Well the economy for some businesses is beginning to pick up. Obviously there are still more than a handful of industries still feeling the effects of the economic situation of the last year or two. However with any luck many industries will begin to see a rebound soon. I read a lot on business just for my own general interest and in many situations this is exactly where new business and new success stories are to be found which is in the growing phase out of a recession. If you are in business this is exactly the right time to really start ramping up your advertising for maximum effectiveness. Good timing of when to advertise reaps massive benefits towards the end of hard economic times and in the beginning of a growth cycle. With this in mind I would highly recommend using custom branded toys as an integral part of your marketing. Used as both a corporate gifting item or as a mass handout item through channels such as trade show, purchase item tip ons, customer meetings, service delivery, product delivery amongst other means this will ensure you have a good starting base for repeat business or word of mouth business. Don't forget that our flagship product that are usb keys including our new custom bamboo flash drives we are able to upload your company's material such as pamphlets, video and services offered. (we can even hard code this info on the drive) Does all this work? Is it money well spent? Well I cant speak for others but our small business has grown not by radio or tv ads which realistically is only for large companies, but we thrive on a combination of networking, sponsorship of events, word of mouth and of course promotional items which accounts for a very very large % of our marketing dollar.