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Promotional products for small businesses

Put your name on things people keep.

A shirt, a magnet or a good pen keeps working long after a post has scrolled by. The trick is a few useful things for the right people, not a box of giveaways that ends up in a drawer.

Time:
An afternoon to order
Cost:
Paid. Start small.
YOUR SHOPYOUR SHOP555-0142

Is it worth your time?

Worth it if

  • Customers come back or refer you. A magnet on the fridge is still there when the sink leaks again.
  • You or your crew are seen in public. Shirts and hats make each of you a walking sign.
  • You do markets, fairs, sponsorships or school events.

Skip it for now if

  • Your Google listing and reviews aren't in shape yet. Those are free, so do them first.
  • You can't say who will get the item and why they would keep it.

Step one

Before you order

Do these in order, in one sitting if you can. After that, the only work is the weekly rhythm further down.

  1. Step 1: Decide who it is for

    Your team, your regulars or people who have never heard of you. A thank-you for your best customers and a giveaway at a fair are two different items.

  2. Step 2: Pick something they would use anyway

    The test is simple: would you keep it if it had somebody else's logo on it?

  3. Step 3: Get your logo file ready

    Printers need a clean, sharp logo, ideally a vector file ending in .ai, .eps, .svg or .pdf. A picture saved from Facebook prints blurry. If a small image is all you have, pay once to have the logo redrawn. You will use that file for years.

    Sort out your logo and colors →

  4. Step 4: Print less on it

    Your logo, what you do, and one way to reach you. A phone number or a website, not both plus three social handles.

  5. Step 5: Ask for a proof and order a small batch

    See a proof before the full run, and keep the first order modest. The price per item drops as the quantity goes up, but boxes nobody takes cost more than they save.

What to order

In this order. Most businesses never need to get past the second one.

  1. 01

    Shirts and hats for you and the crew

    The best first order. You wear it on the job, at the grocery store and at the ball field. Choose something you would wear by choice: a good shirt with a small, clean logo.

  2. 02

    Something that stays where the need is

    A magnet for the fridge, a sticker for the water heater or the breaker box, a reminder sticker for the windshield. When the need comes back, your number is already there.

  3. 03

    Something useful at the counter

    Tote bags for shops, cups for food and drink, a pen good enough that clients keep it.

  4. 04

    A thank-you for your best customers

    A handful of nicer items, handed over in person to the twenty people who send you the most business.

Print a free review sign →

A rhythm you can keep

An afternoon to order
This month
Order shirts or hats for the team
With every job or sale
Hand over the item that stays behind
Twice a year
Reorder what people took and drop what they didn't

Mistakes to skip

  • Buying the cheapest version. A pen that dies in a week carries your name with it.
  • A logo so large that nobody wants to wear it.
  • Printing a date or an offer on it, which gives it an expiry date.
  • Ordering a thousand of anything the first time.

Do this today

Write down the one item a customer would keep within reach of the place they would need you again. That is your first order.

Businesses that get the most from promotional products

Each page ranks every channel for that kind of business and gives you the first jobs to do.

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