Promotional Items: Are They Worth It?

Julianne Wish
People love to get free stuff. They like it even more when they get a free item they can actually use at home or at work. And when you put your business name and website on it, it's better still. Now you are part of your potential client's daily routine.

Promotional items that you give away can be a great advertising tool for your business. Below, you'll learn about some of the best and most popular promotional items. You'll also discover where you can buy promotional items for a budget.

When you are deciding which promotional items to purchase for your business, you'll need to think about:

• What your target market needs

• Where you'll be giving them away

What your target market needs is the first thing you should consider. If you sell baby items to moms, you wouldn't want to give away a tool for the garage. You would however, want to consider items like coffee cups, stress balls, or T- shirts. These are all things moms could use and would use on a regular basis.

If you put your name on a product your target market will regularly use, they will remember you when they need your product or when someone they know needs your product.

You also need to consider where you will give them away. If you're putting items into a goodie bag from the Welcome Wagon, you'll need to buy smaller items that will fit into the bag. If you have a booth at a craft fair or expo you would be able to give away larger items like calendars and coffee cups. The event may have certain requirements for you to follow, as well.

One of the most popular promotional items right now is the pen. Everyone uses pens whether they are at home or work. Moms usually keep a few extras in their diaper bags or purses. Another item that is gaining popularity is the mouse pad. Put your name on a mouse pad, and your potential customer will think of you whenever they sit down at their computer.

You may be wondering where you can buy these items. There are many places online that offer these types of promotional products. Vistaprint.com is a good place to start. They offer small amounts for a decent price, so you don't need to make a large purchase to get a good deal. You can use gopromos.com or pinnaclepromotions.com if you want to order larger quantities.

If you are starting a new business and are on a tight budget, you might think you can't afford to purchase promotional items. However, with a little creativity and shopping around, you can find promotional items to fit any budget.

You can look for promotional items for a budget, such as calendars and pens, at Vistaprint.com. Another inexpensive promotional item is pencils. Most adults don't use pencils, but kids do and they have a tendency to leave them lying on the table or counter for their parents to find. If you're marketing a product to parents, that would be an affordable way to remind them about your business.

Promotional items can be great tool for spreading the word about your business. If you think about what your target market needs, and use a little creativity, you can make sure your business is always in front of your potential clients.

Published by Julianne Wish

I'm Julianne Wish, CEO of Wish Enterprises, Inc. I connect people with opportunities. After a long and successful career designing, developing and deploying program management systems of diverse types rangin...  View profile

1 Comments

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  • Rhetta Akamatsu6/26/2009

    Excellent advice. There is a whole section of links to promotional item providers at ThINKplaza at http://thinkplaza.boomja.com to make it easy to compare prices, etc.

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