On-the-job training is an essential part of business, but what about on-the-job marketing? It works for creative-staffing firm The Boss Group. The company makes sure to provide the talent it places with plenty of Boss-branded goods to use in the offices where they're working.

Jenna Stone, director of marketing and communications, says that Boss contractors frequently work alongside people who were placed by competitors. The two groups have even been known to compare promotional gifts from their respective staffing firms. "We had a case where one of our contractors actually sent us pictures of his cube with all of our items and his neighbor's cube with a competitor's items," she says. "So there does seem to be, on the talent side, the need to keep up with our competitors in showing that we appreciate and value our talent partners that we place."

Boss' current gift bag holds an oversized mug, a couple cool translucent pens and a generously sized notepad, all imprinted with the company's logo. "We wanted something that stayed on the desk, that was functional, and that was sort of simple - something they're actually going to use," Stone says.

She adds that Boss' salespeople also use the gifts to facilitate sales calls. "The salespeople just like to have something in hand," she says. "Often they use it as an occasion to get a visit with a client. They say that they're bringing them something and want to drop it off, and that enables them to get some face time."