Promotional products have long been a marketing mainstay, and for good reason. Customers love getting free stuff, and tend to think positively of, or at least remember the name of, companies who give them swag, especially when it’s something they end up liking and using a lot. And promotional products are great for getting your name out there and raising brand awareness — every time a customer carries your branded tote bag, uses your branded pen, or drinks from your branded mug, you’re getting your brand messaging out not just to that customer, but to everyone who sees them using it.
So, if your company isn’t handing out promotional products to favored customers or event attendees, you could be missing out on a big source of leads, conversions, brand awareness, and brand loyalty. Let’s take a look at some of the best reasons to use promotional products as part of your business marketing.
1) Customers Love Them
If there’s one thing people never get tired of, it’s getting free stuff. Eighty-three percent of customers say they’re more likely to purchase from a brand after getting some free promotional items from that brand. Customers who receive promotional products score 52 percent higher in brand loyalty than those who receive communication form a brand that does not include a promotional gift.
Of course, you have to be willing to fork over the extra cash for quality promotional items that will last a long time and work well for customers. Customers love using a high-quality promotional pen, bag, mug, or other item, but a low-quality item might not spark the same feelings of appreciation and brand loyalty. Customers might instead be put off by a low-quality item that breaks easily, but they’ll keep and use a higher quality item for months or years and might even end up sharing it with a friend or relative once they’re done with it.
2) They Build Brand Awareness
Promotional products are great for getting more eyes on your brand messaging and growing brand awareness in your community, especially when you choose high-visibility products like tote bags or hats. Every time someone uses your branded merchandise, other people see it and those people will come away from the encounter a little more aware of your brand, even if they’re not consciously aware of having been exposed to your messaging.
3) You Get More Marketing Power for Your Money
Promotional products are a low-cost way for even small businesses to harness the marketing power of mass distribution. You only pay for a given item once, but it keeps spreading your brand messaging for months or years, while at the same time growing brand loyalty in the customers who are using them. The impact of free gifts on recipients is high enough that the return on investment for promotional products tends to be much higher than for other marketing channels. Synchronize your promotional product placement into other marketing channels, like social media, to magnify their impact.
4) They’re Targeted to Your Chosen Customer Demographic
Of course, it’s on you as a marketer to understand your target market and know what they want, but there is such a wide array of promotional merchandise available that it’s easy to tailor your promotional marketing campaign to appeal to your target demographic. With promotional products, you can control distribution, targeting only those who are most likely to become customers or repeat customers with products designed to appeal to their sensibilities and values.
5) They’re Customizable and Versatile
There’s a great deal of room for customizability in your choice of promotional products — not only can you choose from many different kinds of products, but you can also make color and design choices that can help make specific items that much more appealing to your target demographic.
Choose single-color print logos, multi-color prints, laser engraving, sustainable materials, and other options to maximize your products’ appeal to your target market and get the most return on your marketing investment. Use promotional products in a myriad of different ways — as customer loyalty gifts, thank you gifts, sales incentives, trade show giveaways, and employee appreciation gifts, for example — to build more and more brand awareness in your community.
If you’re looking for a way to promote your business, build brand loyalty, and increase sales conversions and leads, you need to buy more promotional products. Customers love getting free gifts, and you’ll love giving them — especially when you see how much you get back from your increasingly loyal customers.
