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.

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.

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.

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.