When you are considering giving out promotional items, anything that spends time on people's desks is a great choice. That's where they do most of their business, so when they go to write a business letter, transcribe meeting notes, or make a phone call, your desktop items are there in their vision, subtly influencing their decisions throughout the day.

One of these kinds of useful gifts is printed erasers. There are many different types of printed erasers, but any of them will get your name and logo in people's hands. Some different groups of people who would love to have an eraser with your name on it include:

• Business people. Not everything is done on the computer. People take notes at meetings, they jot down phone numbers, they scribble phone messages or directions on scrap paper—and sometimes they make mistakes. Most business people don't think to include erasers on their office supply list, but your printed eraser can be at their finger tips to take care of those errors and make their notes as good as new.

• Students. Students from kindergarten to college need erasers to correct math problems, re-write science questions, correct sentence diagrams and underline pertinent passages in textbooks. Erasers are a standard part of every school supply list, but it would be even better for your potential customers if they didn't have to buy those supplies, but had printed erasers placed in their hands by a business that cares.

• Teachers. Most teachers spend money out of their own pockets to supply their classrooms with things that their students can't afford. This can be quite expensive for teachers. It would be an admirable sign of your dedication to your community to help schools and the teachers in them with printed erasers bearing your name and logo.

• Artists. The artistic community in any city or town is often an important part of that city's culture, as well as its ability to draw tourists. Even small towns display the works of painters, sculptors, quilters, and sketch artists. There are few better ways to support your community's artistic endeavours than to help provide those artists with their equipment. Art supplies are costly, and even something as small and as necessary as an eraser can help offset those costs, helping art to thrive wherever your business does.

Printed erasers are quite inexpensive and can be part of many different kinds of marketing activities. They can be prizes for daily incentives, and given out en masse at tradeshows, on campuses, and at fairs. Promotional erasers can be given out at sporting events to spread team spirit past the walls of the stadium, at political campaigns, fundraisers, and business to promote new customers and new accounts.

Erasers come in almost any colour your logo requires and can be bought in bulk so that you always have several on hand to give out. There are fewer more useful things that will keep your logo on someone's desk and in their hands than promotional erasers.