One of the more common inquiries that I get, will be from a company looking to buy something small- even trivial, to give out to customers.

Remember, just because you aren’t spending too much on a per item basis, it’s still important to put some thought into what you are doing otherwise, you may as well make a donation to Mike’s Piggy Bank and I will give you nothing!

While pens are common requests from people hoping to get something good for under $1, one should also consider spending closer to $2 per item and being a little less selective on handing it out.  It doesn’t mean stretching your $1000 into $2000, but rather buying 500 things instead of 1000.  Re-usable tote bags are a great idea. You can hand them out at a trade show for customers to carry around and put their goodies in and then it’s very possible that bag is re-used on a regular basis every time groceries are purchased.  I know, from experience, that it’s better to bring your own bags to Superstore rather than ask them for 4-5 and find out you need 7-8.

One of the newer items that has become more and more popular as people get better educated on what’s available to them is candy.  These can be small bags of jelly beans, skittles, smarties, pretzels, etc. or it can be a package of gum along the lines of what you buy at the store and you slide the tinfoil out from inside the outer package.  Saskatchewan Credit Unions did that this past year and discovered it was a great way to put a lot of information on a single item as well as a unique way to hand something out that doesn’t cost a lot of money (approximately $1-$2 depending on quantity) and also isn’t heavy (which is a big factor) to carry around from venue to venue or even for a volunteer who’s job it is to hand these out for 3-4 days.

So, next time you want that promo item that doesn’t cost much money, don’t be afraid to ask me for suggestions and tell me about more about your promotion.  We may be able to hit one out of the park.