THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 3, 1994 TAG: 9408020139
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Business
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Giving out free promotional items is one of the best ways a company can advertise, said Yvonne Dobyns. And she has a business that can help advertisers with such gimmicks.
She owns Choice Advertising Specialties & Creative Services, a company that supplies other businesses with personalized promotional items and graphic services. She opened the business at 322 Main Street in Smithfield last December.
``It says a lot when you give a client free things,'' Dobyns said. ``It lets them know you appreciate them and their business.
``It can be the best advertising you can imagine,'' she said. ``If you give someone a free pen and you did great work, they are going to think of you when they use that pen.''
That thought often translates into repeat business, according to Dobyns.
Businesses, organizations or even individuals can buy almost any item and personalize it to fit their promotional needs. For examples, a business could invest in ink pens, shirts or caps and have them emblazoned with its logo, name and address, she said.
``We can imprint anything from A to Z - shirts, ink pens, mug huggers - with a company or individual's information,'' Dobyns said.
``Businesses really use our service to promote what they do,'' she said. ``We like to tell them that our business is promoting your business.''
Companies needing graphic and printing specialists also can contract Dobyns' services. Her business has the capability to design logos and provide clients with company letterhead and business cards.
Dobyns spent a year working for the company's former owner before buying his distributorship. Although only in business less than a year, Choice's clientele base extends all over Hampton Roads and continues to grow rapidly, she said.
``Business has been exceptionally good,'' Dobyns said. ``We have had a lot of response from the booth we had at Smithfield's Olden Days Festival.'' MEMO: For more information about Choice Advertising Specialties & Creative
Services, call Dobyns at 357-9630.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Yvonne Dobyns displays some of the advertising products she markets
through Choice Advertising Specialties and Creative Services.
by CNB