Broadcast Your Message with Self Promotional Products

Who needs self promotional products Anyone that is selling or promoting anything.

What most self-promoters need is a way to keep their name and contact info in front of their prospects or "suspects"; in short they need a message that keeps on messaging.

We all have received promotions in the mail, by visiting salesfolk or at trade shows. At most trade shows, some businesses even give out custom bags so attendees have a place to put all their promo stuff; a promo bag to hold all those promo handouts.

Why do businesses bother with promotional materials The simple reason is they work by spreading messages, themes and images and keeping those messages in front of those that have been targeted.

Lets say you are a plumber that gives out magnetic business cards so folks can stick them on their refrigerators. Most plumbers have their business name and contact info on their trucks.

A self promotional plumber may also have his magnetic business cards stuck on his truck with a sign "Please Take One".

Sure its a silly idea and you may laugh. But plumbers that use this strategy report they usually replace all their magnetic cards every day.

Magnetic cards are cheaper than mass media, almost as cheap as some standard business cards, and have a lot more staying power.

And it makes sense if you have ever needed a plumber.

The key is to look at your sales process and sales cycle and determine where promotional products can be leveraged to deliver your message. Most promotional product campaigns fail because they fail to focus first and foremost on the desired results.

Before purchasing your promotional products determine how and to whom you will deliver them. This will help you narrow down your choices for appropriate products.

"And dont forget to track your results so you can improve" adds Wilcox.

Not only is there an endless array of self promotional products but also a seemingly endless way to "package" or merchandise your self promotional messages.

Take promotional caps. There are caps of all colors and styles. Some can have custom logos embroidered with a 3-D effect and even messages printed on the edge of the bill.

Given the right strategy many people could be wearing your self promotional caps. Strategy is why it is important to think through your desired results first.

Self promoters are strategic, not reactive. For instance, farmers in the Salinas Valley give their farmworkers company logo caps at the end of the growing season.

The idea isnt that the farmworkers will return to Mexico for the winter and wear their caps everywhere spreading the company message; the cap logo is simply a promotional reminder of the farms name and where to go for work at the start of spring season.

Self promotional products can take many forms. There are pens, HiLiters, letter openers, staplers, badge holders and dog tags. There are memo pads, PDA holders, calculators, clocks, radios, mugs, coasters and water bottles.

You can try backpacks, tote bags, coolers, velour pouches, tape measures, knives and flash lights. And key chains, pill cases, first aid kits, luggage tags, combs, fans and pedometers.

And candles, shampoo, hand lotion, hand sanitizers, lip balm, sunscreen and bug repellant. And golf tees, balls, towels and totes. And more.

It is helpful to remember that not all promotional items need to be useful like calendars or pens. You can also try fun items like stress balls, yo-yos and piggy banks. My favorite are those clear balls that flash when bounced. Next to food and chocolate.

Food and candy are always popular. How about gum, mints, gourmet food, cookies, coffee, hot chocolate, ice tea and bottled water. Customers, prospects and suspects love to eat and drink But then again, dont we all

And what if your promotional targets are chocolate lovers like many of us You can try chocolate wrapped in foil, coins, sports balls, squares, gift sets, bars, truffles or custom molds.

And of course the more traditional magnetic business cards, notepads, calendars and even custom business cards. Thats a lot to think about so where to begin

Start with your sales and promotional cycle and see where your customer and prospect "touchpoints" or points of contact are. Your messages desired result may be a phone call, an appointment or an e-mail inquiry.

Use your self-promotional products to leverage or "convert" to the next step toward your desired promotional results.

With focus and attention to results, self promotional products can add power and zip into your promotional campaigns.


About the Author

Jack Deal owns JD Deal Local Search Marketing, Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley, California 831-457-8806. Related articles, ideas, strategies, tactics and tips can be found at

Relaited Links:

• Do You Need Help Designing A Better Yellow Page Ad?
• Broadcast Your Message with Self Promotional Products
• The Importance of Marketing Mix and the 4 Key Mix Elements

SEO Marketing Strategies You Can't Afford To Miss

In the Internet, SEO marketing is the way to go if you want your business to be seen and heard. There is such a thing as an SEO marketing specialist who aids clients and website owners in their quest to have bigger sales and more traffic to the site.

The Aim of SEO Marketing

SEO marketing has only one aim and that is to bring traffic to a certain site. Traffic is seen as prospective buyers and clients of the site owner. Therefore, traffic is a much needed "commodity". Many Internet users visit sites that they have been redirected to or sites that have been presented by search engine results, and they get hooked into these sites. In other words, some users do not specifically seek out that particular site but they might have been led to it by it being in the top ten high ranking sites presented during a search conducted via a search engine.

Now you see how important getting high ranking is during searches. Sites that rank in the top ten are most likely visited by more users than those that are ranked lower. Many users do not bother to look for more sites if they find what they are looking for in the first few sites presented in a search. This is why many sites employ search engine optimization methods to encourage higher ranking and to achieve successful SEO marketing.

The Value of SEO Marketing

The value of SEO marketing is that people who work to market your site know what they are doing and may be objective about what your site requires. SEO marketing is also a way of fully understanding how the search engines work and what is needed to meet the requirements of being in the top ten pages of a search engine.

SEO Marketing Tools and Strategies

There are many ways of getting your site in front of many Internet users. These strategies are all included in search engine optimization and website optimization. Most sites are optimized to suit the requirements of search engines. Many search engines index and catalog sites in accordance to the data and information that the site owners have submitted and the data and information that the search engine crawlers have gleaned from the web site. The way that the data and information are placed in the site is important and so is the submissions that are given to the search engines. It is the role of the SEO marketing expert to be able to fully recognize the right data and information to supply for the site and submit to the search engines. Many SEO marketing companies hire SEO marketing consultants to accommodate the increasing demand for quality SEO marketing experts that can handle search engine optimization and SEO marketing for various sites

Among the many SEO marketing tools that can propel a site to the first page of a search engine result is content. Content that is relevant to the site is what sites need to make it stand out from others that have irrelevant content and improper web design. This is the importance of keyword or key phrases that are integrated ion to the article used for the site. These articles carry the information that robotic crawlers need in order to properly index a site according to what it contains and what it can offer to users.

SEO marketing strategies also include designing the web site in such a way as to make it easier to use and for the texts and images to load quickly. It is important for the web site to be quick loading in order to hold the attention of the users. Sites that take too long to load or have large images that hinder quick access to the texts will most likely be abandoned by the users in favor for a much faster site. Part of SEO marketing is to meet the demands and needs of the people by providing a web site that has relevance and the information that the users need.

The problem with SEO marketing is that there is a fine line of distinction between black hat and white hat methodologies. Some SEO experts employ underhand methods to gain high ranking for their clients' sites. Many overzealous SEO experts might integrate a few well placed codes and hidden texts that could raise the ranking of a certain web site. Human users will not be able to see these codes and text but the robotic spiders and crawlers used by the search engines to help index a site will be able to read these and gather these as relevant information regarding the site. The results of these actions will lead to the site being banned from the search engine and the SEO company might be included with this. It is best to practice white hat methods of SEO marketing to have long lasting results.


About the Author

Seomul Evans is a SEO Marketing Services consultant specializing in organic SEO Marketing.

Relaited Links:

• Do You Need Help Designing A Better Yellow Page Ad?
• The Importance of Marketing Mix and the 4 Key Mix Elements
• Getting Inside Your Customers Heads