How to Begin a Custom Keepsake

The hardest part of any project is knowing where to begin. There are some standard ideas to consider before beginning your custom keepsake project with ChemArt. These practices hold whether you are purchasing a bookmark, starting a custom ornament program, or considering any of our other products.

You want a product that is different, easy to sell, and that will be profitable and could potentially be an annual program.

What is your budget?

You should have a rough idea of either what your total budget for the project is going to be, or what you and/or your committee are willing to spend on a per piece basis. In general, a custom 1-2 dimensional ornament will cost between $7 - $10 per piece, a custom bookmark between $4 - $6 per piece. We have other options on the upper and lower scale as well.

Having a budget allows our Account Executives to guide you through the best choices for your organization. Often, by knowing the budget up front, we can design more specifically to your monetary guidelines.

How many should you purchase?

This is often a challenging question. By preselling your keepsake to target customers, and understanding who and where your product will be distributed, you can gauge what type of quantity you will need. ChemArt requires a minimum of 250 pieces per order. But that is easily sold. Consider a committee of 5 would have to each find a home for 50 pieces. That could be 10 pieces in 5 local stores, businesses or libraries! Or asking your donors to buy two and give one to a friend or relative as a gift.

Also, remember to employ marketing efforts such as advertising, radio spots, flyers and press releases as outline in the Marketing FAQs. It’s easy to see how even the smallest organization can sell out of 250 pieces in no time.

How do we offset the cost of the keepsake?

Some of our customers have had great success with having one or some of their donors underwrite the cost of the fundraising program with their contribution. As organizations can easily charge twice the initial cost of the ornament, the return can be met with only 50% of inventory sold.

Another way to offset the cost of the keepsake is to find an outside sponsor. Often, a local artist can be commissioned to create the piece, and use their capital to purchase the keepsake, which can serve as a marketing tool for their work. Alternatively, many local companies would be willing to partner with your organization to pay for some or all of the cost of the keepsake in exchange for having their logo screened on the back of each piece. In any scenario, this is a win-win situation.

What is the theme of your piece?

This may be your most important decision. What images and themes are most important to your donors? Your volunteers? The members of your organization? Common images and themes have been a logo, a building associated with your organization, or something or someone of historical significance to you. Oftentimes, our designs are one aspect of the architecture in a building, and are easily recognized by people. Your subject should be something that people feel strongly about and would want to take home with them.

If none of these options are suited to you, you might try holding an artist contest with your volunteers, staff or local community, to find a design, drawing or expression that resonates with both the organization and the people it affects. This option is a great way to tie in the community to your organization.

Finally, our Account Executives will work with our design team to create some themes and subjects that might be appropriate.

How will you market your keepsake?

This can be the make or break part of your program. If you have a fine-tuned marketing plan, you will easily sell through your stock. For details on marketing your keepsake, please visit our Marketing FAQs.

What is the best time to create your keepsake?

You may not realize that keepsakes are great year-round sellers. Some of our most successful customers start selling in January of each year. Ornaments are durable keepsakes that look great on a stand on a desk or hanging from a window, in addition to adorning a Christmas tree. It's never too early for a tasteful memento of a special trip, a graduation, a team sport, an event, or an anniversary.

How do you get approval from the board or committee for the project?

Our customers find that it can be the decision of the board or committee that can make or break the decision to go forward with a custom keepsake. Obviously, the better armed with information and enthusiasm, the better. The most common objections from boards and committees revolve around cost, content, timing and selling through the inventory. The most successful customers are the ones who have:

• Determined preselling avenues and opportunities and identified key selling strategies
• Come up with a theme or subject matter for the piece that is not only relevant to the organization, but resonates with the donors and the local community with some emotional tie
• Put together a solid marketing and distribution plan
• Justified the quantity necessary to purchase and can easily explain the various avenues In which the keepsake can be promoted and sold
• Anticipate any objections to cost and have developed alternative means to pay for the keepsake