Ask a Business Expert

A: The key thing about buying promotional items is that they are intended to be a form of advertising. It is a subtle reminder of "this is who I am" and "this is what I do". We want the item to establish ourselves as the top of the mind resource. Although stress balls might be fun on the short term, how many people do you know save their favorite stress ball close to the telephone? I would have to say that the big 3 items would be: T–shirts, mugs, and tote bags/briefcases. The one that you select is dependent on your marketplace. You won't see T–shirts in an office environment. You will see coffee mugs. A creative tote bag is a powerful tool, especially for women who are commuting to work, wearing sneakers for the commute, and changing their shoes. Therefore, as far as overall exposure, you would have to say a tote bag will not only get visibility in the office environment, but street exposure as well. This means that on a tote bag, you want your message to be short, sweet, large, and readable. Many times, when people think of tote bags they are tempted to move up a notch to a small briefcase. These canvas briefcases are great at a convention environment, but after the conference they are often tossed to the attic and piled up with all the other briefcases received from other conferences. Lastly, in relationship to T–shirts, if your marketplace is a youth–oriented, high–tech firm where T–shirts are the dress of the day, then you might consider this as the optimum promotional item. Again, you must consider the demographics and the environment that you are purchasing the promotional items for. As for fringe items, there is a reason why they are fringe items.