Alternative title for this ‘promo merch’ piece:

I’m bringing Tetley back.

(My other half admitted that this was delightfully witty thanks to the earworm, but nevertheless shook his head at me in vague disapproval…)

It’s accurate, though – I’m bringing my promotional teabags back, and the tea is indeed Tetley, if that helps.

Except for the ones that are Yorkshire Tea… my supplier is trialing both… It’s a non-story for another time.

Anyway!

Back in 2019, before the joy of the pandemic meant I didn’t have to leave the house to do business anymore, I used to place an inordinate amount of my ‘free’ time fretting about which logos, words, and general CTA witticisms I should place onto my business cards to ‘make me memorable’ at all the networking events and groups I felt obliged to attend to promote agoodwriteup.

I came up with some lovely designs for those cards (as we all surely try our best to do when promoting our businesses), but I still always felt icky handing them out to people. In my view, people only ever really ask for your card as a polite way of closing the conversation; an “I’ll call you sometime“, kind of thing.

As a creative and a contrarian, I needed to think outside of that box that everyone kept banging on about in business, and decided that I would only be happy in approaching people to hand something to them if it was a) a genuine talking point, or b) something that made them fall in love with me and my business capabilities right there on the spot.

Option A was easier.

Now, I know what you’re all thinking…

Jo – why teabags?

I’m glad you asked.

Mainly, it’s because I do like to be a bit experimental… though please do note that I didn’t say how I like to “stand out from the crowd“. Jesus wept… it’s completely beyond me how the irony is so lost on the sheer, well, crowd of people who use that phrase…

But back to the point –

I needed something small enough to store and carry, and something low-cost enough to mass produce. The most popular merch for brands and businesses to go with when faced with this criteria has more often than not been the humble pen. That option would have been an obvious choice for me to make seeing as I’m a copywriter, but, in my own experience on the receiving end of many a mark-maker, they quickly get lost. Also, I don’t love the idea of more plastic tat ending up in landfill, which when they run out of ink, pens most certainly will do just that. In my 43 years on this earth so far, I’ve lost more pens than I’ve written with, and so I’m not about to burden people nor the planet with that problem.

No, I needed something that could more closely represent me as a person, as well as the consummate professional that I am.

*Runs to check the definition of ‘consummate‘ to check I’m using the the right word*

And so, instead of having to call a marketing meeting with myself in order to discuss merchandising options, I decided to leave this task to somebody else. By ‘somebody else’, I mean any online networking forum I was a part of that would give me the time of day to entertain my musings.

I decided to specifically target the groups where I’d previously attended physical events – and where I’d been given a goody bag on arrival or on the way out. The bags would generally contain freebies, testers, gifts, samples, and vouchers etc from people present who were willing and able to contribute and promote. I’d always felt bad that I’d never contributed anything to those bags during my visits, so I asked those forums to come up with concepts for me and my business and to DM me with thoughts. I got a lot of responses and ideas over the next few days, but three stood out in particular. Those three each proposed that I brand up some teabags to hit the brief, but what was really interesting was that all three people stated different reasons for this choice. This confirmed to me that teabags would be a strong option to consider.

The first case for the caffeine was made because teabags tied in with a controversial statement I’d made (and still keep) on the Hello page of my website and on my LinkedIn Bio, where I warn potential clients of my ‘dirty dairy habit’ – that I make tea with the milk in first. Look, that’s an argument for another time, before anyone starts…

The second suggestion in support of teabags was supported by the fact that during a guest speaker/training session with the group in question, I’d talked about how proofreading and editing your own content and copy is best done after a break from your writing – even if that means simply going away and doing something different for a few minutes (like making a cup of tea). Seeing as I may as well give you some copywriting ‘value’ whilst you’re here, this is because you can temporarily separate yourself from your writing, and can approach your words with fresh eyes after a short break away (and therefore more easily spot any issues)! Not just a pretty face, you see.

The third tip-off that teabags were the top choice as my promo merch (I can speak like that because I’m so urban) was possibly my favourite. The suggestion was made because, “It’s always nice to sit down and read something brilliant with a brew“. I like to think that my clients take genuine pleasure in what I create for them, and view receiving my writing as an enjoyable experience as well as a relationship to serve a transformational purpose. That’s the hope, anyway.

Promotional teabags for agoodwriteup simply had to be created, and I started to put out the feelers for designers who could make my dreams come brew.

In getting all of this sorted, I had to weigh up more factors than I’d given credit for in looking at different quotes from some amazing suppliers. Minimum print runs, print constraints, image file types, environmentally friendly considerations… I hope that my clients realise just how much I love them for this, I really do…

My lady for bringing my ideas to life was Rebecca Harrison, who at the time ran a business that dealt with all kinds of creative promo merch (including the stuff I was wanting). She handled everything from concept to cup, and kept me sufficiently in merch for a number years. But then something terrible happened. Rebecca attended one of my copywriting training courses, and soon after, closed down her promo merch business to become a copywriter!

I was equally thrilled and gutted, as I’m sure you can imagine.

And then? Pandemic. So I moved everything I did (including training and networking) to a purely online model. No need for merch, and no need to order any tea.

People bloody loved those things, though. Well, everyone except my dear friend and client Tom Wormald, whose text message of constructive criticism after receiving his teabag simply read, “I don’t like tea… could you not have done coffee pods instead?”

Some people…

But truthfully, the bags were loved, and to this day, people remember them, talk about them, and still have them on their desks! You don’t have to love tea to appreciate the gesture, is my thought. (Tell that to Tom…).

Though my personality is probably enough of a gift to bestow on my clients and all those who work with me, I always think it’s nice to send people a little something every now and then to show them that I’m thinking about them, and to remind them that I’ve got a mortgage to pay if they fancy slinging some further work my way at any point. And so, in 2025, I decided to bring Tetley back.

I found a lovely lady called Donna at Creations by DMB Design over on Etsy (support small businesses and talented creatives, folks) who could help me out. She wasn’t technically offering promo merch, but it just goes to show that if you find someone you like, it always pays to have a conversation (cheers, Donna).

This time, however, instead of promoting agoodwriteup (my business in general) out at events, I decided to send out my teabags purely by post, and exclusively to a select demographic in my business – my Sorted in 60® one-to-one copy, content & comms clients. Yes, that included every single client who had ever booked at least one ‘creative, collaborative, and truly transformational‘ session with me since I brought it into my business in 2020 (yep, it was my pivot project).

And how can you get one of these brewed-up badboys (complete with personalised and handwritten card) for yourself?

Book in for a Sorted in 60®. 

Simple.

By all means click Sorted in 60® if you want to know what that is, how it works, and why you need it. This isn’t the place for me to pitch it, though.

This is the place purely for me to sign off and say…

With love, from me… to brew.