Identification – You want people to see credentials to increase their confidence in you or your brand.

You will want a lanyard that has a wide thread to put your company logo on, but that can also handle the attachment of an ID badge so people can see your credentials.

As a tool – People will often use the lanyard to hold important keys or security pass cards on.

In this case the best lanyards online will need to be one that is durable, and has a metal clasp to hold the key ring not just fabric.  See here how the metal key chain needs to be added to the lanyard, this assures the metal key chain rubs on the metal clasp preventing wear to the fabric.

For Simple Name Recognition – The natural eye line of most people in retail is positioned to stare at the chest or neck of another.

This makes it especially easy to use this space as advertising real estate, since the lanyard does not serve its natural purpose you can get what ever lanyards best suit your business.

Promotional lanyards are a great way to put your companies name in the eye line of anyone around.  They can be an easy way and a very simple way to promote a business to as many people as possible.  Corporate gift items like lanyards accomplish this very efficiently.  Because some lanyards are used to carry ID badges it makes them very visible to any person interactive with you or an employee.  Lanyards also make great key chains and can be purchased with a variety of sports logos on them.  It may seem like an overly large way to hang on to your keys but think about all the times you couldn’t find them, or if you have just one key that usually hangs by itself a lanyard is an easy way to keep track of it.

In the event that you own a small business you may find it useful to put the company keys on a lanyard for safe keeping.  If you decide on a customized lanyard with company logo or other information you are adding another point of customer visibility.  It also makes certain that valuable keys are not misplaced, a mistake that can cost both time and money.

Giving corporate gifts can be an effective way to both reward employees and increase name recognition.  I worked for a company that sent us door to door to sell pest control and I have had seasons where I didn’t have a lanyard and seasons where I did.  Undeniably the seasons in which I had a nice company embroidered lanyard with an ID badge inside made the customer relation process so much easier.    Primarily because customers could see the corporation had invested money enough to identify themselves along with the carrying employee.  It held my ID badge straight in the line of sight making it easy for the client to trust that I did indeed work for the company I said I did.

If you decide to use promotional gift items you should make sure they are ones that receive frequent use.  If you have a customer base you continually depend on make sure you put your name in an area they see frequently.  If they enjoy using the promotional item you gave them and they find it useful they will associate that usefulness to your product name.  This can carry a more long lasting and effective marketing message than even tv or radio spots.

The first time I used a lanyard was in a sales job I had.  In order to gain the confidence of those I worked with our talked to it was imperative they had something visual they could associate with trust.  The lanyard carried an ID badge incased in a plastic sleeve to protect it from the elements.  The sales job was basically cold calling in person and while the company I worked for carried all the proper licensing for the job it was not practical to dispense the licenses to all the sales force.  This meant that they needed to create something in place of an actual state issued license.

What the decided to do was manufacture ID badges and put security codes on them as well as security seals.  They ended up looking really officials but the actual numbering meant nothing.  I had people stop me all the time to write down the numbers on my badge.  Unfortunately for them those numbers meant absolutely nothing.

A few years later I started my own company and had employees who offered rock chip repairs to people with cracks or chips in their windshields.  Again there was a need to create an ID badge that looked official.  We used the numeric values for the three owners birthdays as the security codes on the actual badges themselves, added a bar code and a ‘seal of approval.’  They looked so official no one ever questioned what we were doing.

I guess in the end just because you use a lanyard or see that someone has one with an ID badge inside it doesn’t really mean that person is an official officer of that company or that they have passed any state or city approved inspection or background check.  So the next time you see someone using a lanyard in that way; make sure you get more information about their company before working with them.

Availability in these new reflective styles includes one standard width (5/8”) and 36 inch lengths.  Or if you choose to get a customized lanyard you may elect a slightly larger width.  It gets its reflective qualities from a high quality polyester surface that is woven into the fabric.  These particular lanyards come in a variety of colors including red, yellow, black and blue.  Yellow is an ideal choice for true reflectivity because its color already possesses a light attracting quality.  It has a swivel clasp included to use for the actual ID badge, this allows for easy use of whatever you plan to hold in the badge.

There are also break-a-way clasps that add another level of safety because in the event you are wearing the lanyard and it gets stuck it is easily broken free because the clasp simply snaps off.  If you are using the lanyard at a construction, for example, you can have a custom message woven into the badge like ‘Safety Primero!’  If you would like a message included in the lanyard it can be done by either having it woven in or screen printed on top.  For the extra fancy corporation you can have a material used that actually glows in the darkness.

These glow in the dark lanyards are perfect for use in any situation where visibility is of utmost importance.  Here are a few examples of where reflective lanyards should be used;

Concerts typically have limited light, lots of pot and lots of security guards.  By using reflective lanyards concert goers can easily identify security personnel in the event they have a security concern.

In an emergency there are many people who are overcome with emotion.  This prevents them from using normal body mechanics which can make it harder than normal to identify paramedics or doctors or police officers.

On a site that has hazardous material with varied amounts of consistent light reflective lanyards can be used to add an extra level of easily identifiable apparel.

The basic part of the lanyard is the strap, usually made of some kind of threading.  Typically made from non-biodegradable products which prevent the normal decomposition of the material.  There are two new products entering the market place which aim to fix the problem.  The first is the recycled plastic lanyard called the P.E.T. whose strap is made of recycled water bottles  or Polyethylene Terephthalate as they are technically known.  These are strictly the break-a-way style lanyard available in a few different colors – blue, purple, green and natural (fancy way of saying white.)

The next available lanyard products considered to be ‘green’ are a plastic cover that is 100% free of phthalates.  Phthalates are a toxic plastic that can cause a great deal of harm to the environment.  This new badge holder has two different styles; a top loading horizontal and vertical which allows them to be a diverse replacement for the more commonly used lanyard covers.

There are also earth friendly ID cards that are made from 100% recycled plastic and also from a newly developed corn plastic.  The best part of these new products is their ability to 100% decompose.  They help stimulate the economy by increasing awareness of the various uses of corn by products, this corn of course is grown here in the United States.

Being environmentally friendly and conscious has never been easier because the market for any products labeled ‘green,’ is steadily increasing.  Whether or not the products actually reduce any dangerous gases being sent into the environment is not clear.  The actual products used and methods used often use twice the fuel to produce than they save in their ‘green-i-ness.’

In any event these two new products can help the long term waste because they do actually decompose and use recycled materials.

How long should the lanyard be based on the style you want?

Variety of styles is not lacking in the lanyard world, so needless to say you will have a lot to choose from.  Flat braid and round braid are the two most common lanyard styles so if you are looking to keep it simple those are the way to go.  A lot of companies are trying to position themselves as eco friendly and if you find yourself in that position there are some environmentally friendly options out there as well.  These eco conscious lanyards are made from 100% recycled plastic and others are made from bamboo both make decomposition easier and don’t emit the same gases as they do so.  Optibraid and OptiWeave options allow you to remove the lanyard from the ID badge in the event you need to swipe the badge or key card, they are a little more versatile as they are expensive. Standard lengths for lanyards are 36” inches while widths are available in 3/8” and 5/8”.

Break away versus non detachable.

Lanyards are available in both break away and non break away options allowing you to buy the most appropriate tool for the job at hand.  Many employers option for the breakaway style because it is safer.  If you have ID badges that double as key cards than employees are prone to wear the badge around their neck.  In doing so they expose themselves to the risk of the lanyard getting caught on anything from a door knob to a desk corner.  Now the damage done will probably be pretty small unless you are in a chemical plant or anywhere hazardous materials may be involved.

What look are you going for?

Lanyards can be finished with a flat simple thread or the thread can have plastic woven in to give it a slight shimmer and they can also have a screen printing which allows you to customize a message.

Attachments.

If you plan to use the lanyard to hold an ID badge then you will need some way of attaching the two.  There are a variety of ways to do this; my personal favorite is the clip because it is easy to use and secure.  The clip functions like a close pin, you press down one end and slid in the badge.  Other options are snaps, key ring hooks and swivel hooks.  You just need to decide what is best for you.