Do you feel that cups,pens hats or shirts with your name on it given away is worth the money?
I have had pens and magnets since I opened. One of the best advertising returns I have had is when I gave a pen and magnet to every student in the 3 schools close to my store. I would say sales doubles that week. The sales settled back down to 1 1/2 times the old normal level.
I have my drivers leave the pen with the customer when they have a credit card signed. I drop pens off at the businesses around my store and have seen them as far away as 100 miles. People take the pen so they will have my number in the car and can call on their way home for a pick up order.
So to anser you question yes I feel the pens are worth the money. I have no experience with hats,cups or shirts. Magnets are also well worth the money and Royster13 is a good guy to get them from.
I’d say cups and magnets should be best. Cups travel with the person. Shirts often get tossed in the trash or worn to change oil. Pens are normally cheap and no one pays attention to them.
Kid trinkets are what drives my kid’s desire to go to certain places. She likes little toys and people that dote all over her.
Promotional products…They all have their place but it depends…
Caps, tees, travel mugs, etc. are best done on a self liquidating basis…By self liquidating I mean you sell them at or near your cost so at the end of the day you have nothing out of pocket…These are good for building your “brand”…
Pens by themself do very little and you are not likely to get a return on your investment if that is all you do…But they they should be part of every businesses marketing…They are an inexpensive way to say “thank you” and the also reinforce your brand…This builds “loyalty”…They are also a great place to promote your web site…
Stadium cups are used by many of my clients to add value…They put a coupon on the cups, distribute them to local college campuses and give away free fountain refills on pickup orders when the cup is brought in…Others give away free “Party Cups” and fountain soda with deliveries to certain places to like local campuses…Depends whether you want to grow your pickup volume or delivery volume…
Magnetic memoboards allow you to put a menu in the busiest spot in the home…The fridge…Opened on averager 30,000 times a year…It has a higher cost than paper menus but it stays in place for several years so the cost per impression is lower…I do not sell to Dominos but in a lot of areas they send them out every year…Year after year after year…The menu is on the back of the board and there is also a strip of coupons…
Fridge Magnets are my passion and 80% of my business…Some clients give them out with every order and let customers collect 8 or 10 for a free pizza…Others go up and down streets in their area and put them on car doors (some shutter at this thought)…Put a coupon on the magnet and they pull as good as a similar offer on a door hanger…They are my favourite parade hand out (memoboards work well too if your budget permits)…
Thank you cards are the most overlooked way to build loyalty…When you get a new customer or a customer that reaches some milestone send them a hand written thank you card…It is very powerful…
Having said all the above, there is still no better way to grow your business than getting your menus out and sampling…I repeat get your menus out and sampling…Promotional products then allow you to turn those customers into “loyal” clients…
Sorry for the long post and good luck, Royce…