The recession that is under way has resulted in businesses shrinking and many companies are facing severe cut backs in their sales from their existing customers and have no option but to look at fresh business opportunities.
This recession has affected everybody and imaginative solutions to get out of this and minimize the effect are what every company is seeking.
It is a fact that with decreasing business volumes, a company's brand image takes a beating and if left to slide in this fashion, it can cause great long-term problems for the company.
Remaining in your customer's eye and getting continuous exposure is the key behind more business.
One option to ensure this is advertising, but given the current cash crunch many companies would not want to splurge money on expensive radio and cable television ads.
The only option then is through the distribution of promotional items and that can to a great extent solve your problem of visibility at reasonable expense.
Promotional items can range from the usual pens and t-shirts to more expensive items like a leather folio or deluxe conference bag.
Irrespective of the item chosen, you need to make sure that your brand symbol and any message about the company is reflected clearly and stays for a long time.
A study of the most popular and well received promotional items revealed that pens and promotional umbrellas continue to be favourites and this has come as no great surprise.
Both have great utility value and are always required by people and modern varieties with its many innovations have ensured the continuing popularity of these items.
All of us make sure to carry one in the boot of the car or on our person and this item is one of those durable utility products that you can never be without.
Even if it is infrequently used, you would like to keep your own with you as they give you a sense of comfort.
These are practical items fitting into social, business and private milieus effortlessly, optimizing the marketing efforts.
The large surface area of the promotional umbrella is very effective to print your company insignia along with any message.
Since they are carried to a lot of places and used, you are able to expose your brand to a different audience each time, many times and that is a great benefit considering the one time cost that you are incurring for procuring these promotional umbrellas.
In addition to the company logo and a catchy by line, you need to put the company contact details like the phone number, address and website to enable potential customers to reach you when they need to.