Die Struck Pins

How Lapel Pins Can Help Grow Your Medical Organization

How Lapel Pins Can Help Grow Your Medical Organization

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Whether your company is nonprofit or for-profit, you’ll want to get the word out to patients about your products and/or services. That’s often easier said than done, because the patient (who will ultimately be your end user) is sometimes several steps back in the chain of distribution.

Whether you’re going direct to consumer with your marketing efforts or appealing to doctors’ offices or retail and online sales outlets, lapel pins are an affordable, memorable way to get noticed.

Ideal for Any Healthcare Company

Do you own, manage, or work for a:

  • Remote / traveling medical-assistance firm – e.g., a visiting-nurse agency, home-healthcare provider, or a nonprofit offering low-income seniors free bus transportation to doctors’ offices?
  • Health education organization?
  • Manufacturer of medical supplies and/or equipment?
  • Pharmaceutical start-up?
  • Research firm specializing in chronic diseases, cancer, diabetes, physical and cognitive disabilities, or other health conditions?
  • Clinic offering free women’s health checkups, mobile mammography screenings, etc.?

…or any other organization related to the healthcare industry?

Add lapel pins to your marketing plan. These marketing pins offer an eye-catching way to promote your organization. They reinforce your branding, reminding your patients and customers exactly who you are and what you offer. 

Your employees and representatives can wear your branded lapel pins:

  • While making sales calls at hospitals and physicians’ offices
  • At popular conventions – including annual medical, dental, and eyecare conferences for device and equipment suppliers
  • At major trade shows for pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturers
  • At global expos for suppliers of surgical devices and equipment
  • At annual expos for makers of disability products and services
  • At civic events, school events, holiday festivities, and other community gatherings

What Should You Put on Your Pins?

That depends on your marketing objectives, personal tastes, and promotional budget. Your options include:

  • Your logo
  • Your organization’s name
  • A short health message (10,000 steps today, Fund the Cure, etc.)
  • Your slogan or tag line
  • A meaningful motto
  • A photo-realistic lifestyle image showcasing what you do
  • An appropriate symbol, such as the Caduceus Staff (with two entwined snakes) or an image of a stethoscope or other familiar medical device
  • An abstract design incorporating your color palette

Although lapel pins are relatively small – usually .75″ to 2″ max – they can display more visual information than you might think. You’ll be surprised how much detail these pins can comfortably fit while still looking bright and beautiful.

What Kind of Lapel Pins Should You Pick?

At Sunset Pins & Coins, we offer several alternatives, any of which can serve your promotional purposes. Choose from:

  • Soft Enamel Lapel Pins: They’re your most affordable option, and the fastest to produce, but make no mistake, these premium pins are extremely attractive and durable. With their rich embossed texture, intricate details, and colorful enamel fill, they’ll definitely make an impact. Plus, they can accommodate an amazing range of brilliant custom hues, including bold black and multicolor rainbow finishes.
  • Hard Enamel (Cloisonné) Lapel Pins: Unlike soft enamel pins, these upscale lapel pins are super-smooth all over, without any ridges or texture. Baked multiple times to “cure” (or harden) their sleek enamel surface, they’re then buffed for a bright, glassy finish that resembles fine jewelry.
  • Die-Struck Lapel Pins: Like hard and soft enamel lapel pins, these impressive pins are made by the die-stamping process. That is, a precision mold (or “die”) of your pin design is stamped in reverse relief onto a sheet of metal under intense pressure. But, unlike those enamel pins, our simple die-struck pins contain no colored fill. Instead, they’re plated with a premium metal like gold, silver, or copper. Sometimes, they’re also burnished for a stylish vintage effect.
  • Offset-Printed Pins: These remarkable pins are crafted using the same offset printing process used to print full-color magazines and brochures. Perfect for replicating full-color photography, they capture your photo image in precise, realistic detail – down to the subtlest nuances of text, shadow, and gradient. The result is eye-popping photo-realism, ideal for portraits and lifestyle images.

Once you’ve decided which type of pin you want, you’re ready for the next step.

Bring Your Basic Concept to Sunset Pins & Coins

Call 1-800-890-2789 to connect with one of our expert account executives. He or she will be with you each phase of the way, guiding you through the whole process from concept to completion.

Already have a finished design? That’s perfect! Our skilled design specialists can work with your concept to create the digital artwork that will serve as the mold for your pins.

Just have a vague idea what you want? That’s fine as well. Our designers can take even the roughest sketch – or even a mental image – and transform it into the finished art you’re looking for. At each stage of the process, we’ll get your buy-off, to make sure our artwork reflects just what you had in mind.

Then we’ll manufacture your pins in the quantity you prefer – anywhere from 100 to 10,000. And we’ll safely deliver your completed order directly to your office in time for your next trade show, convention, or public event.  

How Lapel Pins Will Help Generate More Leads at Trade Shows

How Lapel Pins Will Help Generate More Leads at Trade Shows

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Does your organization participate in trade shows, conventions, and conferences? Are you a member of a trade association that sponsors these kinds of events?

Custom lapel pins featuring your organization’s branding are a proven and popular way to drive traffic, awareness, engagement, leads, word-of-mouth, and sales. They’re surprisingly affordable, especially compared with most trade-show paraphernalia.

Who Should Wear Branded Lapel Pins at Trade Shows and Conventions?

Every attendee who represents your firm, group, or organization. Depending on the purpose and theme of the trade show, you’ll find pin-wearing attendees repping: 

  • Businesses and corporations
  • Trade associations
  • Police and firefighter associations
  • Churches and parachurch ministries
  • Schools and universities
  • Teachers and professors
  • Clubs and civic groups
  • Charities and fundraisers
  • Hospitals and health-care providers
  • Homeschool publishers and curriculum providers
  • Local outreach groups such as homeless shelters and crisis-control centers
  • Pin traders and other interest groups
  • And many more. If you belong to any kind of group, and you want to reach your target audience – up close and in person – wear a custom lapel pin!

Lapel pins are also perfect for individual professionals keen on marketing their products and/or services at large events. These include artisans, artists, hobbyists, software developers, tutors, building contractors, you name it.

How to Use Lapel Pins to Reach Your Trade-Show Audience

 Your options are pretty much endless:

  • Create unique lapel pins that stand out in a crowd and attract interest. Sure, logo pins probably leap to mind, but, with the help of Sunset Pins & Coins, you can have pins that tell a story, support a cause, and otherwise make visitors want one of your pins for themselves.
  • Have all employees attending the show wear your branded pins. Encourage them to use the pins as ice breakers – to tell the story, answer questions, or just show off how very cool your distinctive design is.
  • Keep a supply of your pins at your booth and hand them out to everyone who browses your exhibit.
  • Include your lapel pins in swag bags provided to patrons and visitors.
  • Decorate your booth or exhibit with lapel pins.
  • Trade your pins with other pin traders (at pin-trading conventions).

What Design Elements Should You Feature on Your Pins?

 The sky’s the limit! But, at a minimum, we recommend:

  • Your logo – perhaps.
  • The name of your organization, maybe as a logotype circling the pin’s main image
  • A colorful image specific to the product or service you’re promoting
  • A short, punchy tag line or catchy message (if it will comfortably fit)
  • The slogan for a cause your business is passionate about

What Kind of Lapel Pin Should You Opt For?

 At Sunset Pins & Coins, we offer several options, each with its own benefits. Go with the choice that best suits your plans and purposes.

  • Soft enamel pins. By far our most popular option, these beautiful pins offer two key advantages. They’re extremely affordable, and they’re easy to produce – usually within 10 to 12 days after you place your order. Best of all, they deliver an eye-catching ridged texture and richly colored enamel fill.
  • Hard enamel pins (cloisonné). These boast vivid enamel fill for a luxe multicolor look. But, unlikesoft enamel, they’re smooth, not textured, with a sleek polished surface that gleams like a brilliant jewel. And, since they’re extremely durable, they work well as heirloom keepsakes.
  • Die-Struck Pins. Typically monotone, these pins are plated with a precious metal like gold or silver or a premium metal like copper. Sometimes they’re burnished for a vintage look and/or edged with jet-black trim.
  • Offset Printed Pins. These eye-popping pins incorporate offset photography, the same classic technology used for expensive full-color brochures and famous magazines. Their imagery is amazingly clear, colorful, nuanced, and detailed.

Contact Sunset Pins & Coins to Order Your Custom Lapel Pins 

Call 1-800-890-2789 to get the ball rolling with your design.

Don’t have a design? Our talented artists are trained to turn your concepts into reality. They specialize in lapel-pin design, which differs in significant ways from conventional graphic design. So, you can trust them for a finished concept that captures your vision perfectly. Remember, you’ll have input throughout the process, so you can ensure the result you want.

Already have a finished design? We’ll gladly work with your custom artwork, tweaking it only when strictly necessary for proper manufacturing. Of course, we’ll always get your buyoff on any slight modifications we make. This is your show, and we’re here to serve, not to get in the way!

In just a few short weeks, you’ll have your classy lapel pins, all ready to wear and display at your next trade show or convention.

Score Big with Sports-Themed Lapel Pins

Score Big with Sports-Themed Lapel Pins

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From pickup games to national championships, we Americans love our sports. We’re always looking for cool new ways to show our support and allegiance.

That’s where lapel pins come in. These colorful custom buttons portray everything from teams, players, and mascots to balls, rackets, bats, clubs, bikes, skates, helmets, oars, and paddles.

Plus, because they are 100% customizable and range in size from .75 inch to 2 inches, they work perfectly with any clothing style, from T-shirts to business suits.

The market is huge – and growing – as more and more sports enthusiasts get in on the pin-trading craze and other popular trends.

How are you involved with sports? All of the following (and others) will love our custom pins:

  • Fans of Professional Teams: Whether you’re looking at the NFL, the NBA, or the PPA (Professional Pickleball Association), you’ll find avid fans eager to show off their loyalty to their favorite team. With a colorful enamel lapel pin depicting the team’s logo or mascot, they can do exactly that. With an offset-printed pin, they can do even more – i.e., sport a high-resolution photographic image of their favorite player.

If you are not with the team’s organization, make sure your imagery has been licensed by the relevant sports league or association before you produce any of these pins.

  • Fans of College Teams: Few fandoms are as enthusiastic as collegiate sports fans. Especially in regions where college football and basketball play prominent roles in the local culture.  

    If you’re in the marketing department of a collegiate soccer, tennis, golf, lacrosse, or other team, consider creating a series of sports lapel pins for every phase of the season – including playoffs and championships – as well as every athlete.
  • Fans of School Teams: Parents and students alike appreciate lapel pins celebrating middle and high school sports like soccer, football, baseball, basketball, track, tennis, golf, wrestling, and gymnastics. Pins can depict anything from the school mascot to a ball, glove, or helmet inscribed with the team name or logo.
  • Professional Team Executives and Staff: Even when sports execs are sporting business suits, they still want to promote their teams. How can they do so professionally? With lapel pins, of course. Hard enamel pins are ideal: With their brilliant colors and glossy shine, they convey elegance and class. Yet, at the same time, they definitely get the point across.

  • Coaches: From preschool T-ball to pro basketball, every sports team has a coach. Usually more than one. According to IBISWorld, as of 2023, there are 322,629 sports coaches in the United States. Many of those coaches may be looking for creative ways to honor, reward, and recognize their high-achieving players. Lapel pins are perfect for this purpose. They can be customized to show team colors and logos along with messages like “MVP” or “Outstanding Catcher/Kicker/Whatever.”

  • Sports Clubs: Do you belong to a local softball league, golf club, or pickleball association? Or do you market to these informal amateur groups? You may want to consider ordering a batch of custom lapel pins. Such pins provide these regional sports clubs with an easy, effective way to forge a group identity, build a unique brand, and connect with other members.

  • Pin Traders: Nowadays lapel-pin trading has become a booming business. At online sites like Amazon, and eBay, sellers feature pins everything sports. Why not get in on the game with attractive enamel pins promoting popular players, clubs, and teams? (If you are a reseller of sports pins, make certain you have proper licensing approval before ordering.)

Choose From Several Alternatives

Once you’ve decided to offer lapel pins with a sports or athletic theme, what’s the next step? Decide what kind of pins you want. At Sunset Pins and Coins, we offer a range of options:

  • Soft Enamel Pins: Known for their richly textured beauty, these budget-friendly pins boast higher raised ridges and lower recessed hollows. Brilliant colored enamel fills the recessed areas – but never comes up to the rims – to create a unique, distinctive 3D look. Best of all, these pins can be manufactured quickly at quite affordable prices, so they’re the perfect choice when you’re in a pinch.

  • Hard Enamel Pins: Also known as cloisonné, these jewel-like pins are famous for their solid, durable finish. Unlike soft enamel pins, they’re sleek and smooth all over, with a beautifully buffed sheen. Yes, they cost a little more to produce, but if you’re selling to major teams or sports CEOs, you’ll find that the customers’ smiles are more than worth the modest additional price.

  • Die-Struck Pins: Technically, most pins are die-struck. But these pins differ from their enameled counterparts because they contain no colored enamel at all. Instead, they simply consist of an engraved steel base plated with a decorative metal like gold, silver, or copper. Sometimes they’re antiqued for a vintage effect or trimmed with fancy finishes. But basically they’re elegant monotone pins, ideal for sports execs who prefer a refined, understated look.

  • Offset Printed Pins: Yes, they’re exactly what they sound like – lapel pins incorporating full-color photography printed with offset technology. Perfect for showcasing individual players.

Have questions? We are here to help. Leave your comment below or contact us for assistance at 800-890-2789 or email info@sunsetpinsandcoins.com.

Die-Struck Lapel Pins: The Simple, Sophisticated Way to Stand Out in the Crowd

Die-Struck Lapel Pins: The Simple, Sophisticated Way to Stand Out in the Crowd

Sometimes you just want something simple – a classic, timeless lapel pin that can serve a wide range of purposes.

Consider Die-Struck Lapel Pins

Die-struck pins are crafted in much the same way as enamel pins. A die – a mold of the pin design – is stamped into a strip of metal.

But that’s where the similarity ends. Unlike soft and hard enamel pins, traditional die-struck pins have no enamel fill at all. Instead, they’re plated with a decorative metal like gold, silver, or copper. Sometimes, they’re also antiqued for a weathered vintage effect.

This process gives die-struck pins their distinctive elegant look, with clean lines, crisp details, and jewelry-like glow. Result? These tasteful pins work well with uniforms, suit jackets, and other workplace attire. No wonder businesses, schools, clubs, and organizations love them!

For example, die-struck lapel pins frequently serve as:

  • Corporate logo pins
  • Years-of-service pins
  • Employee anniversary pins
  • Award pins for special accomplishments
  • Recognition pins – “employee of the month”; “teacher of the year”; etc.
  • Employee badges
  • Memorial pins
  • Club membership pins
  • Student achievement pins for commencements and award ceremonies
  • ID badges for public-facing professionals like realtors, hotel staff, and salespeople

But that’s just the bare beginning. Dye-struck lapel pins can also have countless other purposes, in contexts ranging from weddings to family reunions and more.

Choose die-struck pins if:

  • You prefer simple, sophisticated designs
  • You’re on a budget (these pins typically cost less)
  • You’re in a time crunch (they’re faster to produce)
  • You want premium keepsake pins that will last for years
  • You simply like the lustrous look of precious or semi-precious metal

How We Create Our Die-Struck Lapel Pins

As we’ve already mentioned, the initial process is the same one we use for our enamel lapel pins.

We start with your design. Have just a rough idea of what you want? Or a fully developed professional design? Or anything in between? Reach out to us. Our expert designers are thoroughly trained in metal pin design, a specialized field that differs significantly from other types of design. They’ll take your concept and deftly turn it into digital artwork, which will meet all the specs and requirements for the dye-struck stamping process.

Sometimes we may have to tweak your design very slightly for technical reasons – for instance, if it’s a bit too complex to render well in metal. In such cases, of course, we’ll let you know, and we’ll always get your sign-off on any minimal changes. In fact, you’ll be involved each step of the way, vetting and approving the design to make sure it’s exactly what you want.

Next We’ll Create the Die. Once we have the final digital artwork – completed to your satisfaction – we’ll feed it into a special engraving machine, which will carve every detail of your design into a solid steel base.

The result will be your die: a precision-cut stamping mold that perfectly captures your design, but in reverse relief.

Then Comes the Stamping Process. That’s when we insert your die into a hydraulic press. Using hundreds of pounds of pressure, this powerful press will stamp the die onto a metal strip –  usually brass or copper or some other softish metal that produces a sharp impression.

The result is your pin blank: a 3D metal replica of your lapel pin artwork, with raised edges defining the outlined design and recessed cavities in between.

Next, we’ll use a punch or trimming tool to cut away excess metal from around the pin blank. This will produce a crisp metal pin with clearly defined edges.

Now We’re Ready to Plate Your Pin. You’ll choose the plating metal – usually gold, silver, or copper. You can even choose antique gold or silver for a classy retro effect. Plus, you can combine two different metals – or add some bold black trim – for a truly distinctive look.

Once we plate your pin, the recessed areas will have a shadowy look, while the raised edges will catch the light for eye-popping contrast. If you wish, we can sandblast the recessed sections to create even more shade and texture. That way, the pin’s brighter raised edges will stand out even more.

Finally, We’ll Polish the Pin’s Raised Edges for a brilliant mirror-like finish with a gorgeous gem-like gleam. Result: an even more dramatic contrast with the recessed areas. You’ll love the stunning embossed effect!

How to Order Your Dye-Struck Lapel Pins

  1. Contact us at 1-800-890-2789 or info@sunsetpinsandcoins.com.
  2. Send us your idea.
  3. Decide on your size. We can accommodate anything from .75 inch to a full 2 inches.
  4. Decide on your quantity – from 100 to 10,000 and up.
  5. Decide what kind of plating you want – gold, silver, or something else.
  6. Decide whether you want us to sandblast the recessed areas or leave them as is, with a flat matte texture.
  7. Decide what kind of backing you want. We provide rubber clutches and butterfly clutches free of charge. We offer deluxe clutch backs, jewelry clutches, and safety-pin backs at modest additional cost.
  8. Work with our friendly representative to ensure your complete satisfaction!