13 Jul The Cheapest Promotional Products (In Price, that is)

Marketing can be tough, especially when funds are limited. If you are a new business, it is even harder to get noticed. There are so many competitors in each industry all competing for the same market share. So how do you break through? While cheap promotional products aren’t always the answer, they are a great way to do giveaways in mass quantities at cheap prices. Doing a flood marketing campaign is a great way to get noticed in a hurry and using cheaper priced promotional products is great way to get your name out initially. Just to be clear, it is extremely important to give out some nicer quality promotional items that will stick around a long time and continue to market your business.  But, initially, you need to get your name out there and attract business to generate some revenue.  Here are some cheap marketing ideas that you can give away in bulk.

1. Custom Matchbooks – Matchbooks are great giveaways for bars, restaurants, bail bondsmen, candle companies, or any other business that sells items that would need matchbooks.  You can get a case of 2500 matchbooks custom printed for just a little over a hundred bucks.  If each matchbook has 20 matches in each book and there are 2500 cases, that equates to 50,000 potential marketing exposures for that hundred dollars.  That’s excellent marketing exposure for just a few pennies per recipient.
2. Wooden Nickels – Wooden nickels are very cheap items and they can be custom printed with your logo on one side and a special offer on the other side.  The better the offer; the better chance it will bring in new customers for you.  You can offer a free drink or other product, a free gift, or a coupon to go towards a purchase.  Give them incentive and customers will come to you.
3. Temporary Tattoos – Custom printed tattoos can be completely customized in any shape or size and printed in full color. These are great to give away in bulk. They are extremely cheap and you can get a lot for just a little bit of money.
4. Drink Coasters – Custom coasters are great and useful for everyone. They are used at work or at home and they are cheap in price so you can give away these to everyone you come in contact with.
5. Cheap Pens – You can get pens as cheap as $0.15 each for a quantity of 1000 or more; however, I caution you to remember the purpose of these items. If you purpose is for the recipients to keep the pen for a long time, don’t give away pens that are too cheap or they won’t keep them. If you need to give them away in mass and expect for them to be only used for that event, then go as cheap as possible. You will still get a lot of exposure, but don’t expect to pay $0.15 for a pen and get a Cross pen. The goal here is to market to the mass and flood people with some with your logo on it.
6. Business Cards – Let’s not forget about the power of business cards.  If you have the out-dated raised print 1 or 2 color business cards on a thin card stock, you are doing your company a disservice. Your business card should act as a salesperson. What is your card saying about your company? Make sure your cards show what your company does and why not include some kind of call to action on them?  Maybe a coupon or free offer to get more leads. You can get 1000 full color business cards for less than a penny each so give these away to everyone and their brother.
7. Custom magnets – You can get magnets for pretty cheap and they come in handy holding up my kids’ art on my refrigerator. Business card magnets are also a great way to give your contact info to potential clients or go with a custom shape or some shape and design related to your business. These tend to stick around for years and offer a great return on your investment.
8. Halloween Trick or Treat Bags – All kids love to trick or treat and why not give them a trick or treat bag to use with your logo on it along with some safety tips to keep them safe. Pass them out with every sale you make or leave them out on your counter for customer to grab one. You’ll be surprised how many people are excited to grab these. Don’t make them use a Walmart sack. These trick or treat bags won’t have a hole in the bag like the plastic bags from Walmart.
9. Personalized Toothpicks – Well, the individual toothpicks are personalized, but the box that they are in is custom printed with your custom logo. These boxed toothpicks are much like the matchbooks in that there are several per box and many boxes per case, so one case goes a long way. These giveaway boxes are very cheap and just may prevent that awkward conversation with someone who has that big piece of lettuce in their teeth. You know what I’m talking about, that conversation in which you have great difficulty averting your eyes from the huge green chunk stuck between their two front teeth.
10. Golf Tees – Golf tees are cheap, typically between $0.11 to $0.15 each and are always handy to golfers. Golf has become extremely popular and businesses can take advantage of this popularity by giving away golf tees.

No matter what product you choose, just make sure you market your business. If you don’t put your name in front of people, then you won’t attract them. It sounds like common sense and it is. Market and you will get business. Don’t market and you won’t.