Let's face it the busines world we live in today is extremely competitive and those who sit back and do business the way they always did it are sure to perish. Think back to the general store. Every year you knew approximately how much you were going to make. A good year mean't 10 or 15% over expectations and a bad year meant 10 or 15% under expectations. The extra profit would mean you were able to purchase a luxury item. The slight loss mean't you cut back on a luxury item.

Today the world has changed. You earn more but the word savings is a word few know anything about. To compete today you always need to be on the consumers mind in a positive progressive way. Look at well established companies like Kodak and Bell. There monopoly days are over and they are looking for new ways to do business. Having a great product today is not enough. It must be advertised and marketed to the right consumer group, in the right way, at the right time. This brings me to the topic of Promotional Products.

Not to long ago when one mentioned promotional products you thought of a gadget or a pen with a company's name on it. Today this same field incorporates practically every product you can think of. The Gap, Banana Republic, American Apparel, Sony, Coach, Sharper Image, American Express, Seiko, Movado, Nike, Calloway, and Liz Claiborne are all companies who buy booths in trade shows for the promotional product industry. Why are they there? They know that this industry includes corporate gifts, incentive programs and give aways and is a multi-million dollar industry and they would like to get their piece of the pie.

Think of any item, and you can brand it with your logo. Think I'm kidding, look at my web site, www.solutionsink4u.com. There are over 600,000 items to brand with many more not even in my data base yet. The numbers grow every day.

Here are the top ten uses for promotional products:

1) Business Gifts - Gifts to foster customer goodwill and retention.
2)Tradeshows - Trade show traffic generation. Watch how many more people go over to a booth when you are giving something away for free. it really doesn't matter what but the better the gift the more lasting positive feeling you tend to get.
3)Brand Awareness - Promotion of brand awareness and brand loyalty.
4)Employee Relations and Events - Morale and motivation, corporate/employee events, employee orientation, corporate identity, employee referal programs.
5)Public Relations - Corporate involvement with community, fundraising, sponsorship, school programs, media relations, corporate image.
6)Dealer/Distributor Programs - Dealer incentives, co-op programs, company stores.
7)New Customer/Account Generation - New Customer or account generation rewards.
8)Not-For-Profit Programs - Not-For-Profit use for fundraising, public awareness campaigns (health,environment,public safety,etc.).
9)Customer Referral - Customer referral incentive programs.
10)New Product/Service Introduction - New product or service introduction.

Today smart companies are allocating a greater proportion of their marketing budgets to promotional products. This is due to it's effectiveness. Promotional Products can be a cost effective and personal way to leave a great impression on one person. Word of mouth or exposure by this person can exponentially grow the positive results.

Need help with your next campaign give me a call at 514-337-2238, drop me an email at steve@solutionsink4u.com or visit my site for great original ideas at www.solutionsink4u.com. Here's hoping your next campaign or launch keeps your company on the road to success.

Steven Schneidman Solutions Ink

Steven Schneidman runs a successful printing and promotional product company in Montreal Canada. He has an MBA and has worked as a finance professor at a Canadian University and has worked for the head office of a top Canadian Bank.

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