If your business is not on the high street it may be struggling to get the level of public attention – and business – it deserves. But small businesses can easily use promotional clothing to boost their sales.

This Christmas, above all others, the average shopper is likely to be looking for a bargain. Money is tight and that means that people are seeking the best deal for the cash they have. And small businesses can actually offer more, not less, than their bigger rivals.

How about a free mince pie or foot massage for customers? Hire a couple of students from the local college who are studying to be beauticians for the massage, or catering students to provide food, and kit them out in promotional clothing such as aprons and caps trimmed with tinsel – then let them loose on your customers!

Or link to a local charity and have some ‘Special Edition’ promotional T-shirts printed – say that you’re going to donate 5% of every purchase over £50 to the charity and have somebody from the charity on hand to offer a thank you Christmas card to everybody who spends enough to reach donation level. People love to feel they’ve done some good for others and this creates a relationship in their minds between you and them.

Alternatively, organise something for kids – invest in some plain white T-shirts and fabric pens and ask them to design you a new logo or a Christmas themed slogan – then photograph each entry, display all the photos in your shop or office, and give a prize to the ‘winner’. The kids will never take off their hand-made T-shirts and will tell everybody they meet over Christmas how and where they made it – instant free advertising and lots of brand loyalty from tired parents who will remember that you kept their little darlings quiet for quite possibly the only time that day.