Billboards and radio spots target drivers everyday, but a more direct, and often less expensive, method of marketing is on the everyday items found inside those vehicles driving past the billboards. Key chains, travel mugs and CD cases all offer potential as marketing methods for your business and they are likely avenues of generating business that most people overlook.

Looking at Automobile Accessories
Automobile accessories are items that the average person, and potential customer, carries with him or her everyday. You can’t get the same type of exposure through newspaper, magazine or even television advertisements. And, the price you pay for marketing with automobile accessories is not nearly as expensive. In fact, in comparison, it’s a real bargain.

Think about the driver of a car, whizzing down the road, who might have a five second opportunity to read a billboard advertisement. The driver might miss it entirely if distracted by something happening on the road.

But a message printed on the side of a travel mug is there everyday for the driver and any passenger to see. Your message is on display continuously and it often builds a sense of customer loyalty. After all, you gave that person his trusty mug and it’s your company’s name that’s becoming more familiar.

Marketing can be placed on virtually any type of auto accessory, including antenna balls, window shades, bumper stickers, license plate holders and even tool kits. Don’t forget air fresheners, which often hang, front and center, from the rear view mirror in any vehicle.

Showing Your Creativity
Using auto accessories to market your business can provide your business with an edge over competitors, who may rely only on conventional advertising. Show you can take advantage of creative opportunities and think outside the box with your business’ marketing program. After all, a successful marketing strategy almost always means a successful sales strategy and generating solid profit margins.

Promotional accessories often are used as enticements, a source of encouragement for potential clients who might otherwise be lost forever. An accessory has the power to have them reconsider your business and return. Or, maybe it makes them feel more comfortable about buying from you in the first place.

This type of advertising puts your name and logo directly in view of potential customers on a daily basis. Their friends and family members also will see your ad over and over. And, the ad has lasting power as it’s stuck on an item that’s of use, like a key chain or travel mug that may survive for months, if not years.

Choosing the Right Promotional Products Company
Find an experienced promotional products company that is familiar with using auto accessories. Most should provide you with ideas that fit your message and how those ideas have fared in the past. Pricing should be made available up front or on request. You should not have to guess how much the advertising will cost.

There are hundreds of categories of promotional products to consider. And some companies even offer the ability to create your own logo if you don’t already have a graphic available.

Some good questions to ask up front include whether the company will meet your deadline and if not, would they return your money? After all, you don’t want to hold a promotional event without having your promotional accessories in hand.

Also ask whether the company has handled large orders in the past. Will they do the graphics in house or subcontract the work? Do they offer free samples so you can see what you’re getting ahead of time? Shop around and compare prices. Most companies offer quotes online for many of their products.

Using Your Automotive Accessory Products
Use these as free giveaways or promotional items at local community festivals, carnivals or parades. Look for possible partnerships with area auto-related businesses where you might place your promotional products.

Find out when the next big auto show is coming to town and rent a booth. Or, during the warmer months, watch the newspaper for car-related events, like classic car shows at area fairgrounds and flea markets.

Giveaways always are popular. Take out a $20 ad in the paper to give away 50 featured promotional products to the first 50 people in our business door on a specific day. At the least, 50 items marketing your business will be dispatched into the community that day.

And, maybe you’ll make a few sales in the process.