Distributing promotional products is a great way for all kinds of businesses to raise their profile among their target audience (be it existing customers, members of the public, potential clients or staff), but it’s important to choose which items you use with care.
In doing this, you need to take into account the needs of your target audience and your budget to enable you to create an offline marketing strategy that provides a good return on investment. With this in mind, here are five marketing merchandise that should prove to be particularly effective.
Pens
A pen is one of those items that virtually everybody uses on a daily basis (even with the growing popularity of electronic devices like smartphones and tablets), so distributing branded pens that feature your marketing information is sure to be appreciated. Indeed, research from the British Promotional Merchandise Association shows 39 percent of people would be keen to receive a promotional pen as a gift!
Giving out pens that contain your logo and/or name – whether done in person or through a direct mail campaign (direct mail is a great option, honestly) – means that whenever the recipient makes a note they’ll interact directly with your brand.
Although pens are a relatively cost-effective form of promotional merchandise, some pens can be engraved for a high-quality finish or you could opt for a digital print if your logo, brand, or call to action has a particularly intricate design.
Mugs
If you’re looking to raise awareness of your brand among office workers, meanwhile, consider a box of promotional mugs. As most people will have at least two or three cups of tea or coffee during their working day, providing drinkware featuring your logo is a good way to make recipients aware of your company.
Recipients will see your brand each time they take a sip of their beverage, and they’ll also subtly display your logo and slogan to co-workers. Corporate mugs might be used by a number of people so your message can easily spread across an entire office.
Lanyards
If your company has a presence at events like trade shows and conferences, it’s worth distributing promotional lanyards among attendees. Lanyards can be used to display visitor passes and, while they are relatively inexpensive to produce, will ensure your brand gains significant exposure.
Bags
Distributing bags can prove particularly beneficial for retailers, as well as companies that attend exhibitions, to create a buzz around their business.
Have your organisation’s logo and contact information printed on your shopping bags and customers will become a walking billboard for your brand. You could even put some free product samples and marketing literature into the bags so consumers can learn more about your business in their free time.
Keyrings
Finally, keyrings are a great item to distribute to a wide range of audiences – namely because they are incredibly useful. People tend to value promotional products that have a clear purpose, with keyrings one thing that certainly delivers on this front. They are perhaps especially effective among estate agents and those working in the automotive sector and you can choose models that double up as bottle openers and torches.
These are just some of the best promotional products that organisations can use to great effect, but if you’re using any other items please let us know.