Even though the abundance of opportunities for promoting a business online can make it seem like online marketing is the only way, using offline methods for promoting a business can be a very important and effective way to increase your bottom line.

The point of all of your marketing efforts is to make money. Am I right? It goes without saying that to make money with your business you first need to have your act together in having the right message for your target audience and being able to convey that message to your target audience. OK, so where do you find your audience? Do you really think your target audience does nothing more than look at a computer?

Think about your daily activities and the offline business promotion ideas will surge quicker than Michael Phelps swimming laps. When you woke up in the morning and were getting ready for work, I'm pretty sure you were drinking coffee, juice, or some other beverage. Mugs can be printed with a business logo, website, slogan that your potential customer can have in front of them. The message on a mug can be seen up to 10 times a day, meaning that a $5 mug gets a Cost per Impression of less than three-fifths of 1 cent throughout its one to two year lifespan. People will see your message whenever they're thirsty. And how often do people get thirsty? Hmmmm....

Moving along in your morning, odds are you're one of the millions who drove to work today. As you're puttering along in traffic, the idiot who just cut you off has some bumper sticker about the pride he has in his honor student. Bumper stickers are a great way to get someone's attention while they are driving. Yes Virginia, even though we may one day make personal loans to buy gas, millions of drivers times millions of bumpers make millions of chances to get your message out this way.

Now you're at work. Called into yet ANOTHER meeting, you're scribbling away furiously. Pens are used at some point in time by practically everyone who communicates. These pens can have your company information on them, which would be seen over and over and over. Plus, pens are cheap so you can get more bang for your buck.

And, lest I forget, what about your schedule? Do you have time for that meeting next week? You'd better check your calendar. Calendars are used all year, every year. They are referred to several times daily, which means potential customers can see your message often. Assuming that someone looks at a calendar three times daily, a $3 calendar brings the cost per impression to $.002 cents! Calendars are a necessity and make great Christmas Gifts. Here's the real kicker. A same size ad in the yellow pages costs $4,000 a month or $50,000 a year.

Moving along to your ride home, you are heading out of the office and while carrying some extra work to bring home, your keys fall on the ground. Key chains are another commonly used item that you can place a business message on to advertise yourself or your business. Key chains go everywhere and are seen an average of 10 times a day and have a marketing life of five years which means 18,250 impressions for a $2.00 key chain. This equates to a cost of .00010. Advertising doesn't get any better than this.

I've given a few offline business promotion methods here. This certainly is not the entire list - I encourage you to expand your business promotion horizons beyond the rectangular shaped screen you're looking at now. The offline world of promotion provides an array of opportunities that you may be missing.