Starting a Corporate Giveaways Business

One of the most exciting yet low cost ventures to put up is the corporate giveaways business. Corporate giveaways are items given for free by businesses as promotional items or gifts. This cover a wide spectrum – from ballpens to expensive gadgets. The items usually carry the company’s name, logo, address, contact number, etc. Among the popular gifts are umbrellas, t-shirts, key chains, fans, bags, mugs, etc. Although most of the items are low priced, companies usually order thousands of them at a time.

The key success factor in this business is the ability to source innovative items that can be sold at a good price, and your marketing skills. For start-ups with little capital, it is advisable to stock up only on fast-moving and low cost items to conserve your capital. You can just have samples of the items you will be selling and just purchase additional items when there is an order.

Here are some things to do for those who want to get started in the corporate giveaways business:

• Register your business. Even if your initial plan is to locate at home, note that since you will be catering mostly to companies, it is essential that your business be legally registered.

• Learn Photoshop. Photoshop is a software program used for manipulating images. This is a necessity because you are often called upon by clients to enhance or make changes in the image they supplied. You only need to learn the basics in order to make simple adjustments and it may be too expensive to hire an artist if you are just starting.

• Learn silk screen printing. Silk screen printing is one of the most common ways of printing on corporate giveaways because there are many surfaces where only silk screen printing can be used to print an image economically. Although it is simple process, you need to know how to do it well so that you can maintain good quality printing.

• Always be on the lookout for new items. Because of seasonal trends, you cannot always rely on your bread and butter items. You must always have new things to show to your clients or they would no longer look forward to your visits. Many in the corporate giveaways business travel abroad to source for items that are not yet present in the domestic market.

• Sell only quality products. For repeat purchases, you must deliver only items that would delight your customers. Those selling cheap but low quality items like ball pens that do not write, will find the doors closed the next time they approach the client.

• Have a website designed for selling products. While almost every business would benefit from having a website, Internet presence is especially important for those in the corporate giveaways business. Enticing pictures of your products and an easy way to order from the Internet are must-have tools in your marketing arsenal.

The corporate giveaways business favors those who are creative and hard-working over those with a lot of capital. Those who want to enter this sunrise industry would be well advised to attend a seminar on the business.

BusinessCoach, Inc., a leading business seminar provider, conducts seminars on how to start this venture. Click here to view details of the seminar: Starting a Corporate Giveaways and Souvenir Items Business »

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.

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