A Little Gift

What’s black and white, and holds bills, notes, and photos? If you’re on my mailing list, you know—and maybe you’ve got one on your fridge. Yep—it’s my latest Christmas promotional gift—a glass-bead magnet with a custom-design.

My initial idea was to create monogrammed magnets, personalized with my clients’ initials; with a generic patterned background option to send to the rest of my contact list. As I played around with ideas though, I ended up liking the patterns more than I did the letters (I know! I couldn’t believe it either! But wait til you see them!) So, I started playing with different colors. Then I eliminated color…and then knew I was onto something.

I designed a matchbook-style package and sent files to the printer. I printed the patterns for the magnets, cut them out, then for the next couple weeks, I commandeered the kitchen table as I worked on creating 200 individual magnets, then assembling each additional part of the package.

Kudos to my sister who had the idea of creating a round cutout in the card, making the presentation a little more special. Unfortunately, my idea for adhering the magnet to the packages didn’t go exactly as planned…turns out the magnets are sliced the wrong way, so metal only sticks to the edges! Using 2 washers helped, but I found out after-the-fact, they still weren’t always enough to keep the magnet in place during mailing (sorry folks). Anyway, I got enough positive feedback, and no “floating magnet” complaints, so I’ve forgiven myself.

I’ve gotten great feedback, including a message from one client who says mine is the first magnet that’s ever been allowed on his fridge; and a new client whose projects have already paid for the promotion. Merry Christmas to us all!