The Importance of the Business Card

Business cards are essential to any business person as they play a vital role in the promotion of your company or business no matter how big or small you may be. This is because whenever you attend a business event, weather it is a meeting, conference or trade show, by handing out your business card you are ensuring that people remember who you are. It is very important in business to make yourself known as widely as possible and to increase your contacts and the best way to do this is by circulating your business cards. However, you must make sure that your business card looks as professional and as upmarket as it possibly can be in order to stand out from the rest. Below are a few ways to make the most of your business card…

First things first, your business card needs to look professional and look like it has been thought about and had a bit of time and effort put into it. I’m not saying you need to blow your budget but you must remember that your business card will be reflecting you and your company so it must be of some quality. The paper you use should be durable and thick instead of using anything flimsy which may crumple and be thrown away.

Also very important, while we are talking about the aesthetics of the card, is the design of the business card. Your card needs to be a bit unique in order to stand out from other people’s cards but it also must look professional. It is imperative that your business card looks professional because this little piece of card is helping to market your business and tell other people about it. In essence, your business card reflects you and your business so it must look the part. Colour, size, shape and type all must be factored in when designing your card so be sure to have thought through thoroughly what you want and how you want the card to look.

As well as design and professionalism, the actual content of the card is essential. When you pass your card to someone whether you are at a business meeting or conference they must straight away be able to see the key details. These key details are company name, your name and your phone number. These three details are of utmost importance as they are the three pieces of information that will be needed the most and tell the most about the company. You may think this is a glaringly obvious tip but you would be surprised how confusing and messy some business cards can be. These three particulars need to be in bold, slightly bigger than the rest of the information and very clear!

After the key information has been established you can then think about what else you will have on the card for example your address, any other numbers, e-mail address, logo and perhaps even a little information about what it is you and your company do.

All of these things make up a good business card and you must remember that it is worth spending a little time and effort on them as they can really benefit you in the long run.

Don’t be a mug- Choose Promotional Mugs!!

When it comes to promotional products, there are thousands upon thousands of different products out there for you to choose from. New, fresh and modern ideas are constantly surfacing and being promoted as the next big thing to market your company with. USB’s, pedometers, Brite-mats, the list is endless. However, sometimes it is best to stick to the golden oldies. The products that have been tried and tested and that you know definitely work. So what product am I referring to? Promotional Mugs of course!!

Promotional mugs really do work every time and here are some of the reasons why they are so popular and what styles are available today:

Practicality

One of the key reasons behind the success of the promotional mug is that they are so very practical and useable. The fact that they are not one of them promotional items that will be used a couple of times and then disposed of or lost, make them a top choice in the promotional gift industry. Mugs will always come in handy whether you are at home or at the office as mugs of tea and coffee are forever being served.

Visibility

Another motive for their popularity is that the large print area means that your logo can be clearly visible giving you and your company maximum advertising benefits. On a standard mug, you will be able to fit on your company name, telephone number and e-mail as well as your logo and perhaps your mission statement. This means that every time your mug is picked up and drunk out of, your brand is visible to both the drinker and anyone else in the vicinity.

Cost Effective

Considering the promotional power of the mug, they are not an expensive item. Mugs can be brought in bulk very cheaply compared to many other promotional products and are very good value for money.

Different Types Available

Depending on what you are looking for, there is a huge variety out there in different shapes, sizes, materials, designs and colours. Bone- China mugs are a great promotional product for a higher end result and can be used as a fantastic gift for an important colleague. If you are not looking to spend as much money, ceramic or earthenware mugs are popular choices as they do their job effectively but are also very cost effective. Glass and frosted glass mugs also look very attractive and are a bit different to your standard mug. They are particularly suitable for young professionals who enjoy a coffee as lattes are usually served in a glass mug. As well as all these choices, there are also tankards, insulated travel mugs and mugs with hidden specialities, such as the heat change mug.

With such a wide choice available as such a low price, you must be able to see that promotional mugs are the way forward if you are looking to market your business with a promotional product. You can’t lose with a promotional mug!!

Promotional Calendars: Helping others to get organised while you get noticed

Promotional Calendars have always been a great promotional item. Not only are they extremely useful to others but they are a fantastic way to market your company or organisation as they are used all throughout the year by the potential client. You can be sure that if you give out your promotional calendars just before Christmas or early on in the New Year, they will be used throughout the year and come December your brand will have become very familiar and that can only be a good thing.

In the last few years calendars are better as promotional items than ever because they come in such an extensive range of styles, types and designs. When choosing your calendar, it is very important that you choose one which will market your brand best, suit your price range and also be appropriate for the target audience. Read on below to get some inspiration for what you want:

Desk Calendars

These are a great giveaway if you are targeting people who have office jobs and are often at their desks and on their computers. This is because they can stand the calendar in front of them on their desks where it will come in very handy to them but also be a constant reminder of your company. This is a great way to promote yourself as your brand will be in the forefront of their minds if your services are ever required. Desk calendars come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours and of course can be branded with personal names, brands and logos.

Wall Planners

Wall planners are great for the office as well as for the home. This type of calendar comes in a large A1 size and its purpose is to be put on the wall and written on as a day-to-day planner. The paper is laminated so the calendar can be written and wiped off as necessary. These planners are excellent practical items and again a great way to promote your company as your name is mounted on the wall for all to see!

Advent Calendars

Obviously advent calendars have a very limited time frame because they can only be given out before Christmas but they can still be very effective promotional gifts especially when filled with chocolate! They are guaranteed to be a popular giveaway and could definitely help to boost your sales in the New Year!

I have only discussed a fraction of the calendars that are available out there on the promotional market so come and get a piece of the action and try out your success with some promotional calendars!

Tips on how to choose cost effective Promotional Items

Marketing your company is essential to create business but it can be a very expensive thing. Advertising yourself is by no means cheap, not by any stretch of the imagination. This can prove a problem, especially for new small businesses who are trying to compete with the larger ones but simply do not have the budget. For an up and coming business, one of the most important things to do is to promote your brand to make it popular and to get its name out there and its objective understood. Perhaps the most popular, successful and cost effective way of doing this is to use promotional items.

Promotional items are available in a huge range of prices, from rather expensive to dirt cheap so they are suitable to both small and large budgets. It obviously depends on what you are looking for but if its cheap promotional items you are after, the choice is abundant. Many of the cheaper items are just as good at achieving what you want to achieve as the higher end range of promotional items. This is because it is not a matter of price but a matter of how well you utilise the promotional item to market your brand. For example, a cheap and cheerful pen in an eye-catching colour, printed with your companies details can be just as useful if not more than a high end umbrella which may not be used half as much as the pen. The sheer variety of the promotional items which are available will ensure that you will find the perfect item for you and your company.
Below are some tips and examples of cheap promotional items and how to choose the right one for you:

Choose your item!

First things first, you need to think carefully about the item you are going to choose and try to tie it in with your company and what you represent. For example if you have just started up a construction company, an idea might be to choose stress items, perhaps in the shape of hard hats or tools, with your company name and logo on. By making your promotional easily identifiable with the sort of business you running, potential customers can straight-away see what your company is all about. Another example may be sharpeners or rubbers in the shape of hard hats. These sort of products are useful to the person you have given them to and at the same time, are boosting business for you.

Design your product

How you choose to design the product you have chosen, is a very important aspect of the process. Especially if you have chosen a lower end product, you need to design it very carefully so it looks the best it can possibly look. Colour, size, shape and how you brand the item all need to be thought about in the design process. The product design should be eye-catching, fun, stylish and interesting and designed with the target group in mind. For example, if your target group is something very specific like teenage girls, brightly coloured shopper bags with an interesting logo would go down very well.

Shop around!

If you have a tight budget and are looking to find the best deal possible, some good advice is to shop around for promotional items. There are so many companies out there all trying to compete for your business and you would be surprised at how accommodating they can be. The best deals can usually be had when you are buying in bulk so remember to always keep that in mind. For example the cost of a pen will go down in price if you were buying 500 instead of 50.

So if its cost effective promotional items you are looking for, be sure to follow these few simple tips to get the best possible deal and product which in turn will have the best reflection on your business and hopefully make you some money.

How to market a small business in an inexpensive way

How to market a small business in an inexpensive way

When you think of marketing your company what instantly springs to mind? Well if you are only a small business with a lower end budget, cost is going to be at the forefront of the equation. You may think that promoting your business has to be a costly affair but the truth behind this is that it does not. In the last few years as the internet has become more and more advanced, ways have emerged to make yourself known and promote yourself for free. Yes you did hear me right, i said FREE!
You and your small business can now potentially keep up with the much bigger businesses doing the same thing as you, as long as you put a bit of time and effort into the promotion of your company. Here are some completely FREE ways of marketing your business...


Writing Online Articles

If you wanted to publish an article in a local newspaper or trade magazine, you are looking at paying a substantial amount of money to buy the space in the magazine, get it published and maybe even pay a professional writer to suit the style of the magazine. Sure, if you have a big business with a large budget, this would not be a problem but for you small businesses out there this may not be an option. So why not write an online article? You can submit your articles for free to article sites and share information about your company and even give advice and expertise. If you then create a link somewhere in the article to your website, people that read it and decide they want to know more can be transferred straight to your website with no hassle whatsoever. Increasing amounts of people are using these websites to promote their businesses and look for inspiration and they really do work.

Blogging

Blogging is a relatively new and upcoming way to promote yourself and your business. It began as quite a popular thing with young people as you can blog about absolutely anything you want and the writing style can be fairly loose and conversational. However as the blogging craze has caught on more and more, people have realised that they can use blogging as a way of marketing their companies and potentially create business. Blogging works in a similar way to online article writing, it is completely free to submit your blogs and you can add in links to your website. It also is best if you submit articles on a regular basis as people can begin to follow your blogs and this in turn creates more of a buzz round your business.

Twitter and Facebook

If you have not heard before (which is highly unlikely) Twitter and Facebook are social networking websites which have in last couple of years, took off on a grand scale. What started off as a way to locate old friends, Facebook has turned into perhaps one of the most popular websites and one can now advertise themselves and their businesses on it. Both Twitter and Facebook are excellent free platforms to promote and market your business so set yourself up a business account today and get networking!

All the marketing tools I have discussed above are very useful and effective ways of promoting your company for free. They may be slightly time consuming but believe me, when you see the results that putting in a little time and effort produce, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Obviously there are many other ways to promote your company if you do not mind spending a little money. A perfect way option being Promotional Gifts. If you are interested, read on in my next article...

How to attract customers to your business

If you have just recently set up a company and are at the stage when you are looking to entice in customers and create business than you may need some inspiration of how to do so. It can be a difficult time when a company is just starting out as one needs to make an impact to get a foot on the ladder and become successful. Your budget may be low and your contacts sparse so how can you generate customers?

The two key words to help you achieve success are Market and Promote. You need to market your company to let others know that you are here. It may seem like a simple thing but very often when businesses are starting up they can forget about the simple things as there is so much else going on. People are never going to turn into potential customers unless they know who you are and what you do. So here are a few things you can do to boost your business:

Go Online
Perhaps the most crucial thing you can do for your new company is to go online. Make sure that you have a fully functioning website that is easy to use, attractive and straight-forward in its description of what you do and what your company is about. Masses of people now go online and use search engines to try and find what they are looking for. When they do this 100’s of companies will appear who all do the same things that your company does. That is why your website has to have an edge and be accessible so that that person decides to come to you for business instead of going elsewhere. Most importantly, make sure your contact details, number and e-mail address are visible on your homepage so that customers can easily get in touch for any quotes, questions or queries.

Use Promotional Giveaways
If you are having a store opening, holding a conference or have a stall at an exhibition to promote your new business, promotional giveaways are a fantastic way of being noticed and getting your company name out there and heard. Perhaps if you are opening a shop and inviting potential customers and contacts, you could give out printed shopper bags with your company details and even put some giveaways inside the bag for that person to look at when they arrive home. At an exhibition you may want to use a lower cost product as you may have to order a lot of them. In this case, printed pens can be extremely useful as they come in handy to everyone, are lightweight, cheap and can fit on a few company details.

Be Loud and Proud!
Last of all, do not be shy. When a company is just starting out, it needs as much publicity and promotion as possible. Do not be afraid to get yourself out there and do what it takes to get your company on the map. Make phone-calls, send e-mails, advertise yourself in the local paper or yellow pages, hand out leaflets, send out mailers. The possibilities are endless, and if you take all these steps you should be on your way to a booming business.