Last Monday I met with a new client – a representative of a local university. She was a very cheerful lady but had no marketing background, and was completely in the dark about what promo item to choose. At the top of her list were magnets – she wanted ‘refrigerator magnets’ with her university’s logo, and she wanted the enrolment and inquiry trunk line imprinted, too.



I could understand where she was coming from. Magnets are, after all, among the cheapest promo items, and at roughly $0.56 each, they fall right within her budget. But when I asked her what exactly she wishes to accomplish with these magnets, she answered, ‘to promote ourselves to high school seniors so that they would consider us for college.’

RED ALERT. The common mistake people make when choosing promo items is choosing in terms of price. The cheapest is not always the most effective. In this case, the magnets will only stay in the student’s refrigerators at home, where they can sit idle with no promotional leverage. These magnets will fail at spreading the word among other students. I ended up talking get into buying rulers and pens instead.

For few more cents, she could really promote the school. Students can use their pens and rulers in class and tell their friends, “This school is where I’m going to for college."

Now that is efficient promotion for less than $1 each.