custom medals

Complete guide for Purchasing Custom Medals

When competitors receive their medals at the conclusion of an event, the faces on their faces light up, which is very fulfilling for the event directors. But not all event organizers are aware of what it takes to give a customized medal in order to achieve that outcome.

Even though you put a lot of thought, time, and effort into making a remarkable award, if you haven’t ordered custom medals before, you can run into problems along the road that end up costing you time, money, and overall happiness.

Fortunately, this guide will help you become familiar with the ordering procedure, avoid typical blunders, and make the experience enjoyable and interesting. The success of your event will eventually be enhanced by using this instruction.

A Quick Overview of Custom Medal Ordering

Custom medals serve as more than simply a physical reminder of the recipient’s exceptional achievement; they also serve as a symbol of the event itself. Because of this, you should design an impressive, distinctive reward that inspires participants and makes them feel good every time they see their medal.

Giving participants a personalized medal has many advantages other than making individuals feel great. Giving a one-of-a-kind award at your event, for instance, could encourage more attendees and consequently more sponsors.

Where do you begin and how does the purchasing procedure operate once you’ve made the decision to reward attendees with a unique personalized medal created just for your event?

You aren’t expected to be an expert and handle everything on your own; instead, a seasoned medal vendor will frequently speed up the process of designing, purchasing, and delivering bespoke medals.

As you begin the process of making your personalized award, there are a few things to keep in mind and things you should think about.

What Time Is Your Event?

The timing of your requirement for them for event advertising, staging, and peace of mind is more crucial. It’s always a good idea to give yourself a cushion, especially if you don’t know where your personalized medals will be made and shipped from.

The sort of custom medal you select may also depend on how soon you need the medals to arrive. Because different materials and manufacturing techniques are used to create each type of medal, they each have a distinct appearance, feel cost, and production time.

In order to better grasp how the type of custom medals might affect your timeframe, overall cost, end result, and, most importantly how your recipients connect with them you’ll want to be aware of the key variations between the different varieties.

When is the latest I may place my order? Is one of the most often asked queries by consumers?

Without knowing a few factors that are unique to your scenario, it may not be the answer you’re hoping for, but it’s the most realistic one we can provide.

Start with the date of your event; once you’ve confirmed it, let your medal supplier know so they can work backward to determine the most precise time frame for completing your order.

Don’t worry if you are aware that you are running out of time. There are excellent possibilities for bespoke medals with a short turnaround.

As a result, don’t give up on the notion of having bespoke medals for your forthcoming event because you believe you lack the time. Instead, get in touch with a reputable medal dealer to learn about your alternatives.

How Many Medals Are Necessary?

Why this is important to know: The number of medals you order will ultimately affect how long it takes to receive them and how much it will cost. Generally speaking, the price per medal decreases as you purchase more medals.

For competitions with a set number of divisions, events, and places, it can be simple to calculate the number of custom medals you require. Once you have these figures, you can easily calculate how many medals are required.

In other situations, the math is more complex. For instance, it can be practically difficult to determine the exact quantity by the time you need to place your purchase for events like marathons when registration deadlines are approached by an increase in participant numbers.

To have your medals arrive in time for your event, you’ll probably need to place your order before registration ends. Event planners might want to take into account anticipated attrition rates based on previous data (if it’s available) to further complicate matters.

In most cases, it is preferable to overestimate and leave with a few more medals than to underestimate and risk losing money and your reputation.

Have You got a Plan?

Custom artwork is necessary for a medal; if you already have a design, awesome! Creating for print or the web is different than designing a medal, thus it may need to be modified for manufacturing needs.

You’ll need to acquire a design if you don’t currently have one. To help you produce a design that appropriately promotes your event and fills you with pride to give your attendees, you may seek the assistance of skilled designers that specialize in custom medals.

Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance with producing your artwork the majority (the finest) of medal sellers have in-house designers!

You will need to participate in the artwork creation process and give instructions regarding the logos, themes, features, etc. That you want to be incorporated into your design. The final design will need your approval before production can begin.

Have You Set a Budget?

Even though it can be challenging, setting a budget for personalised medals helps the ordering process go more easily from beginning to end, especially if you have a tight budget for your event. However, people who have never ordered bespoke medals could struggle to set a budget straight away without any assistance.

They simply don’t understand how important elements like medal type, size, design elements, and amount of lead time before the needed in-hands date affect the price of bespoke medals.

Fortunately, with the assistance of a knowledgeable medal vendor, you can clarify the specifics that are most likely to affect the cost of your medals and, from there, create a more realistic budget based on your unique requirements.

You can determine your ideal pricing per medal (or at least a price range you’d prefer to stay within) by starting the dialogue with your dealer. You’ll be able to profit from budgeting benefits as you go through the process of designing, approving, and concluding your custom medal order by ironing out these crucial issues in advance.

How to Place an Order

It’s typical to be uninformed of the time and effort needed to produce (and receive) a bespoke medal order unless you’re an experienced pro who has ordered medals numerous times.

No matter what kind of event you’re throwing, there are a few pointers to assist you make the most of the ordering procedure in your particular circumstance.

Learn about the timeline and ordering procedure for bespoke medals.

Choose the style of personalised medal you desire.

Give your medal vendor the art direction so they can begin working on your design (logos, required design elements, fonts, etc.).

Let’s dissect the steps needed to place your order a bit more.

Approvals

Before medals may be produced, an event director or customer must approve of the following two things:

  • It is necessary to produce and approve art. Remember that more intricate designs take longer to create and that any adjustments extend the ordering process.
  • You must decide on and approve the specifics of an order acknowledgement, including the quantity, your contact information, shipping and billing information, the event date, the date the order will be in your possession, the terms of payment, etc.
  • Any additional specifications for your medal order, such as bespoke neck ribbons, unique packaging, or expedited shipping, must also be mentioned at this point.

You might be shocked to hear that consumers routinely accept false information regarding:

  • Details in the artwork, such as misspelt words, dates that are off, PMS colours, the design version, etc.
  • Order confirmation information, including quantity, price, event dates, shipping addresses, etc.
  • Mistakes of this nature occur more frequently than you may imagine. It will save you a lot of grief if you take the time to double-check all the facts before you approve them.

Production of Medals

The fabrication of your personalised medals starts when you approve the artwork and order acknowledgement. As you may anticipate, regular production time varies based on the type of medal, the complexity of the design, and the number.

Production capacities could be necessary at specific seasons of the year. As a result, placing an order as soon as feasible is always a wise move.

Medal Delivery: Logistics & Shipping

Your medals will be sent after they are finished being manufactured. Depending on where your medals are coming from and where they are heading, shipping times will change.

The transit period for locally produced and distributed medals is between 1 to 5 business days.

It takes longer to transfer imported medals; the most expensive route, air freight, often requires 1-2 weeks.

The fastest mode, ocean freight, can take up to seven weeks to reach you.

Delivery time delays can be caused by a variety of factors, including address changes, mechanical problems, customs delays, inclement weather delays, simple human errors, and other supply chain delays.

Even though the best medal vendors will handle shipping and logistics from beginning to end, they cannot always control the logistics problems that can result in delays. This is another compelling argument in favour of starting your order right away.

For instance, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, there were substantial delays and shortages of supplies, tools, and labour throughout the planet, which resulted in lead times that were up to 8 weeks longer than usual.

It is strongly advised that you verify your cargo as soon as your medals arrive to make sure everything is accurate and to report any inconsistencies.

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