Magnet Marketing Tips: Get Creative!

Tried and true to the point of overdone, magnets remain one of the most popular promotional products. What other promotional product gets so much visibility! It's the only product that projects its message on the busiest appliance in the busiest room in the house. The magnet, however, can only do its job if it gets onto the refrigerator. If I put every magnet that I ever received on my refrigerator, it would topple from the weight! So, as most people, I keep just a handful posted. The rest are sent to the trash. The question is what criteria determine a magnet's invitation to the fridge door? Although everyone has their own standards, you can bet that there are some magnets that have a better chance than others.

Flexible magnets make up the majority of my magnet business. Being one of the least expensive promotional items, they are revered by many. A flexible magnet can be as low as 19 cents and as much as $1.60, but even at the higher end, a flexible magnet is still one of the most affordable promotional items. When a client has complicated full color art and needs a low price point, the flexible magnet is always a consideration. No other product is more easily customized. A full color imprint is available for quantities as low as 500 and a price as low as 32 cents. What's more is that special cuts and shapes are available with no die charge.

A standard business card magnet, however, often doesn't make a good case to the refrigerator door. When utilizing business card magnets, be sure that the information on them is important to the recipient. For doctors and veterinarians, a business card magnet adorned with emergency contact numbers is perfect. Even if the client keeps her important numbers in her cell phone, that number won't be accessible to the babysitter in case of an emergency. More so, business card magnets are a great promotional piece for pizza delivery places, especially when college students are the target market.

If the recipient isn't likely to need your phone number handy, business card magnets are probably not your ideal gift. But flexible magnets can still be a great option. You will just need to be more creative with your art and your magnet style. Because refrigerators find school pictures and snapshots irresistible, picture frame magnets are a shoo-in! Ordinary magnets obscure the picture and don't really hold the picture in place so well. Some magnetic picture frames have a business card magnet that pops out of the middle. Others have individual words that can pop out the middle and are used to make fun phrases. These are called message magnetic frames. Plenty of stock words are available for the messages, but the words can also be customized at no additional charge. For example, I was working with a local radio station that was exhibiting at Major League Baseball's All-Star Fan Fest. Instead of using stock words, I came up with a list of baseball terms and created a souvenir that baseball fans loved.

When you have great artwork that you want to show-off, the printing capabilities on magnets make it the perfect medium. Add some interactive interest by spending a little more and making the art into a magnetic puzzle. Visitors will have a tough time passing by the refrigerator without trying to piece the puzzle together. For more utility, put that puzzle inside a magnetic picture frame. The puzzle can pop out leaving the frame to highlight snapshots.

Next, you may consider a handy household product with a magnet attached. Think about a magnetic chip clip. This is a perfect idea for college students, but because the clips can be used with vegetable and cereal bags, moms love them too. The refrigerator makes a great bulletin board for families. Accentuate this area with a magnetic memo board. Memo boards are also a great consideration if you want to use full color graphics. Or you can add a magnet to a grocery list notepad and accompany it with a magnetic pen. Recipients can write down the groceries they need and tear off the list when they go to the market.

Remember that while magnets can be the perfect inexpensive promotional piece, they'll be a waste of your advertising dollars if you don't choose them wisely! Increase the odds of your brand getting lots of attention. Choose magnets that offer the most utility for your budget.