Thursday, 29 January 2009

Three Great Ways to Boost Business With Promotional Gifts

Many businesses are already aware of the immense potential that promotional corporate gifts have to boost business but are at a total loss as to how to make the best use of them. Amazingly, there are scores of ways to increase your bottom line by giving out promotional gifts. The following are just 3 oft-overlooked favorites:

1. Give them out as employee bonuses: Too often business owners and their marketing departments are so wrapped up in pleasing existing customers and courting new ones that they forget all about the people working so hard to help make that happen. But a business's employees are its most valuable asset. Pleasing one customer or prospect benefits your bottom line, certainly, but keeping your number one sales force--your employees--happy can bring you endless streams of clients and leads, benefiting your bottom line today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter.

2. Give them out as raffle prizes: The next time you host an event--be it a corporate conference or a charity fundraiser--hold a raffle. People love the opportunity to win something for nothing (or next-to-nothing depending on your raffle-entry terms). And by using promotional gifts as your prizes, you can buy just a few larger, "high-ticket" items and wow not just the prize-winners but everyone who enters and even all those who just watch.

3. Give them out as raffle tickets: A raffle is a multi-layered marketing opportunity. And another way to maximize that opportunity--in addition to buying a handful of more expensive promotional items to give out as prizes--is to purchase a large amount of a very inexpensive promotional item to give out instead of paper tickets. This way, everyone who enters gets to take something with your name on it home with them, making everyone who enters a winner!

Monday, 15 December 2008

Low Cost Promotional Items For The Credit Crunch

In these credit crunch times businesses around the world will be asking themselves 'should I or shouldn't I go ahead with our planned promotional campaign?'. There is no easy answer to this question and obviously budgets play a big part in the answer to the question. However, there is a clear need for all businesses to strive to retain existing customers and also to bring on board new ones at the same time. The key here is how to do this in the most cost effective way. The first part is quite easy we can all use the telephone where calls cost nupence to keep in touch with our current client base, the second is a little more tricky.

Promotional gifts can offer a great low cost way in which to promote your business to the masses and what's more effectively. You don't have to spend a fortune on gifts to get your message noticed. There are a whole host of product options which are available for pennies and not pounds, the obvious one is promotional pens. Pens are available from only a few pence each and can be custom printed with your logo and contact details and then distributed to potential customers via traditional methods or handed out at trade shows and conferences. Think about it 1,000 pens imprinted with your details are going to give your brand a wide exposure and for only a few hundred pounds at most. Compared with other forms of advertising this form of building brand awareness is extremely cost effective.

We all use pens on a daily basis and leave them lying around our desks so not only does the recipient see your message but also any passer by in the office or other use of the pen. Plastic promotional keyrings are another great low cost way to promote your business, we all have keys and use them daily and if you can come up with a eye catching design there is no reason why the recipient wouldn't substitute your keyring for their existing one. Once attached to their keys your message is going to be hanging around for months if not years to come.

So you see, even in the tough economic climate we currently live in promotional items can form a crucial part of gaining new customers in a highly cost effective way just don't blow the budget on high end products and the result will still be the same, new potential customers at a cost that won't make the boss choke.

Monday, 1 December 2008

Recycled Rulers as Promotional Gifts

Recycled promotional gifts are a very hot item right now. Consumers are scrutinizing environmental Impact with all of the media hype regarding the damage our past and present activity is wreaking on it. To get on the bandwagon, so to speak, you can offer recycled promotional gifts to impress your clients, customers, and even employees.

All that remains is choosing the types of recycled promotional gifts you would like to offer these individuals. Something that is very functional has always been a ruler. At various times in our lives we need to measure things whether it is at home, in school, or at the job. In fact rulers can also be used as a means of keeping place on a page of material being typed.

The functionality of rulers leads to the importance of the recycled promotional items. There are recycled rulers offered for recycled promotional gifts at Ideas by Net. These rulers are made from recycled CD cases, discs, and other recycled plastics.

You have your choice in the style of recycled rulers that you purchase. There are 15 cm, 30 cm, and 1 m rulers you can purchase. The type of recycled promotional gifts you offer will need to be based on your target audience. If a lot of teachers, children, or parents of children come into your store the recycled rulers will fit this need perfectly.

Not only are the recycled promotional gifts perfect for advertising your company; they are also very cost effective marketing.

Thursday, 6 November 2008

Recycled Promotional Gifts to Enhance Your Business

The environment is a hot topic of late. With new reports, concerns, and companies jumping on the bandwagon the environment is always in the forefront. This is not a bad thing; in fact it can be used towards promoting your business.

Your business needs to advertise and have a marketing campaign. What many businesses are doing is assuring their consumers that they are environmentally friendly through a variety of different ways. To be in the running for generating more revenue from consumers, you need to offer recycled promotional gifts. These gifts will show just how much you care for the environment.

They can also be a way to enhance your business sales. A free gift always goes a long way towards wooing consumers, but recycled promotional products can take it even farther. Now that you know how the recycled promotional gifts can help you, let’s look at the kind of gifts you can purchase for promotional reasons.

In the recycled promotional gifts section you have organic clothing, bags, coasters, mouse mats, mugs, note pads, pencil cases, pens, rulers, and sticky notes. Each of these promotional items has been made with the environment in mind. The recycled promotional items will be cost effective to your business. They will also allow you to advertise your logo for brand recognition. The most important thing about gaining sales is to make sure the business name and logo will be recognised. If you can have this and have your name recognised in a good light, then you are succeeding.

Monday, 27 October 2008

Promotional Merchandise as Employee Gifts

There are four reasons you should offer promotional merchandise to employees. The obvious reason is seasonal gifts such as Christmas. Promotional merchandise will help show your appreciation to the employee for all of their hard work during the year, and that you recognise the holiday.

We touched lightly on the other three broad reasons. Employee recognition is a huge reason to offer promotional merchandise. The merchandise can be offered to a specific employee for a specific project that was well done. It can be offered to a group for a project. Promotional merchandise can be used to signify an anniversary with the company, such as the five-year mark for employment. It can also be used as a motivator.

Promotional items are often used in contests for rewards. Corporations like to have contests to help increase employee morale. The contests can be for upping sales, hitting the budget for the quarter, or any other reason. The point at the end of the contest is that there is a reward worth working for. The promotional merchandise will fit that idea. The merchandise should be something the employees would want to work for. It will be something they might covet from the company, such as the new products. In this case the promotional merchandise can be anything you make it.Again, to offer a good light towards the company, the image you create with the promotional merchandise needs to be one that will satisfy your needs. Employee promotional merchandise should not be low quality or leftovers.

Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Promotional Items at Trade Shows

Trade shows are a little different from regular events that many businesses host. Trade shows are a way for you to get your products sold in a store. For example, at a trade show products that you produce or make by hand are often on display. This allows anyone that has a shop to come find merchandise for his or her shelves and floor. It is essentially a merchandise mart for smaller shops that get their products from several places.

Trade shows need to be impressive so that a person can find good quality products for sale. Some places will want to have a huge number of items that they can buy in order to fill their shop. Others may just want to get a few items to see if it sells. One way to impress potential clients at trade shows is by promotional items.

Promotional items can be a new product line you are offering for free or it can be a way for brand recognition. There are five useful promotional items at trade shows you should consider. These five promotional items are pens, key rings, paper and carrier bags, notepads, and mint strips or mint cards. These items tend to be functional as well as intriguing to the consumer. For example, utilizing the mint strip or card can be considered an unusual gift that peaks the interest of your client or potential client. It is something that not every business will do. It is also inexpensive and therefore a cost effective promotional item.

Promotional Merchandise Functionality

Your business is important to you; therefore you want it to succeed. Part of making a business succeed is the marketing and sales that you have. To get your brand recognised you have a number of options. One is offering promotional merchandise. The promotional merchandise can be gifts to employees, clients, or conference attendees. It can also be something offered in conjunction with an item you have for sale.

For example, new product launches often have promotional merchandise along with them. Cosmetics, when you purchase the entire new line, may offer a free bag to take the cosmetics home in. The bag would be the promotional merchandise. This also leads to our main topic. Promotional merchandise needs to have functionality. In other words it needs to have a use that the receiver will see and like.

One of the promotional items found at Ideas by Net is a pen, but they are not just any pens. These pens have carabiners, tape measures, and other options that create a dual functionality within the pen. You don’t just have something to write with, you also have a tape measure when you need it or perhaps you have a multi-inked pen. The point we are trying to make is that the promotional merchandise must fit your brand, but also be functional to the client to have a greater effect on the marketing and sales. After all, to have your business succeed you need to impress your target audience as much as possible through promotional items.