In today’s electronically driven world, kids are becoming more and more jaded about what printing is all about. What with the proliferation of laptops, smart phones and tablets, kids today know printing in its rawest form, and that is the ever dwindling number of books and newspapers still available in printed form. What they don’t know is how promotional printing works. The kind where prints are done on items that are given away to the public. Printed ads are one thing, but promotional items are another.

How can printing be used as a promotional tool? Remember the days where you get free shirts or mugs with a company logo on it? Or maybe getting pencils and notebooks or calendars? These are all examples of promotional printing. This practice is slowly fading, because now, companies use electronic giveaways such as ebooks, pdfs, special programs and even apps for the phone. The days of giving out physical items you can use everyday are slowly going the way of the Dodo and this is a shame really since those stuff are really cool.

So what use does promoting using prints by a printing company have? Well, one must be creative nowadays with which promotional items to give away. One good idea is giving away USB sticks with a logo on it. Even if you are, say a textile manufacturer, giving USB sticks is a good idea even if it has nothing to do with your company. The reason behind this is because most people know what those sticks are for, and a lot of people use them. And having your company name on something people use is always a good thing. Think about it, if they use the item constantly, then the name of your company becomes ingrained in their minds.

Which promotional items can you use today? Sure the USB stick is a good idea, but then you can also go old school. What do I mean? Well, some things have been out of style for so long, that now they can be considered as cool. Like giving away shirts or mugs. You can go so far as to giving away organizers again. Sure it may seem like a bad idea since many use smart phones and iPads these days to keep track of their schedules. but when you think about it, what can they do if they are not near a power source? Or if their devices crash? The good old notebook and organizer is still king. More reliable since it never fails. You can even market green printing if you are shrewd enough.

As you can see, the days of promotional printing are still alive and well. All it takes is some ingenuity. If you think about it, you can virtually use as promotional items anything you can print your name on. If it’s technologically advanced, you are up to date. If it is analog, then you are going for old school. Retro is in, as evidenced by the number of hipsters today. So you can’t really lose since every one loves free stuff. All it takes is a little creativity and a whole lot of shrewd marketing. So don’t count the old ways out just yet!