If you have just started your own business you might be wondering where to start with marketing and promotion ideas. Your budget may be small but that doesn’t mean you can’t get great marketing and promotion value from some of the basic business stationery items you may have already thought about getting for your business.

Business Cards
These are basic items for all businesses and are easily overlooked in the promotional materials stakes. Use your business card not just for your contact details and office address. Including your social networking details means people can connect after you meet them, providing them with an avenue to ask questions or just say hello without the formalities of a phone call or email. It is easier for your details to be passed on using networking sites such as LinkedIn so include your profile address on your business card to encourage new contacts to add you to their network, giving you opportunities to connect to other individuals they know.

Your business card has two sides, use the reverse for the benefit of your business, include details on your services or your products. Don’t forget that with digital printing it can be cheaper than ever before to have photographs on your card that could be used to show your products on your card. Make an offer on your card that encourages people to get in touch, offer them a free consultation, a special offer on your services or products n production of your card or direct them to a page on your website where they can find special offers.

Letterheaded paper
Although you will probably use most of it for the sole purpose of writing letters to customers, suppliers and others, there are a few other things you can do wih your stationery.

Try using it as a cheap promotional flyer by designing your marketing message or promotional offer and printing it onto the centre of your letterhead. If you have a black and white laserjet this can be a cheap way of sending out a mailing to your customer list. The same tactic could help you with flyers for networking events and exhbitions, especially if you attend at short notice when a printer would be unlikely to meet your deadline. The bonus of using the letterhead is that it already features your logo and contact details so you can rest assured that whoever receives it can get in touch with you about the offer you have sent.

Compliment Slips
Use these in a traditional way but also as blank flyer material in a similar way to your letterhead. Great for running short promotional offers that can be inserted into your letters and invoices. They are also ideal for personalised offers and promoting specific services or products that you think your recipient may be interested in.

Invoices
When you are invoicing you can offer your customer their next purchase while they are receptive to your letters.  Add a panel to your invoices where you can highlight new or popular products, additional items and add-ons you think your recipient may be interested in or information about your services. Any of these things could encourage customers to make a repeat purchase. Make sur your invoices carry plenty of methods for your customer to get in touch to make their next purchase.

A5 flyers
Small flyers can be used for leafleting local shops, industrial estates, inclusion in local newspapers or in trade magazines, in your letters, at networking events and at exhibitions, so they are very versatile. Not so much a business basic as business cards and letterheads these leaflets are usually cheap to produce and can be done in two ways:

Firstly, as short runs that allow you to reprint them often to update information and include new services or products.

Secondly, in larger quantities concentrating on promoting your core services and products to everyone on yor mailing list and using for wide distribution.

Conclusion
Although you might aspire to have a glossy brochure and advertising in magazines or newspapers there are plenty of things you can do to promote your new business with just the basics of business stationery and some imagination. Saving you precious cash in the early days of operating your business.

Visit our graphic design gallery.

500 x A5 Flyers from Create Design Studio for £159 until August 6th, 2010. Call 01962 737989.

We have a special offer for all your blog-readers out there:

get in touch before Friday 6th August to get our fantastic offer on your own A5, double-sided, glossy flyer, 500 copies included in the price. All for £159.

That’s a great price and because we know print prices can’t stay the same forever we have had to place a deadline of 5pm on August 6th 2010 on all orders for these great value flyers.

Use them to:

• promote your summer offers for families
• to tell the locals about your services or products
• promote your business while networking

We will design both sides of the leaflet for you,  tell us what you would like to see on your leaflet, and supply us with the text and images (although we can supply these for an additional fee if you prefer.)

Don’t wait, get your hands on 500 promotional A5, double sided, glossy flyers for your business by calling David Woodroofe on 01962 737989 today!