Page 132 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

SMART, HARD-HITTING PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL

50 How to always be under your customers’ noses

A clever idea that is starting to become widely used is to
have message pads printed as free giveaways for your cus-
tomers or potential customers. These message pads contain
advertising about your business, detailing your range of
products and services and contact details.

A printing company I use gives away telephone message
pads. On the notepad the printer has their telephone
number and a small list covering the type of products that
they produce. Every office uses message pads and the
printer cleverly made the pads easy to read, self-carbonating
and in books of about one hundred messages. Every time
someone in the office takes or gives a message the printing
company receives the exposure.

If you decide to make something like this always ensure
that it is good quality and practical for people to use. Keep
your company message brief and subtle.

A larger version of the message pad is the desk planner.
These are the large pads of about 50 sheets that you use
to write on. They normally have a calendar on the side and
plenty of blank spaces for writing notes. They are quite
large, about the size of six normal sheets of paper joined
together.

While a desk planner is a more expensive option there
is a lot more room to promote your company message. We
have made a number of desktop planners for our clients
and the response has been excellent.

Any item that will be used often by a customer has to
be worth looking at. How many rulers and pens do you
get given that promote various company messages? I get
given quite a few and if they are good quality I tend to
use them.

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