The economy is not doing well right now and a poor economy means big trouble for smaller businesses. There are many small businesses going out of business right now because people are not buying things and if you have a small business, that may worry you. Rightfully so it should worry you, but you don?t have to panic because there is a trick up your sleeve to bringing the customers in and advertising to others without spending much at all. It is discount glassware.

That may seem like an odd thing to say will save the day, especially if you don?t actually sell glassware. Well, the glassware is not for you to sell, it is for you to give away. Again, it may seem odd that you would give something away, in order to make money, but promotional items like discount glassware works. In fact, it works very well. When you give a customer a promotional item, they will appreciate it and they will show that appreciation by shopping with you again.

Let?s look at the comparisons here between advertising traditionally and using promotional items like discount glassware.

If you buy a newspaper ad for $500 and television commercial time for $2,000, you will reach a lot of people. However, you may only bring in 40 people into your business with the newspaper ad, and 200 in with the television ad. That means that for the newspaper, each of those people has to buy just over $10 of goods to help you break even on the ad. For the television commercial, each person needs to spend exactly $10 to help you break even. That may not seem like much, but if only a few buy from you and the rest look around, you just lost money.

Now, with discount glassware you will buy a set of ten for as little as $20. That means you can give ten away to ten customers. To break even, customers only have to spend two dollars each in your store. Most will spend more, and that means a big profit for you and an excellent return on investment. You spend a little, you get a lot, that is how great promotional items are.

There is another thing that is great about promotional items like discount mugs, and that is they can create customer loyalty. In the times of a recession, you want customer loyalty because that will keep your business afloat. A business that has loyalty is a business that will survive. By giving away glasses, or by personalizing glasses with customer?s names, you are showing your customers that you want their business and you are thankful for their business. The customers will then show you that they appreciate you noticing by buying from you again. Something as simple as glassware can create customer loyalty and that can be just enough to keep your small business running from the recession and back into boom times.