Promotional products have been around for hundreds of years. Match books are a good example of one of the first products to be used as a promotional product give a way. Everyone can remember seeing match books imprinted with the bar or other business name imprinted on the cover. Today the promotional products market is offering thousands of products you can use to promote your business, such as coffee cups, post-it notes, key rings; the list goes on and on.

So how do you use a promotional product and have a successful promotion? One of the biggest problems I see everyday is that the business owner or advertising manager do not understand how to use promotional products. Perhaps you have used a promotional product for a promotion in your business and it did not work up to your expectations. So what went wrong? Well the first thing I want to point out is that the first time you use promotional products it is best to start by giving them to your current customers. So for example say a customer is worth $1000 in sales per year. Would you give him a $0.25 ink pen imprinted with your message? The answer is yes and no, yes he would appreciate it and maybe use it, but no it is not the best promotion. Why? Because, most likely he would not use the pen for long and the key is to keep them looking at your business name. So what would be a better promotion item? Before I answer that question, let me ask another, "Would you be willing to give me a 1% rebate if I ordered $1000"? Most likely you would answer yes. So if you looked at giving your customer a gift he or she would use for at least one year and your budget was 1% of their worth as your customer, you would now have $10 you could spend per customer. Ok, now we can look for a product that will work for your promotion, a product like a desk clock, memo pads, wall calendars, letter openers or a good quality ink pen they would use. Get the idea to be successful you have to pick a product that will stay on their desk not in the trash.

Ok, now lets talk about low cost promotional products. You know the ones under $1;that you just give a way. When using these products, think of them like running ads in Media, you know;Magazines, Newspapers, etc. The cost may be $500 per ad to appear for one issue or one day. The truth is that most people will not even remember your add in a few days and if they do remember it, they will not remember how to contact your business. Do you remember the phone number, website, or address of an ad you saw advertised yesterday? Not likely! Here is where using low cost promotional products really stand out, when you give a free gift they have it in their hand and yes they may not keep it forever, but you can bet they will have it longer than they would remember the details of a Media ad. Why, because you will imprint your message directly on the product such as your Business Name, Phone, Website, and a short sales message. Sure just like a Media ad not everyone will become your customer, but at least you know they have your business information in their hands.

So now you know how to use promotional products, the next step is to pick out the product and start promoting your business. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we look forward to working with you on your next promotion.