February Winners Announced for $42,000 Give-Away Promo Products Contest for Small Businesses, Sponsored by IdeaCafe & AmsterdamPrinting.com

Idea Café and AmsterdamPrinting.com are thrilled to announce the February winners of the $42,000 Give-Away Promo Products contest for small businesses. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) March 26, 2011 - Idea Café, an established online community for entrepreneurs, and AmsterdamPrinting.com, one of the country's oldest and most reputable Promotional Merchandise companies, are pleased to announce the February winners of the $42,000 Give-Away Promo Products contest for small businesses.

To take part in the contest, businesses had an opportunity to answer a marketing/advertising related question for a chance to win promotional merchandise for their company, free online advertising and other promotions for their business.

To be eligible to win, businesses can enter each month (through and including December 31, 2011) by visiting http://www.businessownersideacafe.com/business/merchandise-giveaway.php One or more winners are selected each month, determined by the application and innovation expressed within their submission.

The exceptional February winners impressed the judges with their outstanding, clever, and unique ideas for advertising and/or using promotional merchandise to promote a business:

• Cally Apicella, owner of Bella Vita Designs (BellaVitaDesigns.com), won free advertising for her business with this winning entry: "My father was in food service his whole life; He went to numerous trade shows over the years and was given many samples and promotional items; My favorite was the company that gave him a can of dehydrated water; I believe the company made dehydrated potatoes, onions, and other foods; The empty can of dehydrated water was comical and I will always remember it; It was a simple idea that was funny, that's what made me remember it."

• Sandra Suisse won $500 of AmsterdamPrinting.com free promotional merchandise for her business with this winning entry: "I live in Michigan surrounded by 2 of the Great Lakes. There is always something to do on the water. Boating, fishing, jet-skiing, and last summer turned into a week-end scavenger hunt when we found a beach ball floating in the water near an island where many people swim and meet. When i picked it up i realized it was a coupon for 20% off of a meal at a local restaurant that we could get to by boat. Upon redemption we were told that 20 balls were released every week-end in our local waterways. It became an event in itself to search them out!"

• Molly Fisher, owner of Peak Mobility, Inc. (peakmobility.com), won free advertising for her business with this winning entry: "My family owns a small accessibility shop and one day an elderly customer came in for grab bars for her bathroom. Once purchased, I asked her to sign her receipt; She looked up and said she wouldn't be able to and hasn't signed in years due to severe arthritis. I placed one of our promotional triangular grippers onto the pen and asked her if that would help. She slowly signed her name, looked down and began softly weeping. She was so proud to see her signature again, which quickly brought a tear to my eye as well; I immediately filled her hand with the promotional grippers for all of her pens at home and we hugged. The best money I've ever spent on advertising to this day."

• Toby Lorenc won free advertising for his business with this winning entry: "When I was in publishing, we had an author/music artist with a CD called Sunsets and Sushi and we paired it with our newest book, which had similar design; For the launch party, we gave all participants actual Chinese food to-go boxes with the CD and book inside, along with some other freebies."

All visitors to BusinessOwnersIdeaCafe.com have the opportunity to review hundreds of contest entries and find some fresh and effective marketing ideas to promote their own business: http://www.businessownersideacafe.com/business/merchandise-giveaway-browse.php .

The contest is co-sponsored by the DevStart Network/BusinessOwnersIdeaCafe and AmsterdamPrinting.com.

To learn more and to enter the contest, please visit http://www.businessownersideacafe.com/business/merchandise-giveaway.php.

About AmsterdamPrinting.com
AmsterdamPrinting.com (www.amsterdamprinting.com/) has an extended history of providing quality printed business products to satisfied customers. Originating in 1898 Abraham Singer began his one-man print shop in the rear of his Amsterdam, NY apartment. By 1925, Amsterdam Printing & Litho was producing bridge score pads, personalized with an advertiser's name on each page. The business evolve ed and was constantly innovating to create new business channels. As the business expanded through the decades, so did the product selection. Today Amsterdam is a leader in bringing innovative promotional products to market to help businesses creatively promote their company and retain their customers. Anything from personalized pens, pocket calendars, desk calendars and all types of promotional products have become the essentials of the Amsterdam product range.

About Idea Café
Idea Café (www.businessownersideacafe.com/) provides an extensive range of free services, well-written articles and other information aimed at helping small businesses get started and succeed. That includes everything from how to start a business and obtain financing, to tips for accounting, marketing, finding and keeping customers, marketing on the Internet, and much more. IdeaCafe.com has been online since 1995 and is known for its popular CyberSchmooze forums, where small business owners, startup entrepreneurs and experts share questions, information and provide objective feedback. They have a well-established base of contributing business experts, plus a large base of loyal readers, who rely on them for new ideas and practical help running their businesses. To find out more about Idea Cafe, visit www.ideacafe.com.

About DevStart, Inc.
DevStart, Inc. is the parent company of IdeaCafe and a leading online provider of unique IT related content and powerful tools. Attracting a monthly audience of more than a half-million unique visitors, with decision makers at its core, our strong portfolio of media properties provides a uniquely collaborative environment for readers, writers, and advertisers. Since 1998 the DevStart Network has been a popular and trusted source for information and resources for webmasters and entrepreneurs. In addition to BusinessOwnersIdeaCafe.com, our major properties include HostReview, PromotionWorld, DomainInformer, and other websites that cater to webmasters and business owners.

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