Where we spend our money says a lot about who we are.  The clothes you wear, the car you drive, even the toothpaste on your bathroom counter can make a statement about the choices and values you hold dear as an individual.  Have you ever been in someone’s home or office and made a decision about their personality based on the products they supply themselves with.  Whether it’s the product brands on the kitchen shelf, the logo imprinted shirt on our back, or the type of car we drive; we are what we buy.  So how do you make your statement?  Is it the with your favorite brand of skin care products, you know, the one with the cute the logo printed on the wrapper, that say’s I care about myself and I like to be playful.  Or is it your collection of custom band t-shirts that let’s the world know that you’re a music buff?  Maybe it’s the designer purse you carry with the fancy  engraved key-tag that let’s people know that you care about quality. Maybe it’s the statement printed on the bumper sticker on your car that let’s the world know that the environment is your main concern.  Whatever it is you surround yourself with, keep in mind you are making a statement about who you are.  Whether you are choosing a product based on the adorable imprinted logo, on the inexpensive price point, or on the quality of the ingredients or materials used to produce it; where you spend your money, says a lot about the values you carry with you.  So the next time you’re out shopping or even reorganizing, pay attention to the products you customize your personal surroundings with and how they represent you?  You may not be advertising your personal product in a way that promotes your custom lifestyle … or maybe you are?  Either way, we are the product of the personal imprint we brand upon our lives, from the apparel we wear to the type of pen we use; so make sure your custom imprint fits the persona you want the world to see.

The importance of brand identification is paramount to any other form of advertising.  The statement made by a company’s logo, its universal or kitch-nitch style, allows consumers to identify with the products they use.  Whether you know it or not; you are a promotional representative of the products you buy.   This imprinted promotional advertising is omnipresent in today’s culture and for businesses manufacturing physical products, the printed logo is easy to distribute.  We find it in our stores, on our streets and in the homes of our friends and family.  The ability to advertise a brand in the households and on the backs of consumers is a strategy used for centuries and it works.  This method of direct promotional product placement can build a company’s economic status exponentially and in an economy where businesses are pressed to cut back spending, the imprinted logo in everyday places is more important than ever.  So where does this leave the service sector of our economy?  When you provide a service rather than product, getting your logo into the hands of the people may seem a difficult task, however it doesn’t need to be.  By providing your clients with small tokens of appreciation, printed with your personal brand name, or logo, any service provider, from the small mom and pop to a large corporation, can utilize the power of consumer advertising the same way a manufacturer can.  Have you ever left a bank or restaurant with a logo imprinted pen , then later loaned the pen out to a friend or colleague?  Well, most of us have, and in that moment of kind gesture, a recommendation of that service is past on to another potential client.  For pennies on the dollar, both service providers and product manufacturers can be utilizing the busy lives of their client bases for advertising.  It’s that simple.  Promotional product distributing, or the lack of it, can make or break a business, because every successful business knows that positive word of mouth, even if it is subconsciously passed on through the use of a printed pen, customized matchbook or logo imprinted sticky note, is the strongest recommendation for a product or service that can be made.  We all want to make “the right choice,” and if we know something has worked for someone we trust, we are probably more likely to try it for ourselves.  For this reason, in a declining economy, businesses can’t afford not to utilize the power of a personal promotional product.  When money’s tight, who are you going to trust; a model you’ll never meet or the friend that just passed you the logo imprinted pen? My guess is that it doesn’t take a bright mind to see the power of this hand to hand advertising tactic.  When you think about it, it’s just common sense.  So if you’re a business looking for the best way to increase income, put your advertising dollars into the most widespread method available, by handing your customer a freebie, even if is as simple as a cheap custom imprinted pen.  Chances are, you won’t be sorry.