Use Numbers to Convince Doubters

Reading up on marketing research transformed Jared McCarthy from a promo-products pooh-pooher to a proud purveyor. "It's still fascinating to me how so many people are willing to respond for a  T-shirt or a mug or a hat," he says. "The bottom line is this stuff works, and as a responsible agent for my clients, I have no choice but to add promotional products to the mix, because it works."

Here are a few numbers to share with your prospects to make them think:

• People look at their watch an average of twice an hour. If they wear a logoed watch for the 16 hours they're awake, that's 32 ad impressions a day.

• Using four exposures a day to a calendar as an average, that comes to 1,460 for the year. The cost per impression for a $3 calendar would be 0.2 cents.

• The recipient of a 50-sheet notepad sees the ad at least 50 times – once each time they write a note. If the notes are passed on, the number of ad exposures can double or triple.