| Creative Do-It-Yourself Promotional Giveaways | | | | for family history, ortips pertaining to your particular |
| Is your advertising budget non-existent? | | | | field. Or glue afold-out image inside to make a pop-up |
| Scanned your checkbook, and decided store | | | | business card. Cutthe greeting cards in half (or thirds, |
| boughtpromotional items were a no-go? | | | | or even quarters) todouble (triple, quadruple) your |
| Do it yourself. | | | | supply, and make awallet-size booklet. |
| Small business owners and organizations sometimes | | | | Make your own flower seed packets, using either |
| requestitems for goodie bags; this is an ingenious | | | | glassineenvelopes, or tiny Kraft envelopes, and add a |
| way to promotenot only themselves but to share | | | | sticker to thefront you design and print yourself on |
| the "wealth" so to speak,without it costing them a | | | | plain white addresslabels; you can also use small |
| dime. You could do the same;offer to trade with | | | | plastic "jewelry" bags (checkout Uline or Browncor), |
| other small businesses. But yougenerally need a | | | | or the candy bags Wilton sells. Orglue a bag inside |
| minimum of fifty, and possibly hundreds orthousands | | | | greeting cards. Gurneys sells seeds inbulk. |
| of giveaways. | | | | I found plain greeting cards at 75% off clearance; |
| I scanned the internet for ideas, but found only ads. | | | | thedesign was discontinued. Look for bargains, and |
| I know from experience that Oriental Trading offers | | | | planahead. |
| bulklots of everything from pencils to stickers to | | | | Create your own word find puzzles, or crosswords. |
| magnetscheap. Book Depot sells book remainders | | | | Print coloring pages you make using Dover's |
| (new books that areoverstocks or out of prints) in | | | | copyright-freeblack and white images; for large |
| bulk (currently $250 minimumorder) for as little as 20 | | | | quantities, have themphotocopied at a copy shop. |
| cents to a dollar each; itssister company, Book | | | | Print, for free, tons of stories from Project |
| Closeouts requires no minimum, but theprices are | | | | Gutenberg. |
| about double. I've even made ornaments from lacein | | | | Design, with clipart, award certificates, such as |
| the past, but that takes a great deal of time and | | | | World's |
| effort;besides, who wants "snowflakes" in July? | | | | Greatest Mom, or World's Greatest Kid; or print a |
| The Microsoft Office/Word site offers a selection of | | | | calendar,highlighting holidays, particularly ones |
| freedownloadable templates for business cards, | | | | pertinent to yourbusiness. |
| certificates,coupons, etc., as does the HP website | | | | Or print coupons, and add a code so you can |
| ( A search of the net producedtemplates for door | | | | trackwhere they originated from. Most people won't |
| hangers and bookplates, and eveninstructions to | | | | redeem them,so you can't lose. |
| make miniature books from sticky note pads,with | | | | Make your business cards stand out by typing a |
| cardboard covers glued on (URL). | | | | single quoteon one side, and your business contact |
| I have created bookplates with clipart and the words, | | | | information on theother. Choose an inspirational or |
| "Thisbook belongs to ______," printed on plain | | | | humorous quote peoplewill carry in their wallet. |
| white shippinglabels. Combine these with one of the | | | | We all know you can adhere peel and stick magnet |
| aforementionedinexpensive books for a double punch. | | | | backs tobusiness cards, but instead of your sales |
| But all that costs money, and did I mention I even | | | | pitch, print anoriginal recipe on it, for something simple |
| ran outof color printer cartridge, and my budget | | | | like a smoothie,or again, a quote or joke that will be |
| currently does notallow for even that? | | | | posted on therefrigerator; your contact info or URL |
| When the money runs out, the creative get going. | | | | can be typedunobtrusively at the bottom. |
| Office supply stores stock preprinted papers for a | | | | For mothers, try a business card that reads, "Mom's |
| fewdollars a package, but a less expensive | | | | Time |
| alternative is tocreate a black "frame" from clipart in | | | | Out," or "Time Out," for when Mom needs a break. |
| a word processing orgreeting card program, and | | | | Adapt themessage to fit your target audience, but |
| center a few favorite quotes, ora poem, inside the | | | | everyone has |
| "frame;" print on plain white paper. Tosave even | | | | "those" moments when they want the world to go |
| more money, have them photocopied. I type my | | | | away. |
| URLon the bottom in slightly smaller print. Rolled | | | | The HP site included things like photo frames printed |
| intoscrolls and tied with a ribbon they literally stand | | | | oncard stock, and ideas like "My Family" sheets or |
| up--andout--in goodie bags. | | | | bookletswith prompts for writing one's family history, |
| Craft mini books with paper, card stock, and a | | | | and "My Trip"sheets to record vacation memories. |
| papertrimmer. Leave blank, include quotes, or add any | | | | Apply the same idea tocreating your own child |
| poem orprose in the public domain. Or create a "My | | | | identification sheets, leaving spacefor a photo and |
| Family" journalfor jotting family history. Staple the | | | | fingerprints, and include prompts for basicinformation |
| edges or the centerfold, or punch holes and bind with | | | | such as name, height, weight, hair, and eyecolor. |
| leftover yarn or ribbon. | | | | Design a family tree for recipients to add |
| Or just print a list of starter questions to get a | | | | theirinformation. You can either draw a tree, use a |
| buddinggenealogist started; this is great | | | | cliparttree, or use lines to represent the branches of |
| forgrandparents/parents/children, but who isn't | | | | a tree. |
| interested intheir family history? | | | | I'm sure you can come up with lots more ways to |
| Create larger "books" with greeting card papers for | | | | utilizeyour printer and word processor! Always |
| thecover, by stapling sheets of paper, trimmed to fit, | | | | remember--there isan advertising solution for every |
| to thecard in the center fold; leave them blank or | | | | budget. Or lack thereof! |
| create a "bookof wisdom" using quotes, or prompts | | | | Happy promoting! |