What do you think of when you think of promotional products to market your business? Do you think of the annual calendars that your hardware store or bank gives out? Or, perhaps all those ball point pens you’ve collected with the names of various businesses written across them? The idea of putting a business name or brand on a useful item as means to promote the business is an old one, but it does still work. Have you given much thought to ways you can use promotional products to get the word out about your home business?
In addition to the items mentioned earlier, there are all sorts of things you can put your business name and logo on: jackets, shirts, tote bags, book covers, matchbooks, notebooks, bumper stickers, balloons—the list is as long as your creativity. I have found that the most successful promotional products are those that really tie in with the sort of business you do. For example, if you are in the housecleaning business, then dustpans or feather dusters with your name printed on them (phone number, web site, etc.) that you give out to customers as gifts may be more successful than a bumper sticker. Watch out for duplicating something that is already being over done. In my area, EVERYONE seems to use soft magnets as promotional items. I can understand why since they are cheap and light and flat (easy to mail) but when you do something that everyone else is doing, yours is likely to get lost in the clutter.
Shop around for a good price on your promotional item or items and don’t get roped into doing more than you can distribute. It can be really tempting to get twelve zillion pens printed just because they are cheaper by the pen if you get that many done. You just might be stuck with boxes and boxes, however, if you can’t manage to give them away. My advice is to start small and see how things go. You can always order more.
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