What are Custom Promotional Products?

What is one of the hardest aspects of being a business owner? You could probably come up with a thousand answers to that question and you would be right. Maybe handling the workload while trying to have a social life is impossible, or the cost of production is so high that you are having trouble turning a profit, or you have no idea how to keep track of finances.

There are so many areas of business that you have to worry about when you are the one in charge. One of the most significant pieces of your company is the marketing department. Whether you have a team of people dedicated to this side of the business or you are a solopreneur and the marketing responsibilities fall to you, getting the word out about your product or service is critical to success.

There is No Marketing Formula for Success

Trying to figure out the perfect marketing scheme is like chasing after something you want in a dream. Suddenly, running doesn’t work and that thing never gets any closer, or you wake up just as you are about to reach it. There is no perfect answer, no matter how hard you chase it. Even when you find a strategy that works, you have to constantly monitor whether it remains effective and adapt the campaign to changes in the industry landscape.

Will you focus more on a digital marketing campaign or print advertising? Which social media channels will better target your ideal audience? How much of your budget should be allocated for marketing? These are questions you will face as you attempt to connect with potential customers and convince them to buy your product or service.

Custom Promotional Products Offer a Unique Path to Growth

One marketing channel that you should look into is custom promotional items. What are they? Essentially, they are products that contain your branding, such as the company logo and name, that people can use or wear. They are separate from the product or service that you sell, but they serve a crucial purpose and can provide significant benefits for your business.

Branded Merchandise Increases Awareness

If you have any involvement in marketing, then you must understand the importance of brand awareness. When nobody knows that your business exists, then it is impossible to turn a profit. By giving away or selling promotional products with your branding, every time a person uses that item in public, it can lead to greater brand awareness. The more impressions your promotional items have, the more people are becoming familiar with your business.

Generating Customer Excitement

Everybody loves free swag, and using promotional products gives you an opportunity to make your customers excited about your company. Promotional giveaways can improve the standing of your company in the eyes of current clients and potential ones. Plus, when customers use these items in front of others, they become brand ambassadors. If they love what your company does, this gives them the chance to be a part of your company’s story, inviting their friends, families, and passersby to check out your business.

Extra Involvement for Employees

When you have teams who are a part of your company, offering them promotional products can increase the amount of agency they have. You can give them holiday gifts such as t-shirts, water bottles, travel mugs, swag bags, or other useful items that display the company logo and name whenever they use them.

Cost-Effective Marketing

Remember when we talked about the difficulties of finding the right marketing strategy? Promotional products provide a unique channel for people to interact with your brand in a cost-effective way. Think about it. If you sell or give away 100 t-shirts with your logo and name, that equals 100 people who can advertise your business in public. Not only that, but this is something they might wear over and over again. So every time they throw on that shirt, people are being exposed to the brand. That’s a lot of bang for your marketing buck.

Low-Effort Lead Generation

Did you know that shirts are a common conversation starter? How often do you hear a stranger say “wow, I love that shirt” to someone else? You never know what kind of conversations might start because of a promotional product that you gave away at a local event, or that one of your team members was using out in public. This interaction could generate a new lead with someone who may have never heard of your brand. Plus, all you had to do was purchase some items with labels, and then the rest of the work was done for you.

Using Promotional Items the Right Way

It is easy to bulk order a batch of custom promotional products that represent your company to the public. However, knowing how to use them is just as important for generating growth for the business.

Corporate Gifts

One popular way to dole out promotional products is with corporate gifts. Giving your team members quality products for them to use shows your gratitude for their services while also leveraging their social circles for more exposure. Plus, it provides a way for employees to feel a little more involved in the company.

Trade Shows

If you ever have the privilege of being invited to trade shows as a company, then you better bring along some merchandise with your company’s logo. This type of event is perfect for exposing your brand to people in a similar industry, increasing impressions and presenting the company to more consumers. Bring some pens, bags, and other swag to your next trade show so that when you meet prospective clients, you can give them something to remember you.

A Grand Opening

Have a big event coming up for your company? Then you need to order some promotional items to advertise the occasion. Combining your company logo with an exciting announcement like “the grand re-opening” can leave a lasting impression on those who see the item, increasing the average number of impressions your brand generates.

Local Charity Events

Involvement with the community is incredibly important for any company. Local people want to see that you are invested in the good of society, and being present in charity events is the perfect way to demonstrate this commitment. Set up a booth at a race or festival and offer some delicious food along with giveaways like shirts, bags, hats, and other accessories. Maybe people can spin a wheel to see what prize they will win. Every promotional item that you give away can promote your brand to more people.

What Promotional Products Should You Order?

The answer to this question will depend on how well you know your audience. A luxury real estate business may not want to invest in a ton of cheap t-shirts since their clientele may connect with a different type of item. However, there are so many options that you could probably find something that works, such as hand sanitizer, promotional drinkware, pens, mugs, hats, shirts, golf towels, foam fingers, and more. Customize popular items to suit your target audience rather than try to find the perfect product. Shop around before you decide on which ideas will serve as the best promotional products for your brand.

Should They be Free or Available for Purchase?

This depends on how you plan to allocate your resources. Are you trying to give away as many promotional products as possible at a charity event? Then you might want to go the free route or at least a very low cost. However, you could choose to offer items via an online store on your website or through social media channels. This allows customers who are excited about what you do the chance to support the business in a new way.

Don’t Sacrifice Quality for Quantity

It may be tempting to bulk order huge numbers of cheap items so that you can give them to more people and increase potential exposure. But how often will someone wear a t-shirt if it is cheaply made? It could only happen once or twice. Instead, consider ordering fewer quality products so that the people who do end up with the items are excited to use them over and over. What good is a pen with your logo on it if it is so cheap that no one ever uses it? Invest in quality products for more effective advertising. The most popular promotional items are high-quality and reused often.

Think Seasonally

As you consider what branded products to invest in, think about the time of year. Items that can be used in the winter would make more sense as a holiday giveaway. When the weather starts to get warmer, people are looking forward to summer, so how can you leverage that excitement with products that can be used on a sunny day? Marketing itself is seasonal, so this specific channel should be viewed from the same lens.

Logo and Name Design Matters

Hopefully, a great deal of thought and imagination was put into your initial logo design and the company’s name. If it is something that catches the eye or makes people curious, then it will probably work on your promotional items. However, if your logo design is drab and boring, then no one will look twice at a baseball hat or golf towel that displays your brand. Make sure that the design stands out and will cause people to look twice when someone is using a customized item in public.

Remember the Importance of Audience Research

Before you make any decisions regarding promotional products with your company’s logo and name, you must conduct audience research. You wouldn’t follow any other form of marketing campaign without doing some research first, and this channel is no different.

Take a look at your audience personas as you craft a plan, (or if you don’t have any, then create some). What do their lifestyles look like? What kind of cars do they drive? What do they wear? What are their average salaries? What pain points guide their financial decisions?

You can also do research by just observing your community. How do other businesses that you know have positive reputations use promotional products in the local area? How many people do you notice wearing branded clothing with local companies displayed? Hit up some local events and see what brands are present and give away free stuff. Does everyone have a hat from the local car dealer? Are your employees all using the same pen while they are in your office with the most popular lawyer’s name on it? It’s amazing what you can discover simply by observing.

Will Promotional Products Work for Your Brand?

It is officially decision time, (well, not really). Are you going to invest in promotional products for your brand that will display the name and logo to more people?

Weigh the benefits with the potential risks. While you are spending money on these items, there is a chance that people will not use them, in which case you may have wasted the money. Though you can generate customer and employee excitement with free giveaways, will it result in actual lead generation?

For companies that understand how to use promotional products to facilitate growth, the benefits significantly outweigh the risks. Conduct your research to see how other brands have used this strategy to generate additional leads and increase sales, and then consider how you can adopt their methods to propel your company forward.