Business advertising

Promotional items are a great way to thank loyal clients and new customers, as well as attract new ones. Not only do customers appreciate receiving gifts and feel that you value their business, but as a marketing strategy - what form of advertising produces a higher return on investment than promotional products?
You can spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a newspaper or radio ad, and you'd be lucky if your prospect or customer views or hears your ad more than once. However, you can give your customer or prospect a $2 mug with your company name and logo on it, and your mug may be viewed by them every day for years (and possibly by their entire family or office staff as well). Even a cheap promotional item such as a fridge magnet can last for years and be seen day after day.
When shopping for ideal promotional products you will find promotional items in all price ranges. Even in the same product category, such as promotional pens, prices can range anywhere from $0.20 cents to over $20!
Many businesses in an attempt to get the most for their budget will buy the least expensive promotional item they can find. While buying cheap promotional products is understandable from an accounting point-of-view, from a company image perspective this can be disastrous. What kind of image are you presenting to your clients if the promotional gift you send them breaks several days later? Or what use is the promotional pen if it runs out of ink after a few uses? Does this present an image of reliability and durability? Or an image of a weak company that cuts corners to save costs.
Another reason you may not want to use cheap promotional products is your return on investment. If your $2 promotional item is a quality item and useful to your client or prospect and they keep it around for one or two years, it's costing you a fraction of a fraction of a penny each day in advertising to expose them to your branding or advertising. There is no other form of advertising as cheap as promotional products.
However, If your promotional gift is not valued by your client or breaks prematurely, you will have wasted your advertising dollars and might as well have not given them anything at all.
So the next time you're shopping for promotional products, make sure to pick quality products to represent your business and remind your clients and prospects of you day after day.