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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Shopping Bags with Logo Printing - Advice For a Small Advertising Budget

A lot of business are not ready to be spending their regular advertising budget. The economy is still unstable, even though many signs of improvement are showing. It is understandable that companies are being cautious. However, successful companies cannot afford to cut their ad budgets completely. They just need to be smarter about the way they spend their money.

By advertising with reusable shopping bags, companies can target their specific audience. Instead of spending advertising dollars on shotgun approaches, smart companies are only spending money on the customers they want to reach. Here are just a few ways shopping bags with logo printing can help your ad budget.

Highly Targeted

As I said before, businesses can choose who receives the tote bags. They can be handed out to customers, prospect customers, or employees. All three of these groups of people will help a business grow.

Highly Motivational

By receiving a bag, an employee will feel appreciated, and they will be motivated to do more at work. Customers can also be motivated when they are given a bag for every time they purchase products totaling a certain dollar amount. For example either give a bag away each time a customer purchases a product or service, or a bag can be given away when a customer spends over $100.

Highly Affordable

Reusable shopping bags can be imprinted with a company logo for very reasonable prices. Usually, bags can be found for a dollar or two, and the more bags purchased at at a time, the better the prices. Even greeting cards would cost more to give to employees for a simple 'Thank you.'

Advertising budgets are still tight for a lot of business industries, but companies cannot afford to not advertise. Their competition is still going to advertise. The best way to advertise is to target your market. Businesses can target their market very effectively with shopping bags with logo printing.

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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Why and How Promotional Products Really Work


No matter the state of the economy, business owners want to promote their company as effectively as possible. Sometimes, companies can afford to make riskier advertising decisions by using a shot-gun approach, which will reach more people with one message, but it is typically more expensive, and businesses would need a lot of sales to gain a positive ROI (rate on investment). Make sure that you are reaching your target market with a targeted solution.

I'm not saying that all shot-gun approaches are poor. Each business has a unique market, and shot-gun advertising is a good approach for a lot of businesses. However, one way to make sure that your advertising money is being used as effectively as possible is to use a targeted method of advertising. Promotional products have been proven to be successful over and over again.

By using promotional products, businesses can make sure they are still thanking, motivating and rewarding the people that mean most to the company: prospects, customers, and employees. Promotional products target exactly the message you want to be said. This can be done my imprinting a slogan, website, and/or your logo on any promotional product. This message will be delivered only to the people you want to be receiving your message. No more shot-gun approaches that gambles reaching your target audience.

So, how do promotional products really work? They work by saying 'Thank You!' by four different ways. First, promotional products keep existing customers happy. This will solidify the relationship you already have created with them. Secondly, promotional products will develop new business with existing customers. The existing customers will feel appreciated and be more likely to buy more products than they already are doing. Thirdly, promotional products attracts new customers. There are multiple ways that promotional products can be used to get new customers, but a couple popular ones are, sending a unique gift in the mail to a targeted mailing list, or handing out promotional products at a trade show or other event. Lastly, promotional products will motivate employees to work more productively. Even if a businesses' employees are working hard, they need to be thanked.

Forgetting to say 'thank you' can be very simple for a company, but it can really go a long way to a customer, prospect or employee. The message of a thank you can go further when a business shows that they mean it by giving a gift or sending a card. Successful companies have a consistent program where they thank their employees for their patronage. For example, some businesses may give away a free reusable shopping bag when a customer spends over $100 at their store. Another good example would be to send a 'thank you' note to ever first-time customer.

Promotional products do not have to be expensive. Many products can be purchased for under $1. What it really comes down to is this: make sure that your marketing is doing something that is predictable. Do not rely on shot-gun advertising approaches alone. You cannot afford to miss the targeted marketing approaches that your competitors are already implementing. And if you are already using promotional products, continue using them. Think of unique ways to promote your business with an imprinted promotional product. Thank, motivate and reward; that's the key to targeted advertising.

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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Reusable Shopping Bags and other Green Ideas for Business


Many people have some great green ideas for businesses. The biggest problem lies in implementation. Where do these ideas actually get put to use? And, maybe the better question, who will be paying for these changes?

Luckily a lot of green choices are not only good for the environment, but they also save money. As I have stated many times in the past, make sure you take small steps in going green before you take large ones. Following through is just as important as good motives. Do not bite off more than you can chew! Here are just a few tips that will get you started or keep you going:

1. Encourage employees to communicate via email rather than faxing or snail mail. This will save money on postage, paper and ink toner. Less energy will be used by emailing. More than you even realize, the environment is being saved. Less fuel will be used and countless other factors will be reduced or eliminated.

2. When you do need to communicate via traditional paper trails, print both sides of the paper. This will, at the very minimum, cut the paper cost in half. Cutting the use of paper will reduce the amount of trees being used to create new paper.

3. Turn off your electronic equipment when they are not being used. At night, instead of leaving all of the computers, copiers, and lights on or in "sleep mode," simply turn them off. For even more energy savings, unplug your unused electronic equipment.

4. Encourage employee carpooling. There are a lot of "park and ride" options for employees. Using public transportation can cut fuel costs tremendously for your employees. Carpooling also helps to save gas money, and your employees might be able to find a few new friends as they commute together!

5. Provide reusable lunch bags for employees. A lot of employees bring their lunch to work. If they used reusable shopping bags instead of a throw-away paper or plastic bag, it would save a lot of waste. An added bonus of the reusable lunch bags is having your logo imprinted on the side. So, the lunch bags can work as an employee appreciation or a promotional item.

There are always more ways to go green. Anything you can think of that would save energy, fuel, and reduce waste is better for the environment. Implement just one or two ideas at a time. Following through is just as important as having good motivation.

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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Promotional Canvas Bags for Libraries and Bookstores


Growing up, I loved to read, and I still do. Books were a way to fill my imagination with cool stories about knights, animals, wizards, and anything else the children authors' could dream of. When children read books, their minds are stimulated; something that today's youth is seeing less of. Adults, like children, stimulate their minds by reading, as well.

Recently, I have noticed a big push on making reading a priority. My town's public library is specifically raising interest in reading the classics. You can give away bags promoting a specific author or time period. Kids would love a getting a bag with Roald Dahl or Dr. Seuss on the side. In my opinion, whatever it takes to get people reading is a great tool.

One great promotional method to get people more involved in reading is giving away, or selling, promotional canvas bags with the library logo printed on the side. Kids, especially, will love carrying their new library books around in their tote bag. They will be encouraged to read and spend time at the library's special events. Book stores can also use these bags to encourage customers to bring them back, which saves on traditional plastic bags.

These bags are great for the environment because they are used multiple times and canvas bags are made from cotton, which is a natural growing fiber. When the bag is eventually thrown away, the bag will biodegrade back into the ground.

Promotional canvas bags are a great way to stir up interest in reading. People will love getting their reusable tote bags and they will be excited to bring them back when they are in need of a new read. And, not only can these bags be used for toting bags around, but kids can use them in the make-believe of knights, animals, wizards, and anything else their imagination can muster.

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Promotional Canvas Bags for Earth Day


Happy Earth Day everyone! This is is a great time to show your green side. And by showing your green side, you can also be making some green. If you are a business that has taken some initiative towards going green, you know that some green steps can actually save you money. By installing a few solar panels, you reduce your electric bill significantly. By unplugging electrical equipment you are saving electricity.

Taking small steps like these will help your business save money and it will help the environment. Put your good work to use now by letting your customers know that you are going green. Your customers will love to see the improvements that you are making as a business, and as a result, they will be more likely to buy your products or services.

Make sure they know you are green by giving them an eco friendly promotional product. If you have not considered advertising with promotional products before, it is a great way to build customer loyalty and attract new customers. Make sure that the promotional product you give out will be used often, so it will remind your customers of you.

Promotional canvas bags are a great tool to promote most businesses. Just about every business can give away a cotton tote bag, and the customers will greatly appreciate the item. The tote bags can be given away to all customers, or they can be given away as an incentive for a customer to spend a certain amount of money.

These bags are also eco friendly because they are made from cotton. Cotton is a naturally growing fiber, which means that it will biodegrade into its natural state. The bags are also reusable, so that will cut the use of countless traditional plastic bags. Make sure your customers know that you are green by giving them an eco friendly promotional product. Put your logo on promotional canvas bags.

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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Eco Friendly Bags: Put Them to Work


Promotional products are meant to give you more loyal customers and get new customers. If your promotions are not working, then you are not using them correctly. Eco friendly bags are a simple and very effective way to promote your business. You can hand more than just hand them out to your customers. You can put eco friendly bags to work for your business.

Advertisements

The most simple way to use promotional tote bags for your business is to imprint your logo, website and phone number onto the bags. Then, just hand the bags out. You can hand them out to your customers as they visit your store, give them away at a trade show or convention. People love getting free things, and they will recognize that you are an eco friendly business trying to cut the use of traditional plastic bags. Your logo will be seen countless times by the people that receive the bags and they will remember your company the next time they need your product or service.

More Loyal Customers

This idea utilizes the eco friendly tote bags the best way possible. Instead of simply giving the bags away to all customers and potential customers, only give to customers that are loyal to your business. There are a couple ways to do this: give a free bag to customers that spend a certain amount of money at your store. For example, a golf store might say, "All orders of $150 or more, receive a free eco friendly shopping bag!" Customers are going to be more willing to spend that money when they know there is an incentive, and the bag only costs you a dollar or two a piece.

Another way to build customer loyalty is to give a tote bag away when a customer makes multiple purchases. For example, an oil changing company might say, "After getting your oil changed 5 times, you will receive a free eco friendly tote bag!"

These ideas can be used right away once you get your logo on some eco friendly tote bags. All you need to do is promote the bags to your customers. Customers will love getting 'free' things. You will see your business attracting new customers, and the customers that you have already will spend more money at your store and they will return more often; something every business could use more of.

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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Shopping Bags With Logo Imprinting


In this economy, you cannot afford to be wasting money on advertising that will not work for your business. There are, as always, tons of ways you could be promoting your business, but you need to have an iron shield in front of you at all times. Make sure that the ways you are currently using to promote your business are actually working. Measure the results of each promotion.

A great way to effectively promote your business is by putting your logo on an eco friendly shopping bag. Shopping bags with logo imprinting give you great exposure, help the environment, and they send good messages to your customers.

Exposure

By putting your message on eco friendly tote bags, your logo works as an advertisement. Your customers and potential customers will love using the bags when they go shopping, and they will see your logo every time they use the bags. Not only will these people see the bags, but other people in the grocery stores will see your logo. Your logo will be seen by countless numbers of people and countless numbers of times. You, essentially, have the cheapest mobile billboard you'll ever pay for.

Environment

Because shopping bags are reusable, you will also be saving the environment. For every reusable tote bag you give away, you will be reducing the use of hundreds of traditional plastic bags. If you get a reusable shopping bag that is also made from cotton, you will be saving the environment even more because cotton bags are biodegradable. Cotton is a natural growing fiber, and when these tote bags are disposed of eventually, the will decompose back into their natural state.

Good messages

When you give your customers an eco friendly shopping bag, they will realize that your company cares about the environment. They will love the fact that you are trying to make a difference, no matter how big or small the impact. When your customers have a more favorable outlook about you, they will appreciate that, and will be more likely to purchase products from you the next time.

Make sure that when you advertise your business, you are getting good results. Reusable shopping bags with your logo imprinted on them are a great idea to promote your business. You will be getting great exposure, helping the environment and sending good messages to your customers.

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