All businesses and organisation utilse promotional products in their advertising and marketing campaigns, however what is the best way forward if you are on a tight budget? It is not uncommon for some small organisations to go under through poor selection of promotional products resulting in their marketing campaigns becoming a flop. Fortunatley, the market is a was with fantastic low cost promotional gifts which take away much of the risk and still provide excellent value for money and a good return on any investment.

One great idea is to go for bespoke printed playing cards with your logo and message emblazoned on the back. These are highly cost effective and meet the majority of tighter budgets. Don't forget though, that it is important to get your branding printed as many times as possible on back to get the best effect. Most gamers will not play with a deck whose cards look different depending on which way they are held upside down – and the idea is to get people to use your cards and be exposed to your logo.

Custom printed plastic pens are an ideal way to give your brand added exposure if your target audience are office based. This makes distribution of your business gifts a lot easier, because all you have to do is ship boxes of pens to various companies, give them time to filter through to all employees and then wait for the phones to start ringing. Promotional pens and similar gifts are so versatile they can be used for almost any market and what's more they are highly cost effective.

One idea that is often not considered is promo items that can be used on the beach. For little cost you can go for kites, beach balls or frisbees all of which have a great potential to be seen by a wide variety of people on a daily basis. Even if only one or two people are actually given one of the items, a lot of people will see the item, use it and enjoy themselves. They will then form a positive association between that time and your logo – and then your work as a marketer is done!

At Christmas time, typically many organisations try to distribute decorations but fail to recognise that actually these types of gifts are indeed perfect promotional giveaways. Take any standard box of decorations and get your logo emblazoned on the box and distribute them to shoppers at outlet centres and see them smile as they now have one less purchase to make. Then year after year your brand will be in their living room, forming connections between your company and one of the most potent marketing forces of all: holiday spirit.

We all get a bit tired of it, however Christmas is a key selling and marketing opportunity. You can use that to your advantage by handing out free promo items that take the burden off of shopping for the holiday season. This is the perfect opportunity to create heightened brand awareness and also build a lasting relationship between your business and your key target market.