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6. Many email providers such as Yahoo and MSN allow you to put a custom signature that goes at the bottom of all the email messages you send. This allows you to put a benefit statement about your business along with your phone number and/or your URL. You will be surprised how many people read these signatures. It is free advertising for you.

7. Consider using calendar advertising to promote your business. It is the least expensive advertising you can buy for the money. Imagine asking your best customers and prospects if you could come into their place of business when they are closed and paint your sign on their wall. They would not allow you to do that a

It is crucial for all businesses to spend their advertising and marketing budgets wisely. Here are ten tips for getting the most impact on the tightest of budgets.

1. Take a critical look at your business card. The best way for you to see how effective your card is involves a simple exercise. Gather a bunch of business cards from various businesses and lay them all out on a flat surface like a table. Put your card right in the middle and stand back a few feet. Take note of the colors, materials and design elements that really get your attention. You need to think of your business card as a portable sign. It is critically important to have the very best business card you can develop.

2. Now that you have better ideas as for the type of information to put on your card and the colors and design elements you will incorporate, strongly consider changing the material you print your card on. The vast majority of cards are made of paper so by printing plastic or wood business cards, you will stand out immediately. The whole purpose of advertising is to get noticed. You can be the best in the world at what you do, but if you don't get noticed first, you miss out on business you could have

acquired.

3. For the ultimate business card, request some samples of lenticular business cards. This is the type of printing that gives you a 3-D or three dimensional effect. You can put two different images on the card so that when it is tipped in one direction or another you see two different images or messages. For example, I have real estate sales people across the country for whom I provide lenticular business cards. They often put a picture of a home and also a picture of a golden key underneath it. As the recipient of the card turns the card one way or another, either the home or the key is seen. Their clients love these cards!

4. On your answering machine or voicemail message, leave a benefit statement right at the beginning. When I am out and someone gets my voicemail, the first thing it says after my business name, is that "We provide the most effective promotional marketing items at the lowest prices." Even if the caller knows what you do, taking a second to put one of your branding statements in their psyche is still a good idea.

5. An alternative to idea 4 is to list a monthly special on your voicemail message. This helps you cross sell products and services to existing clients and prospects. The next promo message I may leave on mine will be "Ask us about our $3.89 special on 24 t-shirts one color, one location with no screen charges!" You want to put out a special like this that will have obvious value to the caller.

6. Many email providers such as Yahoo and MSN allow you to put a custom signature that goes at the bottom of all the email messages you send. This allows you to put a benefit statement about your business along with your phone number and/or your URL. You will be surprised how many people read these signatures. It is free advertising for you.

7. Consider using calendar advertising to promote your business. It is the least expensive advertising you can buy for the money. Imagine asking your best customers and prospects if you could come into their place of business when they are closed and paint your sign on their wall. They would not allow you to do that at

ss card you can develop.

2. Now that you have better ideas as for the type of information to put on your card and the colors and design elements you will incorporate, strongly consider changing the material you print your card on. The vast majority of cards are made of paper so by printing plastic or wood business cards, you will stand out immediately. The whole purpose of advertising is to get noticed. You can be the best in the world at what you do, but if you don't get noticed first, you miss out on business you could have

acquired.

3. For the ultimate business card, request some samples of lenticular business cards. This is the type of printing that gives you a 3-D or three dimensional effect. You can put two different images on the card so that when it is tipped in one direction or another you see two different images or messages. For example, I have real estate sales people across the country for whom I provide lenticular business cards. They often put a picture of a home and also a picture of a golden key underneath it. As the recipient of the card turns the card one way or another, either the home or the key is seen. Their clients love these cards!

4. On your answering machine or voicemail message, leave a benefit statement right at the beginning. When I am out and someone gets my voicemail, the first thing it says after my business name, is that "We provide the most effective promotional marketing items at the lowest prices." Even if the caller knows what you do, taking a second to put one of your branding statements in their psyche is still a good idea.

5. An alternative to idea 4 is to list a monthly special on your voicemail message. This helps you cross sell products and services to existing clients and prospects. The next promo message I may leave on mine will be "Ask us about our $3.89 special on 24 t-shirts one color, one location with no screen charges!" You want to put out a special like this that will have obvious value to the caller.

6. Many email providers such as Yahoo and MSN allow you to put a custom signature that goes at the bottom of all the email messages you send. This allows you to put a benefit statement about your business along with your phone number and/or your URL. You will be surprised how many people read these signatures. It is free advertising for you.

7. Consider using calendar advertising to promote your business. It is the least expensive advertising you can buy for the money. Imagine asking your best customers and prospects if you could come into their place of business when they are closed and paint your sign on their wall. They would not allow you to do that a

that gives you a 3-D or three dimensional effect. You can put two different images on the card so that when it is tipped in one direction or another you see two different images or messages. For example, I have real estate sales people across the country for whom I provide lenticular business cards. They often put a picture of a home and also a picture of a golden key underneath it. As the recipient of the card turns the card one way or another, either the home or the key is seen. Their clients love these cards!

4. On your answering machine or voicemail message, leave a benefit statement right at the beginning. When I am out and someone gets my voicemail, the first thing it says after my business name, is that "We provide the most effective promotional marketing items at the lowest prices." Even if the caller knows what you do, taking a second to put one of your branding statements in their psyche is still a good idea.

5. An alternative to idea 4 is to list a monthly special on your voicemail message. This helps you cross sell products and services to existing clients and prospects. The next promo message I may leave on mine will be "Ask us about our $3.89 special on 24 t-shirts one color, one location with no screen charges!" You want to put out a special like this that will have obvious value to the caller.

6. Many email providers such as Yahoo and MSN allow you to put a custom signature that goes at the bottom of all the email messages you send. This allows you to put a benefit statement about your business along with your phone number and/or your URL. You will be surprised how many people read these signatures. It is free advertising for you.

7. Consider using calendar advertising to promote your business. It is the least expensive advertising you can buy for the money. Imagine asking your best customers and prospects if you could come into their place of business when they are closed and paint your sign on their wall. They would not allow you to do that a

he first thing it says after my business name, is that "We provide the most effective promotional marketing items at the lowest prices." Even if the caller knows what you do, taking a second to put one of your branding statements in their psyche is still a good idea.

5. An alternative to idea 4 is to list a monthly special on your voicemail message. This helps you cross sell products and services to existing clients and prospects. The next promo message I may leave on mine will be "Ask us about our $3.89 special on 24 t-shirts one color, one location with no screen charges!" You want to put out a special like this that will have obvious value to the caller.

6. Many email providers such as Yahoo and MSN allow you to put a custom signature that goes at the bottom of all the email messages you send. This allows you to put a benefit statement about your business along with your phone number and/or your URL. You will be surprised how many people read these signatures. It is free advertising for you.

7. Consider using calendar advertising to promote your business. It is the least expensive advertising you can buy for the money. Imagine asking your best customers and prospects if you could come into their place of business when they are closed and paint your sign on their wall. They would not allow you to do that a

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6. Many email providers such as Yahoo and MSN allow you to put a custom signature that goes at the bottom of all the email messages you send. This allows you to put a benefit statement about your business along with your phone number and/or your URL. You will be surprised how many people read these signatures. It is free advertising for you.

7. Consider using calendar advertising to promote your business. It is the least expensive advertising you can buy for the money. Imagine asking your best customers and prospects if you could come into their place of business when they are closed and paint your sign on their wall. They would not allow you to do that at any price! However, if you give them an advertising calendar with your business information on it, not only will they put it on their wall where they can easily see it, they will even thank you for giving your advertising to them because they see it as a gift. Calendars have high perceived value because if they do not get one as a gift, they have to go out and purchase one at retail. Your calendar will be looked at and used many times through-out the business day!

8. Having a magnetic business card is a must. They are very inexpensive so there is no excuse for not using them. They will end up on the file cabinets and lateral files in business environments and on the kitchen refridgerators of consumers. Business cards get lost all of the time, especially the paper ones that get bent and soiled easily. Magnets get put up so they can be used to hold up reminders of various types. The average person opens their refridgerator 10 times a day. That is great advertising exposure by any standard.

9. One of the least expensive forms of advertising is matchbook advertising. A standard matchbook contains twenty match sticks. These are twenty silent salesmen as the matchbook user will open that matchbook twenty times and thus see your advertising message twenty times. A custom printed matchbook costs 3.5 cents each for twenty advertising impressions! They can be bought in cases of 2500 matchbooks each. Twenty percent of the U.S. population still smokes and people use matches for tons of reasons such as lighting candles, lighting incense, on camping outings and during power outages among many other reasons.

10. An inexpensive pen such as the Bic Clic Stic or the Souvenir Contender is a great alternative to a paper business card as no one will throw a pen away! They will use it over and over and over again. Also, studies show that an inexpensive pen will have ten (yes ten!) different owners during it's useful life. If you print 1,000 pens and distribute them in your community by leaving them every where you go, 10,000 different people will eventually use your pens and see your advertising. This is viral marketing that really works.