Ink Your Bottom Line Black

For many companies the past months have shown a lot of red ink on the bottom line. Hopefully, your business has stayed in the black. With the economy on a roller-coaster ride most companies look different now than only a few months ago.  Expenses have been cut then pared down more.

Can we now look back at the worst U.S. recession in eighty years? The latest Business Week provides an optimistic view that the recovery isn’t “a temporary bounce fueled by a few one-shot government programs.” The best overall indicator is U.S. gross domestic product is rising.

What does a budding recovery mean to you?  It means every client or customer contact point in your business needs to be examined. Every effort to improve the customer experience should be implemented to encourage and develop customer loyalty. Those companies, whether Business to Consumer or Business to Business, that make follow-up a priority will have a competitive advantage.  Keep your company brand in front of your market.

Advertising specialty items often provide a low cost and tangible option for company branding.  We all know the best prospect is a referred prospect.  How can a promotional item be used as a referral?

Have you ever received the bill at a restaurant and the waiter hands you an ink pen advertising a competing restaurant?  I remember an experience after eating lunch at a favorite establishment. The waitress handed me a pen imprinted with the logo of another restaurant. When asked about it she laughed and said the last place she worked provided promotional ink pens and that she had kept several. On my next visit for lunch the same thing happened with a different wait person. His pen advertised a financial company. When I approached the manager and shared my experience she said her policy was for the wait staff to supply their own pens. I suggested that policy allowed for the competition to advertise in her place of business. Her response was she couldn’t control what pens were used and because of cost cutting her company would not consider ordering promotional ink pens.

The restaurant business is highly competitive especially when consumers are budgeting dollars more closely.  Since then I’ve tried the restaurant “referred” to me by the waitress and have returned several times. I liked the food and the location is closer to the office. The first restaurant did it wrong with branded pens and my new favorite restaurant did it right.

Ink pens are a terrific low-cost and effective promotional piece with an excellent record of success. They are a practical and functional, carry-anywhere item that will always be appreciated. As long as your company name and number or website are imprinted on it, your business will go places. One restaurant got my business because I used their promotional item while at the competition.

Practically everyone uses an ink pen. Compared to many other promotional items, branded pens are inexpensive and provide a solution to a consumer need. Who doesn’t use ink pens?  It is safe to say that promotional ink pens are used by your target market. Your logo pen gifts will be used and appreciated. Include promotional pens in your business marketing strategy even if you are going to get a more unique personalized marketing gift.

For giveaways, choose lighter but quality designs so that your advertisement is as pointed as the pen. Highlighters are always a hit at tradeshows or the education market or just about any other industry looking for a practical gift. Laser engraved pens can provide years of use and advertising. Branded ink pens guarantee your business a cost effective yet high-class promotion.

Whether you decide on a promotional pen that is elegant and pricey or gimmicky and economical will depend on the type of clientele you want to impress. Even those who remain seated in front of their computers all day will at some point need a pen to make extra notes or jot down a phone number. Every time the client uses your branded pen it is an instant reminder of your company or product and offers great visibility to your target market.

Take a look at where your customer contact personnel interact with your market. When the waitress handed me an ink pen to pay the bill the restaurant’s logo or slogan should have caught my eye. To make it a great promotion, she could have offered the pen to take with me. Instead, I’m now a customer contributing black ink to the bottom line of a competing restaurant.