products project…

We also have Missy’s Printing brilliant Large circle clock. Clocks are incredibly practical and are an essential part of Home and Office Decor and fit in with any room! They can be personalised and themed in many different ways using words and photos for your customers to gift to loved ones on special occasions!

Seasonal/Marketing Ideas

For anyone throwing a spooky Halloween party this year, check out our Halloween variations of the Build Your Own Party Pack! This pack allows you to choose how many additional items you need, depending on how large a set you wish to offer!

Don’t forget the 2 new shapes that have recently launched – the Skull and the Skull and Crossbones! (We also plan on releasing a Cat shape very soon, so keep an eye out for this!). Make sure to get any orders for Halloween in as soon as possible to be prepared for the Spooky Season…

We have printed up the full set of items available in the Elf on the Shelf Pack with some great designs (which are available to download FREE upon purchase of the pack to allow you the option to print up your own set as soon as you get it!). We hope this gives you a lot of ideas for creating your own designs too! This is a brilliant pack to help boost ideas and inspiration for those taking part in the Elf on the Shelf on the run up to Christmas.

To boost your Christmas sales further, we’ve added a ‘Build Your Own’ Christmas Hanging Wall Art Listing, which expands our existing and already Best Selling Stocking/Penguin Wall Art product – allowing you to build up your own sets, exactly to your specific needs – with extra options to add Stockings, Penguins, Gonks, Snowmen, Gingerbread Men, or even our new Elf Boots! These sell so well, making lovely family decorations for the festive season to be used every year, with such personalisation potential to add names or photos!

Our Standing Family Sets also make for stunning family decorations – we’re now offering the option to buy the MDF stands individually, allowing you to pick and choose your own shapes! Get creative with all the different sets you can make, and stay tuned for a Build Your Own listing coming soon…

Sell It To Them!

With the Women winning the Euros (woop woop!) and the Men’s World Cup fast approaching, Football is still the UK’s favourite – both watching and playing! – so we have put together a few ideas on how you can market sport themed products to your customers…

There are so many amateur football teams up and down the country – for both kids and adults alike! With this in mind, you could contact your local team with an offer to create products for them and go from there! Often the Parents of a child who plays for a team can be approached to propose your idea to the club for you.

Offering to make products that the Man (or Child/Woman!) of the Match can keep is a fantastic idea as it gives players something permanent for them to treasure rather than always having to return a larger trophy for the next match.

So think about mini trophies using our MDF bases (as we have done with the Small and Medium T-Shirts here), or our free-standing products (trophy pictured), fridge magnets, and badges! They could be personalised with player names and dates, maybe using sharpies to keep the budget down, making it a really nice keepsake for the player to receive.

This could then also lead to creating awards and keepsakes for tournaments, sports days, end of year awards etc… This is just an example idea, and similar projects can be proposed for other sports, local bands and musicians, authors, artists, or charities!

Don’t forget to check out our Project for this issue which is all about Practical Products with the tagline ‘Relax and Bee Happy!’

Kind Regards,
Nicci, Carl, Claire, Caroline, Pippa, Jodie, Emily, Louise, Tina, Nigel, Brandon, Rob, Bill, Lisa, Petal the Doberman, Trixie the Jack Russell, & Donder and Blitzen the Sprocker Siblings – the Subli Metals Team!