The methods that you use to advertise can say a lot about your business to potential customers. For example, if you take out an ad in a newspaper then people will immediately make judgements about your company based upon which newspaper the ad is printed in. (more…)

Printed T-Shirts

Now many businesses attend trade shows, fairs and exhibitions on a regular basis. As you walk round one of these exhibitions you will notice that many of the businesses exhibiting will be giving away some sort of promotional gift, anywhere from a printed carrier bag for their brochures through to promotional pens, key rings, coasters and mugs. So if you are thinking of attending or exhibiting at a trade show or exhibition this year, promotional gifts, corporate gifts and business gifts will be a way to help get your business noticed and remembered.

Everybody appreciates a free gift that will actually be useful to them so why not look at taking along some promotional gifts to the exhibition. Some of the many options available to promote you business are USB memory sticks, desktop items, lanyards, pens, mugs and many other items too numerous to list here all of which can be branded with your company logo and even your business contact details.

Another advantage of free promotional gifts is that every time someone uses it they will be reminded of your business so the next time the product or service your business offers is needed the chances of them contact you is greatly enhanced. Whilst attending the exhibition or trade show, why not also have your staff members that are attending the event in promotional printed t-shirts printed with you company logos, or even embroidered fleeces, sweatshirts or baseball caps?

Promotional USB Drives

Promotional Gifts

Many businesses rely on the loyalty of their existing clients and a great way of rewarding that loyalty is with business gifts or corporate gifts. You may have had these clients for many years or just a few months or maybe it is approaching the time for yearly contract renewals, either way promotional gifts are an ideal way to thank them for their business so far, show them that their business is appreciated and to help that client loyalty to be maintained.

There are many options available to you to do this, you may want to send a branded diary every new year or maybe send a pair of engraved champagne flutes when it is getting close to the time when their contract is due for renewal. Another option is to send something that they will use and see every day such as a promotional flash drives stick with your company logo or one of several desktop items which are available.

Also as most people appreciate the gesture of a free promotional gift it can also help to promote your company as your client may well then be encouraged to tell others about your company and its excellent customer service.

Promotional Fridge Magnets

A television advertisement for an online bingo website has been pulled by the Advertising Standards Agency recently as it was thought to show a negative racial stereotype of a black man. The content of the advert probably wouldn’t strike most people as being offensive; however as the ad prompted complaints it had to be removed. This simply serves to highlight the difficulties that many advertisers face on a daily basis!

There are strict controls over the type of content that can be shown in an advert, and if you want to be slightly shocking or controversial in order to draw attention to your ad then you might find yourself having to skirt around various rules and regulations. However, it’s not just television ads that are governed so strictly, printed ads and radio ads are also subject to these regulations!

So, you need to be well aware of what you can and can’t do when you’re promoting your business. However, if you use promotional gifts to advertise then you won’t have that problem! It’s hard to imagine somebody being offended by a free corporate gift, so if you make use of promotional gifts to advertise your business then you don’t run the risk of offending people’s sensibilities in the same way that you might if you were to run a TV ad! By handing out business gifts such as promotional fridge magnets or novelties you’ll be avoiding any of the hassle of confirming to advertising regulations whilst getting some widespread and effective promotion for your business!

Printed T-Shirts

Today it is all too easy to get hold of information about a person. There are vast databases with people’s personal details stored on them that are shared amongst various companies and advertisers. It’s very tempting for the advertiser to make the most of this information and target their particular demographic through telemarketing and email. However, it has been reported by consumer watchdogs that many people find this sort of advertising highly intrusive, particularly when it becomes apparent that their personal details they’ve unwittingly submitted have been used to target them. It also seems that companies in the mobile telecommunications industries are the most guilty of using this tactic!

If you’re using this type of advertising then you must realise that you could easily be upsetting your potential customers with this perceived invasion of privacy. Rather than embracing this rather intrusive modern technology why not go for some more traditional forms of advertising that consumers feel comfortable with. In this age of untrustworthiness you can prove your company’s worth to potential customers by handing out some free promotional gifts.

Distributing free, no obligation promotional gifts or business gifts is a great way to boost your company’s public image. Everybody appreciates a free gift, and it’s a great way to advertise too. Why not have some printed t-shirts made for your business? There are so many promotional gifts available that you can have branded with your logo or colours. So, why not knock the intrusive online spamming or telemarketing on the head, it’s doing nothing your corporate image! Try spending some of that advertising budget on promotional gifts instead and see the reaction you’ll get.

Promotional Umbrellas

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few months then you’re probably aware that the weather hasn’t been particularly good lately. It’s brightening up now, but it’s inevitable that we’ll experience similarly bad weather again early next year.

Presumably you might be a bit perplexed as to why I’m writing about the weather; however it’s really quite relevant. For the smart advertiser who knows what he’s doing then promotional gifts are really useful way to promote your business. So, taking into consideration the fact that practically any everyday item can be turned in to a business gift with a bit of branding you should seize this opportunity to effectively promote your business at any available opportunity. So, why not have some promotional umbrellas printed up with your company’s logo and branding next time you order some promotional gifts? People have to get on with their day to day lives even when the weather is terrible, and they’re certainly not going to say no to a free umbrella. So, if you hand out umbrellas as corporate gifts just think how many people will see your name about town next time the heavens open!

That’s the beauty of promotional gifts though. If you print your logo onto a useful item that people are likely to want to keep then they’ll be remind of you every time they use it, or introduce your business to somebody else if they pass the item on.

Business Gifts

It has been reported that this year the amount of money being spent on online advertising will overtake the amount being spent on printed advertising for the first time ever. This is a clear sign for marketers that times are changing and businesses need to adapt the way they advertise in order to keep up with these changes.

Naturally your own business will have an advertising budget and the chances are a good portion of this will be spent on online advertising. However, simply because online marketing is becoming an increasingly dominant advertising format that doesn’t mean that you should neglect other methods of promotion.

If anything, online advertising becomes much more effective when used in conjunction with other methods such as the distribution of promotional gifts. It’s also important to question the effectiveness of online advertising. It’s certainly true that it allows you greater coverage, but as an internet user yourself you’ll also be aware that online adverts and considered a nuisance by many people who simply choose to ignore them. This simply isn’t the case with promotional gifts! They are hardly ever considered to be irritating; in fact most people would be thankfully to receive free business gifts such as promotional pens!

The fact that our lives our becoming increasingly dominated by the internet doesn’t mean that marketers should forget about advertising outside of cyber space. Next time you spend some cash on online marketing perhaps you should consider spending some of that budget on some promotional pens and compare the results!

Promotional Bags

Christmas and the New Year are now far enough behind us to make this time of year about business. By now, it will have become apparent which resolutions have failed, and which will stay the course. So with a clearer picture of the year ahead, now is a good time to get around to the various business and trade fairs that take place in the early months of the year,and get the word out about what exciting opportunities your company has to offer over 2010.

Promotional Mugs

Of course, your business won’t be alone in doing this, so encourage good feeling from people who visit your stands and make sure they remember your company when they leave the fair—promotional gifts such as promotional t-shirts, promotional pens or promotional mugs, especially if parcelled out in handy promotional bags, can ensure that when potential customers leave a long trade fair, your brand is one that they take with them.

With the economy still suffering most businesses would be understandably reluctant to shoulder the expense of such advertising, but there are offers on ordering business gifts in bulk that will pay for themselves through the advertising and potential business they can generate. And confidence builds confidence; if potential customers or investors can take away corporate gifts from a careers fair, the confidence you show in your business by paying for these business gifts will foster confidence in your company among people you want to encourage to spend money with you.

Promotional Pens

Marketing your company or service on a limited budget is something that every executive or business owner is familiar with. Different budget levels typically revolve around the same tiers of marketing streams, with the largest companies spending millions on tv advertisements during the Super Bowl, and the smallest handing out flyers on the street corner. Promotional gifts like promotional pens and printed t-shirts are somewhere in the middle, but to overlook the importance of these smaller business gifts would be foolhardy indeed. No matter how many people watch the Super Bowl every year on TV (80-90 million in the US alone), advertisement breaks are normally spent in the toilet or getting another beer and are missed by a large proportion of viewers.

However, with corporate gifts like promotional bottle openers or promotional mugs, you could make sure that your branding IS seen during the advertisement breaks, by placing it exactly where the viewer will be when they’re not in front of their TV.

The same applies for the workplace. No company would allow you to erect a massive banner in their offices, but mugs and pens are useful items and most employees will use whatever works and is close to hand, putting your brand on potentially every desk in the office.

The festive season is for the most part about eating, drinking and being merry with friends and family, but it is also a time for considering those less fortunate than ourselves. Despite all the human race’s technological and intellectual achievements, there are still wars, there is still famine, there is still oppression – and now we have a global economic downturn as the unwelcome cherry on the top. The world is a hard place, and the relative luxury of the West can insulate us from the realities of what we may have faced had the hands of fate not been so kind.

Thankfully, managers and enterprising employees all over the country are often galvanised by the season of goodwill to do their bit for causes supporting the less fortunate, often holding collections or simple fundraising games in the office such as tombolas, quizzes and raffles. Not only are events like this a bit of light hearted fun in the last few days before the Christmas break, but they are an easy way of getting even the most stingy employees to cough up a bit of loose change for charity.

Of course, competitions need prizes, and employers and managers are often looked to for the provision of such items, or at least a token contribution. The mistake that many managers make is to hand over a wad of notes from petit cash that go straight in to the tills at the local supermarket, when with a bit of planning you could end up with a much more cost effective solution that is beneficial to the business as a whole… like ordering a selection of branded corporate gifts to give away as prizes instead. There are literally dozens of options when it comes to finding quality gifts that can be branded with your company logo or seasonal message, from promotional pens to bottles of wine customised with your own branded label. These business gifts are often available at wholesale prices as well, reducing the overall financial cost of your charitable contribution compared to buying on the high street. Charity has never been such great value.