May 30, 2007
Promoting my business
I sat down to do this post over four hours ago. I’ve been on my sponsor’s website ever since, and I’d appreciate some input from you folks on a decision I need to make. My business is eight years old and I’ve never done much pro-active marketing. I have a packet of information that I distribute on a day-to-day basis and I am occasionally asked to address real estate offices at a monthly meeting or continuing education seminar. That’s pretty much all of the promoting I’ve ever done. My clientele is limited to realtors on Oahu and a few escrow transaction co-ordinators, so I decided long ago that trade shows and home shows that appeal primarily to homeowners and developers/builders would not be a wise investment. Referrals from satisfied clents have kept me going all of these years, but the real estate market has been very slow for over a year now. I need a way to reach out to new prospects who haven’t tried my services yet, and to keep my name in front of my existing clients. The most practical and affordable way for me to do that is to find some imprinted promotional marketing products that will encourage clients and prospects to keep my name and contact information right at their fingertips.
I have my insurance agent’s calendar on my desk. It’s compact (important in a cluttered office like mine) and I use it every time I work on my books. I also look there instead of the phone book when I need to call him. I want something that handy to put in front of my clients. It’s the wrong time of year to send out calendars (though it’s something I should consider with my holiday greetings this year,) and I need to start promoting my business now. My first thoughts were of pens and keychains because realtors use a lot of both. I think, though, that they’re likely to leave those with their clients, who are not my clients. Realtors use a lot of highlighter pens to mark up their documents and I don’t think they would give those away, but I want something more durable. While I was looking at the items offered at gimmees.com I was having “voila” moments repeatedly. I have four letter openers scattered around my office. Two of them are works of art and rather pricey. I never use them. The one I use most was picked up at a home show over twelve years ago. The advertising imprint for the company that gave it to me is still doing its job because I use it every day. Likewise the luggage tag on my briefcase and the business card holder that goes everywhere I go.
I’ve narrowed my choices down to two that are within the budget I’ve allocted and will do an admirable job of helping me accomplish my goals. The letter opener seems like natural to me because of my own experience. I haven’t looked at all of the many styles available yet, but I really like the house-shaped one depicted here.
My second choice is an item I’ve never used before but I really like it. I think that it’s unique enough that it’s not likely to get tossed in a drawer with half-a-dozen others and that it would be used regularly. And, well, it’s cute and I like it. I’d consider using it for a future photo puzzle if I didn’t want your opinion, but since I do I’ll tell you that it’s a screen duster. Now wouldn’t you use one of those and keep it either on your desk or in your notebook/laptop bag? Wouldn’t you notice the imprint every time you cleaned your screen? Or is there some other desktop item that you think would do a more effective job for me?
What do you think of my reasoning? There are a lot of other choices at gimmees.com and it’s possible I’ve missed the most perfect item of all simply because they have so much that I haven’t seen it all yet. If you stumble across something else that you think is better than my own choices, give me a shout. This may seem like a small thing to those of you involved in big business, but it’s huge to me. Can I get some feedback from my readers who either own their own businesses or have helped promote a business?
Edit: Maybe I shouldn’t have gone back to site before making a firm decision. I’ve just discovered their “Bargains” and “Sale and Closeout Items” links. I could be there a long, long time. 
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May 31st, 2007 at 3:22 am, Lisa Says:
I would definitely do the letter opener. Everybody uses those. Also refridgerator magnets are also good. Even if I don’t use somebody’s product, their magnet is on my fridge.
May 31st, 2007 at 7:16 am, Emsxiety Says:
For pest control, why not do a fly swatter? LOL
May 31st, 2007 at 9:38 am, Flo Says:
I vote for the letter opener too. I have one that I’ve had for 10+ years. The screen duster, I don’t think I’d use it. I’d end up throwing it in a drawer and forgetting about it. Someone gave me a letter opener that had nothing on it and you slide a business card inside. That was nice because I had their business card right there.
May 31st, 2007 at 2:25 pm, Domestic Geek Says:
Of the two, I’d go with the letter opener. Those screen dusters are actually pretty worthless. I used to have one and ended up tossing it.