What is the Right Promotional Product for Your Business?

Promotional marketing is essential to lead generation, buying behaviour, and customer and employee loyalty. In fact, according to a study by the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), it is the “most highly regarded form of adversing.” However, with the mass availability of branded products, it can be challenging to determine what is the right promotional product for your business.

Successful promotions require the ability to capitalize on trends and chose items that reflect corporate and customer values. It is also important to focus on the number of impressions (how many people will see your product), staying power, and usefulness of every product. Here are our suggestions…

Traditional and Timeless

 1. Stationery: Pens, notebooks, calendars

While stationery, like pens, notebooks, and calendars may be regarded as conventional, the staying power (9 months) and cost-per-impression (0.1 cent per impression) is unparalleled. Beyond this, these items promote between 850 and 3,000 impressions in their lifetime (ASI).

To stand out, we recommend you focus on quality, given that 69% of people report that is why they keep writing instruments (ASI).

2. Tech Accessories: USB

 USBs drive brand recognition (pun intended). Giving out these items as SWAG will land your logo everywhere from offices to classrooms, with regular use and a long lifecycle. These promo items generate 700 impressions in their lifetime, are usually kept for 13 months, and have, on average, a cost-per-impression (CPI) of 0.7 cents (ASI).

Consider a Flash Drive gift set or dual-ended drive featuring a micro USB to allow transmission to a smartphone or tablet.

3 .Drinkware: Water bottle

 88% of people own promotional drinkware. Why? These items are used by customers and employees every day due to their practicality, making them a highly effective piece of promo merchandise (1,400 impressions in their lifetime) (ASI). Today, these items are also highly regarded due to their environmental friendliness.

Pick a unique style or capitalize on the Swell-trend to ensure regular use and increased impressions. Also, make sure you pick BPA-free!

4 .Baggage: Tote bag

Tote bags are useful mechanisms to give away, especially at trade shows and in combination with other promotional items. They will help your brand generate 3,300 impressions at 0.2 cents/impression and will have a staying power of 11 months (ASI).

Follow trends in the market today, such as a clear, holographic, or canvas tote.

5.Clothing: T-shirt

Branded T-shirts turn customers into walking advertisements and attention-grabbing marketing tools. With a little creativity, you can turn a shirt into a customer or employee favourite that will be kept by 63% of consumers for at least one year (ASI).

Consider using puns, attention-grabbing images, or a unique design. More importantly, look to retail trends in decoration – branding doesn’t have to mean left chest logo anymore! To change things up, sweaters and polos are also effective tools.

Trending

 1. Health Products: Hand sanitizer

 Promo health products are relevant for more than just health companies. In fact, they are quite popular items now to show that your company cares about the well-being of customers and employees. We suggest branding hand-sanitizer, especially during flu season!

2. Tech Accessories: Power banks, pop socket, phone wallet, privacy camera blockers 

Today, tech accessories are draw attention and make a significant impact on your customers and employees! Amongst the most popular and effective marketing tools are power banks, pop sockets, phone wallets, and privacy camera blockers. For example, 41% of consumers use a promotional power bank one or more times a week, and 40% keep it for 2+ years (ASI).

3. Environmentally Friendly: Straws

One of the biggest trends of 2019 is eco-friendly and sustainably manufactured products. As a result, your company should incorporate such products into your marketing strategy. A popular method so far is reusable straws.

Read more about the benefit of eco-friendly promo products in our other blog: https://proformasi.com/blog/eco-friendly-product-earth-day/

4. Headwear: Beanie

Hats have always been a go-to as promotional items, but trends are changing. Instead of a baseball hat, we recommend going for a beanie this winter so that people can rock your brand all season long. With an average of 3,400 impressions, these have a cost per impression of 0.3 cents and a 10-month staying power (ASI).

Go simple for a hat, so that customers are encouraged to make this item a part of their regular outerwear attire.

5. Drinkware: Travel mugs

What do people like more than a cup of coffee in the morning? Probably nothing. That is why high-quality and stylish travel mugs have become such popular promotional items. Beyond that, generating 1,400 impressions at a cost of 0.5 cents per impression, these are highly cost-effective with a staying power of 12 months (ASI).

Pick a high-quality, leak-proof tumbler for hot or iced coffee!

New & High Impact

1. Wellness: journals, yoga mats, anti-stress colouring books, and essential oils/ diffusers

Today, wellness has become a focus in many people’s lives, and we predict that companies that prioritize both customer and employee well-being will develop stronger brand loyalty and increase revenue. This is especially true in younger generations who view spending money as a way to vote for what they believe in and support the companies whose values align with their own.

We recommend wellness journals, yoga mats, anti-stress colouring books, and essential oils/ diffusers as exceptional marketing tools to add to your database of promotional assets.

2. Baggage: Backpack

In the past, tote bags have been the way to give out promotional baggage. It is helpful at trade shows, they can be reused, and they are all around excellent SWAG. However, given the amount of tote bags we all receive, one way to stand out while retaining the staying power and impact of promotional baggage is to try out a new style. We recommend giving out a backpack.

Today, everyone from students to high power executives are bringing a backpack around with them. Go for a simple design with a cleverly placed logo to attract attention and encourage people to use your product on a regular basis.

3. Tech Accessories: Drones, LCD projector

Tech giveaways are an excellent way to develop a positive representation of your brand. While they can be more expensive than pens or notebooks, they provide selective opportunities to astound individuals with something innovative and memorable. Two products we see gaining traction as marketing tools are drones and phone projectors.

4. Environmentally Friendly: Grocery bag

An eco-friendly impact can be a great corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative for any company. Not only are you doing good for the world, but also your company. In branding yourself as eco-friendly, it is important that you carry such associations into all aspects of your marketing and outward facing brand, especially your promo products. This means that not only should you make eco-conscious decisions, but you should help your stakeholders do the same -they will remember it!

By giving away branded grocery bags, you enable customers and employees to do good, furthering the idea that your company cares. Plus, with promotional bags generating 3,300 impressions and a staying power of 11 months (ASI), this product is a three for one: you do good, your customers do good, and your brand does good too.

5. Industry-specific:

The future of promotional items is not more of the same, it is high-impact, relevant, and memorable. At Proforma SI, we think the way to gain recognition and retain the interest of prospects is by giving promotional materials that are unique to your business and valuable to customers. This means that you should pick items that are very relevant to your industry! If you sell wine, give away picnic wine totes. If you sell barbeques, consider a branded BBQ set. If you sell vacuums, why not give a mini desk vacuum. The possibilities are endless, and your impact and reach will be astounding. Read more about this in our blog, “Promo Items Should Speak to Brand Values and Customer Interest” next month!