My business that got me started is a community website that promotes what’s happening in the African-American community in Pittsburgh. It’s called www.thesoulpitt.com.  I often have the opportunity to be a media sponsor for events or have a booth at events in my area. I came up with something we call “Soul Bags” and they are filled with special offers, flyers, business cards, announcements, samples and more from various businesses that visit The Soul Pitt website.

We put a call out to the 7,000 people on our list that tells them we are going to be at a particular event and we will have a booth or we will be handing out our bags at the door. We tell folks that we will be handing out a certain number of bags (we usually do between 100 to 500). We tell them to get their stuff in the bag for only $20 and we will hand it out to event attendees. Click here for a sample of the email blast that was sent to round up people for the bag. http://tinyurl.com/qwrnhx

The participants drop off their flyers, cards, or whatever to our mailing center along with their money and we pick it up and stuff it in the bag. We also get a sponsor to pay for the bags and labels and the sponsor gets their logo and info on the outside of the bag.  Then as an added promotion and to show that we really hand them out, we take photos of people holding the bags at the event. Click these links for a few pics from an outdoor festival: http://tinyurl.com/q7b3ew http://tinyurl.com/npcfpp http://tinyurl.com/m7e2rl http://tinyurl.com/lj75×9 http://tinyurl.com/l369qs This bag promo is a win-win for everyone involved. However, to make this promotion a success, just remember these tips:

1. You should try it out with an event where there will at least be 100 people or more.
   
2. Make the color of the bags match your business colors - mine are gold with black and white labels (Go Pittsburgh Steelers!)  Here is where I get my bags. It’s also a great company to establish business credit. They give you the product and trust you to pay within 30 days. I get 500 bags for $39.00 http://www.uline.com/BL_5554/Die-Cut-Handle-Bags
3. Don’t pay extra money to get bags printed. Buy large white square labels and run them off on your printer. Uline sells labels too. I like the 4×6 white labels that come in packs of 400 for only $19 http://www.uline.com/BL_1230/Uline-White-Laser-Labels
4. Charge people at least $20. However, it really depends on your audience and their pockets of course. If you deal with small businesses make it affordable. If it is a high end event and you are dealing with high end advertisers charge more.
5. A $100 sponsorship will cover 500 bags and labels. Put the sponsors logo on the bag and put their handout in the bag.
6. We had around 30 items in each bag. Each paid $20 and got their stuff out to 500 people (some people may not have had 500 cards or flyers, but we still charged them $20) - We made $600 on the bags.
7. The best part is that at the event, you have seriously branded your business as you walk around and see everyone with bags with your name on them - And sometimes I may not even be your event.
8. Come up with a catchy name for the bag - We call ours “Soul Bags” because we are called The Soul Pitt.
9. If you’re having an all white party for the summer, hand out all white bags.
10. Makes a great fundraiser for churches and youth groups.
11. Make sure you get enough folks together to have a bag stuffing pizza party. Use some of the money from your profits!

About Me: I love sharing information with folks to help them take their business to the next level without spending a lot of dough. I am not afraid to share ideas, because my ideas flow all the time and the more I share the more I get back in return!  I speak to business groups on technology and guerilla marketing tactics both on and offline and specialize in Wordpress web design so that I can train my clients to update their own sites. Go to www.donnambaxter.com to find out more about me and my business and sign up for my e-newsletter.  Or my email is reachme@donnambaxter.com

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