Promotional products are items used to promote businesses and increase brand awareness. Traditionally, these items have included things like pens, mugs and t-shirts, but now also include digital products such as USB sticks, smartphone accessories and even virtual reality headsets. In this article, we will discuss what promotional products are, why businesses use them and the advantages they offer in marketing and promotion. We will then look at some considerations when buying promotional items before concluding with examples of successful promotions using product giveaways.

Key Takeaways

• Promotional products are an effective tool to increase brand recognition, customer loyalty and revenue.
• Considerations such as quality versus price and bulk quantity discounts should be considered when purchasing promotional items.
• Choosing the right product can lead to increased awareness of your business, long-term return on investment, and environmental benefits.

What are Promotional Products?

Promotional items are an effective way for businesses to market themselves by creating an immediate physical presence that helps customers remember their brand. They also make excellent incentives for customers to purchase from you when given away as part of loyalty programs or other promotional activities. Additionally, promotional products can introduce customers to new services or products from your business, develop a better understanding of the company’s values and beliefs, encourage repeat purchases through customer loyalty schemes or revive dormant accounts by reminding them about your business.

Types of Promotional Products

There are a variety of promotional products that businesses can use to increase brand awareness, improve customer relationships, or reward loyalty. Popular promotional products include apparel such as t-shirts and hats, drinkware such as mugs and tumblers; writing instruments like pens and markers; technology items like USB drives and power banks; and novelty items like magnets, keychains and stress balls.

Advantages of Promoting Products 

Promotional products have numerous benefits when it comes to marketing efforts:

• Increased brand visibility due to the physical nature of these items makes them immediately recognizable whenever seen in public places or carried around by recipients
• Lower costs per person than traditional advertising methods such as television commercials or billboards due to bulk orders often being cheaper than individual purchases
• Tangible items give people something associated with your campaign, which can result in higher conversion rates from potential customers who may otherwise not pay attention to online advertisements
• Long-lasting appeals since items like mugs or shirts stay in rotation far longer than most conventional ads making them extremely cost-effective over time.
• Finally, enhanced customer loyalty since happy customers tend to be more willing to purchase again in future after receiving freebies related to their favourite brands resulting in naturally increased profits over time.

Considerations When Buying Promotional Products

When buying promotional items, one should take into account several key factors:

• Quality versus Price ­– although low prices can be attractive upfront, it is important not to sacrifice quality too much in order to obtain those savings as cheaply made items could potentially reflect badly on your company’s image if they break easily or otherwise don’t meet expectations thereby reducing the return on investment (ROI);
• Quantity discounts ­– larger orders usually come with discounted prices per item however, bear in mind that storage space might need renting if ordering large quantities.

Benefits of Choosing the Right Product

Having chosen the right product(s) to represent your business, it is important not to forget the real purpose behind promotional activities. Increased awareness amongst target audiences provides a platform from which further expansion may occur, leading ultimately towards higher revenues over time. Good customer loyalty figures, and improved relations between company staff members public alike, are both beneficiary's outcomes when the initiative was undertaken correctly. Thus, ensuring decent ROI terms within the company. Despite initial outlay involved setting up needed infrastructure, it is necessary yo run a program smoothly and efficiently each step of the way.

Author Profile: Blake

Blake is a new transplant to the promotional products industry, but after several years in real estate he knows what it's like to be a customer looking to buy promotional products! Blake is an expert on client experience and product recommendations, particularly of the sporting variety. Visit him on LinkedIn.