Promotional items are useful items with a company’s name, logo or message designed and imprinted on them to increase brand awareness among consumers. Promotional items are a great marketing tool as they allow your brand to connect with consumers by engaging their senses. It is a form of advertising that allows consumers to interact with a brand on a physical level. And promotional products often create a more memorable brand experience.
Unlike advertising messages, promotional items are not as intrusive and distracting. Offering a promotional item is like saying ‘We care. Thank you for being a valued customer.
When prospects or clients receive these products they are more likely inclined to reciprocate by looking or purchasing the products or services. According to research people who received promotional items are more likely to remember the name of the advertiser on the products. Upon receiving the promotional items others will be more inclined to research the company or product.
Promotional items might include wearables, drinkware, bags, computer products, desk office accessories, calendars, tech devices and more – they come in all shapes, sizes and colors. In many cases, it’s even possible to obtain custom items that aren’t usually found in promotional product catalogs. It all falls on your ability to capture the imagination of your targets and help build lasting connections. Below are some of our picks for your consideration:
Best Promotional Items for Your Brand
- Top Pick: Enfain Flash Thumb Memory Stick
- Runner Up: Atmos Green 100% Cotton Reusable Grocery Bags
- Best Value: Amazon.com Gift Card in a Mini Envelope
Enfain Flash Thumb Memory Stick
Top Pick: This promotion item is great almost everyone can use a memory stick these days. Enfain’s pen drive comes in ten units per package and they are available from 128 MBs to 32GBs.
They also come in an assortment of colors that include black, blue, green, orange, pink and more. The pen drives have a foldable swivel metal cap that is perfect for logo stickers. Each pen drive weighs just 0.48 ounces and the casing material is made from aluminum and plastic.
10 Enfain 16GB USB Flash Drive Memory Stick Thumb Drives Bulk MultiColor, 10 Pack
Atmos Green 100% Cotton Reusable Grocery Bags
Runner Up: A branded reusable grocery bad is a great promotional item. It solves a problem for the user, it is environmentally friendly, and it will get a lot of eyes on it.
The Atmos Green reusable grocery bag is made from 100% recycled cotton and it comes in at 15 X 16 inch with a 27″ long handle. You can print your company name, logo or other promotional content on either side of the bag. And the company provides the bag in 34 colors and bulk orders from five to 200 pieces.
Amazon.com Gift Card in a Mini Envelope
Best Value: Amazon gift cards can be a great promotional item if you serve a very diverse customer base and can’t decide on what item to settle on. Amazon gift cards are pre-loaded with a set amount of money that allows recipients to redeem their gift from amazon.
Gift cards range from as low as $10 to as high as $2,000 allowing you the discretion to reward customers based on their loyalty and frequency of patronage. They are also a good way to reward your employees as well. What is also great is that there are no fees on the cards and there is no expiration date on them making them last to possibly perpetuity. You can print or stamp the mini envelope with your logo or company name.
Amazon.com Gift Card in a Mini Envelope
Express Pencils’ Rainbow Rubberized Soft Touch Ballpoint Pens
This offering by Express Pencils comes with a 2-in-1 pen/stylus design. The stylus tip is ideal for use on tablets, cellphones, or computer screens. The metal pens come in black ink and are of medium point. Each box comes with seven pens with an assortment of colors. The rubberized barrel offers a soft touch grip for extra comfort and is an ideal gift at conventions, trade shows, corporate events and more. Coming in at 6.93 x 3.7 x 2.44 inches you can print your logo or company tagline to boost your promotions.
Joinwin Mini LED Flashlight Key Chain
Key chains are an affordable and popular promotion item among businesses. These key chains by Joinwin come with an additional perk, a flashlight to help us maneuver through keyholes in the dark. You get a dozen per package in an assortment of colors. Another plus is there is enough space to imprint your logo or branding on the flashlight. Each unit weighs just 3.2 ounces and comes in at 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.7 inches.
Joinwin Mini LED Flashlight Key Chain Thin LED Flashlight on Keychain
Canopy Street Store’s Motivational Quote Cards
These motivation cards come in batches of 50, with 25 distinct designs on business card sizes (2 x 3.5 inches). These kindness cards help to send out positive messages and joy to the people that matter to your business that includes employees, customers, and other people you’d love to spread positivity too.
The cards come with a blank back so you can add your own logo and company information should you choose to do so. The cards come in various colors that include pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, white and teal.
Motivational Quote Cards/Business Card Size / 50 Kindness Cards
Mr-Label Waterproof Matte White Water Bottle Labels
From company to promotional events, conferences, open houses, and festivals, having your brand on a bottle of water will get the attention of your audience.
Mr-Label lets you print your content on an 8.11” x 2” label using an inkjet or laser printer. Once it is printed, you peel the labels from the sheet and stick them on the bottle of water. The company provides an online design solution or you can use Mr-Label MS Word, OpenOffice, or Photoshop templates.
You can get 10 sheets with 50 labels or 50 sheets with 250 labels.
What to look for in Promotion Items
- Quality: Make sure the promotional items you decide to give patrons are made with durable materials and quality materials. Remember the purpose of the exercise is to increase attachment with your brand so lackluster products or faulty items can potentially damage the reputation of your business instead of improving it.
- Usefulness: Equally important is that your promotion items offer utility to your recipients. Only a small fraction of the population would appreciate a useless paperweight. Make sure the items you offer come in handy to your customers. That is why it is important to have your recipients in mind when thinking about offering promotional items. If you plan your promotional items and make them innovative it will create a more significant impact on the target audience and help raise the brand’s profile. That is why many promotional items include stationery, key chains, electronics, tools, etc.
- Uniqueness: Remember the exercise of offering promotional items is to stand from the competition. So, it is important to resist the urge of providing an item that does not stand out at all. It should not only show thoughtfulness but also be visually appealing and a novelty. The objective here is to create a lasting impression.
- Value: Remember that your promotional items should account for a fraction of your marketing budget. You will need to rely on other marketing tasks to build your brand and business. For better impact look for inexpensive custom promotional items and giveaways where you can spend your dollars wisely and get your logo branding for less. When buying promotional products, purchase pens, mugs and shirts and add your own personal touch to them.
Using Promotional Items
Promotional items can be used for a variety of purposes. Popular programs include business gifts, employee relations, orientation programs, corporate communications, tradeshows, dealer/distribution programs, company stores, generating new customers or new accounts, and promotion of brand awareness and brand loyalty. Other uses may include employee incentive programs, new product or service introductions and marketing research for survey and focus group participants.
If you have a decent budget, you can use it to also impact new and existing customers. A rule of thumb is to categorize promotional items based on ‘good’, ‘better’, and ‘best’. This will help you stay organized and keep track of your giveaways throughout the year. For example, you can literally give out some promotional items to anyone while you can give the other two out for high targets and best performers.
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Images: Amazon
This article, “Best Promotional Items for Your Brand” was first published on Small Business Trends