Many new start-up businesses may be of the opinion that it will be difficult to compete in a heavily occupied marketplace and will be fearful of the costs associated with the traditional forms of advertising and promoting a business – such as print and television advertising.
So, what are the alternatives?
Well, for small businesses just starting out in their industry, it goes without saying that the marketing budget will be minimal in the first year and they will need to think outside of the box a little in order to get their name out there without having to spend a small fortune in advertising fees to a branding agency. Fortunately, for those who lack the marketing budget of the likes of Coca-Cola and Microsoft, there are other avenues available which will help to get your business recognised for a fraction of the cost.
Getting Return on Investment from your Marketing Endeavours
As mentioned, small businesses as much less likely to have the sort of money to embark on a fully fledged marketing campaign which coincides online, print and television advertising to really strengthen their brand identity. For those smaller companies with a more modest budget, the use of promotional products and merchandise may well be the best solution. But what are promotional products and how should you use them to promote and awareness of your brand? Well, let’s start by taking a look at the sort of promotional products that you could use to enhance your company’s brand awareness amongst your potential demographics:
Promotional Gifts
One of the best ways of promoting a positive buzz about your business is to give away gifts that have your company logo, branding and a call-to-action printed on them – so, they are not only a useful gift for potential customers but will also serve as a sort of working advertisement for your business that your potential customers will carry around with them. Some good ideas of promotional gifts for start-up businesses to give away include branded mugs, pens and t-shirts.
Branded Office Supplies
If you’re looking at business to business opportunities, then giving away branded office supplies, such as USB memory sticks, calculators and other office based stationary. If you give away promotional office supplies bearing your company’s name and contact details, it massively increases the chances of you being the company that first spring to mind when someone requires the services that you offer.
Using promotional products is certainly one of the most cost effective methods of getting your business recognised in the formative stages of your life and the return on investment potential of this method of marketing and branding is often on a par with more mainstream endeavours such as television advertising and newspaper adverts.
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