Saturday 29 May 2010

Our Blog is moving!

Hello Wilderness,

A few people have contacted us about all the changes they have noticed going on down at the old PGI HQ. Although we have had a Blog and Twitter for some time now we have not been as active as we perhaps could (or should) have been and hence the changes ...

Our marketing manager (Dawn) will now be taking over the Social Networking aspect of the business as well as many of the other marketing duties previously carried out by the company directors.

We have replaced the website Homepage links (to some of our other smaller retail websites) with our Social Media buttons for Facebook, Twitter, our Blog and our upcoming Affiliate Network.

We have changed our profiles from the friendly (but infrequent) company director to the friendly (and very frequent) company profile which will be managed by Dawn from now on. I shall ensure I have the relevant passwords to sneak in the occasional, "Hello Wilderness ... " post!

We shall be actively recruiting affiliate partners from the 1st of June 2010 and fully expect to launch a strong affiliate program from mid June.

Our PGI (Personalised Gift Ideas) Newsletter will become a regular feature and will feature product discount codes as will our Facebook profile.

This could well be our 2nd last post from blogspot as we will be fully integrating a wordpress blog within our website structure to enable us to build and enhance on our company structure and profile.

So it truly is change at PGI but it's not all going to change because we will always be approachable, contactable and will always take a pride in our products and service.

Adios for now ...

Robert O'Rourke
Company Director
Personalised Gift Ideas Ltd

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Engraving Machines and Software!

Hello Wilderness,

Despite working during part of Bank Holiday Monday our best efforts were foiled somewhat by one of the Engraving Machine Laptops giving up on us - The horrible grinding noises from the Hard Disk suggested it was terminal!

Thankfully we have a few engraving machines so although slowed down somewhat we are back on track after replacing the laptop although it wasn't as easy as you may think as the engraving machines never liked Windows Vista and we therefore have to find Windows XP Laptops which isn't easy these days!

Anyway it just goes to show the potential dangers of not having spare machine capacity as we receive a lot of Next Day "Special Delivery" orders which would have been problematic if we were not geared up for volume.

Until the next time ....

Robert O'Rourke
Personalised Gift Ideas

Friday 30 April 2010

Marketing Manager Post

Hello Wilderness, It certainly has been too long since my last post! So what is new? Well having settled into our new Business Unit we are now looking to expand and to that end are now advertising for a new Marketing Manager.

So why does a UK Online company need a Marketing Manager? It seems a reasonable question but unlike most of our competitors we actually carry out a lot of Personalisation "In House". With cutting edge Engraving Machines and also Gold Blocking and Sublimation equipment we are well placed to expand into many other markets.

We have also updated our Website to allow image uploads for some of our photo gifts and also integrated a discount coupon system to start offering promotions so sign up for our newsletter now!

With First Communion and Confirmation Season now upon us our attention is now turning towards our Wedding Gifts category and we have been adding some new products to categories such as Best Man Gifts.

Once we get our Marketing Person onboard we will be sending out more Newsletters and updating our Blog on a more regular basis. But until then it's goodbye from all the staff at Personalised Gift Ideas.

Friday 6 November 2009

Hello Wilderness,

Our apologies for the phones ringing out today - BT installed our new lines late yesterday and guess what? .... They were'nt working today! We may have further teething problems with our change of address but keep Emailing us as although we have no phone lines or broadband it gives us a good reason to nip home and use the home office!

We are hoping for a Monday fix but will use our home systems to get up to date with any orders and enquiries so bear with us.

Other News? We are very pleased and excited to announce that we are very very close to launching our new range of Personalised Children's Jigsaws. We have commissioned a top UK Artist to design some really really great images ... watch this space!

All the very best from all at Personalised Gift Ideas.

Robert O'Rourke
Personalised Gift Ideas

Monday 2 November 2009

We have moved!

Hello wilderness.

Personalised Gift Ideas has moved. Well when I say "moved" it would probably be more accurate to say we are "moving" and now have one foot in our new door and one in the old!

We will be keeping our same phone numbers which switch to our shiny new premises this Thursday (5th November). Most of our machines have now been moved and I can tell you now - they are NOT light!

A whole weekend of moving machines and stock and we are still only about 70% there ... thank goodness it's just a short haul from the old to the new!

The last few weeks have certainly been a good example of interesting timing - A gifts company moving just before Christmas, Starting a Radio Advertising Campaign just as the Royal Mail escalate industrial action and the hire of a removal van to move premises on the wettest day in recent years!

We will post some photos once we settle in.

All the very best for the month of November from all the staff at Personalised Gift Ideas.

Thursday 15 October 2009

Website Relaunch

Hello Wilderness,

If you have recently visited the website you may have been excused for thinking it wasn't our site. After three years we have decided it's time for a change! Just about anything that could have been changed has been changed.

There are more changes afoot as well ... From Monday 19th October we will be starting our Radio Advertising campaign and from 1st November 2009 we will have completed our move into an even larger premises that will allow us to expand our range of machinery and stock.

Let us know if you like our new look and for those who think Santa has made too early an appearance then I do agree but it's easier adding him now whilst our web developers are already working on our project.

All the very best from all the team at Personalised Gift Ideas.

Robert O'Rourke
Personalised Gift Ideas

Monday 31 August 2009

Last Gasp August Update

Hello Wilderness,

Since it is the last day in August and everyone seems to be enjoying the day off (except here in Scotland) I thought it time for a quick post.

Back to School has been quite a challenge for everyone at "Personalised Gift Ideas" with our Gold Blocking machines working constantly on Personalised Pencils. Since the closure of the Staedtler warehouse in Wales we have been unable to source HB Pencils of the quality our customers expect but worry not ... We have decided to continue using Staedtler for our HB ranges and are now buying direct from Germany!

On the Website upgrades both "Personalised Children's Gifts" and "Personalised Gift Ideas" are now fully upgraded though we are still considering a new Home Page design for "Personalised Gift Ideas".

In terms of new products we have a whole range of new products for our Anniversary, Baby and Christening categories but are currently backlogged on our Photo Studio schedule due to our customer focus on our Back to School ranges.

Another exciting development is the addition of our Photo Jigsaws. We have taken presentation to such a great level with Presentation Boxes Gold Blocked with our very own Jigsaw Logo.

Once again it's been a short update but the next year or so will see more frequent posts and more resources diverted to our Newsletters also.

Keep Well everyone until next time.

Robert O'Rourke
Personalised Gift Ideas.