The Creative's Corner

Bookmarks, almost everyone has a few lying around. You can use them to mark your place in books and magazines and to promote your business.

The most natural tie-in is for businesses that work in the publishing of books and magazines, or if you’ve written your own book. But that’s not using your imagination. Any company can successfully promote themselves with these little billboards.

People can use bookmarks in many ways.

• Display beautiful photographs
• Put a great recipe on them
• Used as a ruler, if a ruler has been printed on one side
• Offer useful information about medications, health, first aid or some interesting fact about your business
• Offer coupons; cut off the coupon printed on it, and bring it in for a discount or free gift
• Promote an upcoming event

Your imagination is the only limitation you have when it comes to bookmarks. Some unique things you could do include:

• Attaching small gifts to a bookmark, such as a toy (in a bag) or temporary tattoo
• Make them out of dry erase material, with your information on one side, and the other side blank so people can write notes, and pass them out with a dry erase pen
• Design them like a puzzle, where several bookmarks must be put together in the proper order to make a complete picture or message. Give people a bookmark every time they visit. Finish the picture and win a prize.
• Provide entertainment by putting mazes or crossword puzzles on them
• Have them cut into any shape. You could make a bookmark shaped like a camera, wrench, dragon or anything else.

I still have a bookmark I picked up over twenty years ago from a Japanese store in California. It’s die cut metal that’s gold in color and has a nice red tassel. They passed them out with every purchase. Some of my other favorite bookmarks include comic book art, lenticular images, samples of my favorite artist’s work and inspirational sayings.

Last week I even bought some bookmarks from two young girls who were going door to door, raising money for an upcoming class trip.

Bookmarks offer advantages in that they are:

• Inexpensive
• Easy to carry
• Light weight
• Small
• Come in many sizes
• Can have a perforation applied, for the above mentioned coupons

They can be distributed in a wide variety of locations.

• Pass them out at your office
• Have the sales staff give them to clients
• Freebies at trade shows and special events
• Anywhere you would pass out a business card, or even use these as your business card
• Don’t forget to offer a pile of them to local bookstores, libraries and schools

Think about where your clients are, and what tie-ins other businesses may offer. A photographer could give a stack to local photography stores and schools; an exterminator could put bug facts on them and give them to schools and gardening stores; an art gallery could pass them out to art supply stores and schools. Do a little thinking about how your products and services impact your community and you’ll have lots of places to hand them out.

Who would have thought that the humble bookmark could do so much?

Have Fun,
Jeff