What Are Promotional Products?

Promo items are merchandise which are custom imprinted with the business name, logo, slogan, contact information or personalized message.
They play an important part in the overall marketing communications mix and are usually given away to help promote and advertise a company, an organization, a nonprofit or a worthy cause.

Purpose and Common Uses

Since most people love receiving free merchandise that they can later use, these items offer a practical way to introduce a business to potential customers.
Additionally, they serve as a constant reminder of the advertised business and the services it offers.

Here are a few common ways branded products are used in the everyday life of businesses and organizations:

• Corporate and client gifts
• Trade show, conference and exhibition giveaways
• Consumer reward and loyalty programs
• Direct mail promos
• Grand openings and product launches
• Employee motivation boosting and morale building
• Employee recruiting programs
• Corporate casual apparel
• Dealer / distributor relationship
• Sales incentive programs
• Big event, festival and parade souvenir
• New customer acquisition and retention
• Elections / Political campaigns
• Public Relations
• Fundraising
• Nonprofit and charity volunteer and donor recognition
• Holiday & Seasonal Gifts
• Cause awareness building

Examples

Since almost any tangible product can be custom branded with a logo and then used for marketing and promotion, there are literally tens of thousands of different items that can be successfully used for this purpose.

Business owners and marketing managers who are looking for the best fit for their individual budget, target market, campaign type and brand, can find a large variety of product ideas that will provide the necessary impact.

Here a few popular examples that exist in most supplier catalogs:

• Bags & Totes
• Apparel
• Auto
• Caps & Headwear
• Candy & Food
• Drinkware
• Office Supplies
• Outdoor & Leisure
• Sports
• Pens & Pencils
• Electronics & Technology
• Personal Care
• Toys & Novelties
• Travel
• Corporate, Office & Executive Gifts
• Household Items

Effectiveness

Personalised promotional products are widely known to be one of the most powerful media available to advertisers across all industries.
It’s considered to be a highly cost-effective way a business can directly engage new and existing customers.

Since they are actually real products that offer high levels of usefulness to their recipients (which are usually customers, distributors, vendors or employees), they are normally kept long after other components of a typical marketing campaign may have ended.

This method is one of the most popular and affordable forms of advertising, providing more ad-time for less cost per exposure than traditional advertising platforms like prime-time TV, national or local radio or all types of print media, such as newspapers and magazines.

It’s an effective method since it leaves a lasting positive impression in the hearts and minds of a highly-targeted target audience and generates a lot of good will.

Benefits

Here are some of the most notable benefits that the use of swag offers to small businesses and larger companies:

• Helps building strategic long-term relationships
• A powerful call to action tool
• Opens lines of communication
• Increased brand exposure, recognition and awareness
• Enhanced business image
• Improved customer loyalty
• Low cost mass outreach
• Helps getting more sales and leads
• Favorable sentiment generation
• Targeted reminder advertising
• Old customer reactivation

How to Choose the Perfect Item

There are different ways to choose an appropriate promotional item for your need and product selection criteria may obviously vary from one situation to another.
Here are a few common factors to look at before making a final choice:

• Projected effectiveness
• Product innovation or uniqueness
• Affordability and cost effectiveness
• Item usefulness to the end user
• Product popularity

Paying for Custom Promotional Products with PayPal

Even though PayPal is one of the most popular payment methods on the internet, many promotional merchandize wholesale distributors have not adopted it yet.
However, a fair number of players in this market do accept PayPal and hopefully, their number will increase with time.

Before Choosing: Features to Consider

In order to make sure that you receive optimal benefit from using this type of service, it is crucial to conduct proper research and verify that certain features that you need are actually being offered by the providers that you consider.
Doing so will help you decide which company is the best fit for your individual needs.

Such features may include:

• Payment via PayPal
• Free samples
• Small quantity option (nor or low minimum order)
• No setup fee
• Bulk order support