Leo Burnett, an advertising executive who made great ads like the Marlboro Man, once said, “Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret…to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink.” Marketing or advertising should always be a part of any growing business as it is an effective way of telling prospective customers that your business or product exists. However, industries differ in standards on how they budget their sales dollar. When we were starting our business in Fall of 1998, I spoke to a Small Business Administration (SBA) consultant, who recommended investing at least 3-5% of our annual revenue back into advertising, and more if we have aggressive competition. If you’re a small business owner like me, who’s looking for an inexpensive way to market your product, how about checking out the effects of putting a part of your sales dollar in candy wrappers?

Since marketing candy wrappers is easy and inexpensive, it would not cause a big dent in your budget dollars. For less than $2.00 each, including the candy, you can get started with high quality color wrappers. Handing out this wrapped chocolate bars to your prospective clients instead of or together with your business card will give you an edge as you can use a limited-time promotion or other call to action advertising on the wrapper to increase impulse or point of sale purchases if you’re in retail. Also remember that you are the one regulating the number of wrappers you hand out and how often you handout your message. One of our clients used candy wrapper marketing when he participated in a trade show, and he was thrilled as attendees would come up to his booth for the candy bar. He couldn’t believe how effective it was as it became a hit with the attendees as well as the exhibitors themselves.

Candy wrappers can also promote a healthy positive image as it can help correct a gossip or false report or help promote a cause or event. Since candy wrapper marketing is a simple process, you can launch your campaign sooner than you would with many other marketing programs, hence spreading the news is a lot faster and sweeter. Four years ago, a furniture company was rumored to be going under, and they promoted a sales event featuring a wrapped chocolate with certain prizes at the back of the wrapper to entice more customers to go to their store. I was one of those customers who visited their store on a weekend to purchase a sofa throw. Lo and behold, I won a recliner from that event so I went home with my sofa throw and a matching recliner with a big smile on my face as it was my first time to win in a raffle or a contest.

Get business prospects to remember you with candy wrapper marketing. Candy wrappers usually work best when the message is brief and to the point. This is like putting your message in a bill board but in a handy and more personal form. You’re assured that your candy bar would get saved or passed on to others immediately compared to some items with logo. How can someone throw away chocolates? Attending conferences in the past, I’ve had my share of these logoed items – from pens, frames, shirts, mini-flashlights, mugs, and stuffed toys, which usually ended up in my drawer or closet, then eventually donated to Goodwill or Salvation Army. But chocolates – I keep them until I get that sweet urge, which happens after eating meals or I share them so I won’t feel guilty of the extra calories.

You can also market with candy wrappers to generate traffic. Continuous traffic is the first step toward expansion of your base of buyers which often results to sales increase – this simply means that the more people who contact you, the more possibilities you make to close a deal. Candy wrappers multiply traffic themselves through additional word of mouth conversations hence your message gets talked about. Think of a wedding favor that you’ve received. There was a time in my life that I looked forward to wedding favors handed as a “thank you for sharing in this wonderful occasion.” This is like the dessert that I’m anticipating so it gets frustrating when I’m handed with a tacky souvenir figurine. For me, wedding favors makes or breaks the wedding party. Chocolate bars can’t be tacky they’re always yummy so you can’t go wrong with them except when you have an allergy to chocolates or you have diabetes.

Continuous marketing strengthens your image in the business place. Look around you – there are billboards, print ads and television commercials bombarding us with information about products – companies want consumers to remember their products. When you think of a thirst quenching drink, which product do you remember being endorsed? Is it Doctor Pepper or Pepsi or Mountain Dew? Almost everyone is a walking advertisement of something. Shirts would have the designers name plastered in front, some discreetly and some loudly. This proves that you have to continuously let the consumers remember your product or service. Candy wrappers can help you to be remembered because your message is in your prospect’s face, quite literally. Your message is right at the wrapper as soon as the prospect picks up the candy – not hidden in an envelope or a magazine. Candy wrappers are ready to read, and even people who usually throws out other types of marketing without opening them, would want to eat the chocolate, and in order for them to get to the chocolate, they have to unwrap them. As people are curious in nature, they would read the wrapper before throwing them away — or they might keep them as they love the design or they want to keep your information for future reference. For whatever reason your prospect may have, the important one is they have read your message.

Advertise with candy wrappers to get your share of business or lose it to the businesses that do. You’ve got to market as your competition isn’t quitting anytime. Candy wrappers conceal your marketing from competitors as most advertising uses mass media where your competitors hear or see what you’re doing, then copy your marketing strategy. Candy wrapper marketing is more personal – only you and your prospects are aware of what you’re doing. It’s the rifle approach as you have a specific target or goal in mind. Candy wrapper marketing can work for any business as it can create the buzz so your business is remembered.

Ethical and philosophical qualities are extremely important when purchasing products. Price, value, and quality are no longer the only deciding factors considered when purchasing a product. Especially in today’s economy with all of the recent ponzi schemes, not only consumers but also employees and employers are more and more interested in corporate integrity, defined by a company’s ethical qualities. People want to buy and work with other people who are fair, honest, trustworthy, and who ‘do the right thing.’ Social responsibility and giving back are becoming more important in the eyes of consumers. People like to know that they are contributing to a greater good. Strong ethics and a good, solid philosophy are the fundamentals that all good businesses and corporations should be built upon. People increasingly prefer to purchase from socially responsible, ethical companies.

Being an ethical business converts to profit for your company. As a company, you want people to know about the ethical platform that your company is founded on. Your business wants to communicate to its customers that it is socially responsible and will do the right thing. This isn’t just a marketing tip, but is important for all aspects of a business. One way by which to create a platform upon which your company may communicate with its potential customers is through social media. Social media provides a platform upon which to build relationships between your business and your clientele. As a business you can tell your customers about your company, what you stand for, and how you are ethical and therefore the best company to fulfill their needs. Your customers are given the opportunity to respond to you as a company, to your products, and communicate with your other like-minded customers. When people build strong relationships they build trust in one another. If your customers trust you they will be more likely to be loyal to your product and recommend it to other people; therefore, increasing your clientele all as a result of being an ethical company and giving your customers a platform upon which to get to know you better, and to communicate their needs and desires.

This can be especially beneficial for small businesses. By using social media, small businesses can differentiate themselves from larger corporations. They have the opportunity to relate to customers and create a “real” relationship. If you’re looking for small business marketing help, this is an aspect that small businesses should capitalize on. Small businesses can set goals to increase awareness of their business by ten niche specific people per week. With such an increase, they will be able to focus on the relationships they build while at the same time increase their patrons.

Social media is your friend. Utilize it to build relationships with your customers and to increase your clientele. Make sure to stay on top of it, checking your profiles at least three times per week. You want to keep your information up to date. Also, make sure to respond to customers’ questions – especially to any potential negative feedback your business or products may receive. Keep up to date, and be honest. And remember, people like ethical, socially responsible companies.