Craft for Profit: The Power of Promo Items

Regardless of the type of business you're in, the major hurdle you have to leap is the memory one. You have to find a way of keeping your name in the mind of customers and potential customers, without actually being in their face.

In the corporate world, there's the whole mini-calender, printed pen, bumper-sticker route. But we're crafters. We want our give-aways to be just as pleasing and personal as the crafts we sell.

Basically, this means preparing some quality promo items that tie in - tightly - with the products you make.

The Basics of a Promo Item

There are a few things that every single promo item must have or do, and they're really easy to remember:

1. Contain your phone number or website URL.
2. Contain your name or business name.
3. Look personal and match your product theme.
4. Cost very little and be super quick to make.

Consider these the four laws of the promo item if you like. There are dozens of ways of incorporating those laws into the item itself.

Promo Item Ideas

Since promo items are something we're going to literally give away, they can't eat into our crafting profits. The second they do that, they've become something much more than a promo item; they're akin to gifting.

In its basic form, the promo item should seem like a gift to the recipient. It should be useful or so pleasing that your customer can't help but smile when they see the little "bonus". You should be able to make a batch of the items (we'll call a batch a full dozen for this article) in under an hour. And you shouldn't have to worry about how many pennies you've thrown into the materials you've used, either.

With those keys in mind, the sky's the limit in what you can do. You'll want to really think about the ideas you like best, and consider ways of using them so that they incorporate your particular craft. Also pay attention to what other crafters are giving as promo items. When you find something that you just ooooh over, you know that you've got inspiration.