Ways to select promotional merchandise for your business

There are many different ways to promote your business or brand, including direct marketing, advertising, digital marketing and corporate events to name a few. One great addition to any of these are promotional giveaways and merchandise.

Branded promotional products offer an effective way to get your brand in front of more people than you realise and, unlike other advertising media which is often seen once and forgotten, promotional gifts are kept, subsequently promoting your brand and/or message time and time again.

It is, however, very important to consider what you are trying to achieve with your promotional merchandise and choose products that will appeal to your target audience.  For example, if you are a construction company, branded promotional hard hat products would be a suitable choice.

If you were exhibiting at an event and wanted to provide visitors with giveaways you could choose smaller items such as promotional pens, printed keyrings, bottle openers, trolley coin keyrings, branded mobile phone holders or lip balms. These are all products that will be used again and again and have been proven to increase brand awareness, as they are items that people need and use daily.

If your clientele are office workers then you may decide to giveaway office products that could be kept on their desk thus keeping your details within easy reach every day when they require the services that you offer. For example, office paperclip holders, sharpeners, rulers, mouse mats, calendar pods, pens or branded mugs are all items that they would use daily.

Dressing your employees in a corporate uniform or personalized clothing is another way to get your brand in front of people and raise awareness . Especially if you have employees attending an event, corporate clothing is the perfect way to make your staff stand out from the crowd and expose your brand to more people. Polo shirts, jackets, ties, caps and bright clothing can all easily be branded with your company logo so that as many people as possible see it.

When choosing which products to go for you also must consider your budget and volumes of products that you require. In order to predict volumes you should consider the size of your company and also customer base. Who is your target audience? The number of people predicted to attend the event that you will be appearing at?

When the budget, style and qualities have been decided, it is then essential that you think about the design that you want your promotional products or corporate clothing to be branded with and where to order your merchandise from. A goog promotional product distributor will help at the design stage, provide samples of your products before committing to the full order to ensure you choose the right quality product to reflect your corporate image. For bulk orders, it is often a good idea to ask the promotional distributor to store them for you and so that you call them off as you need them.

Don’t be afraid to ask for ideas. Experienced distributors will be able to help create lists and visual mockups of possible promotional products that should consider to ensure you choose a product that is ideal for your corporate logo and/or artwork.

There is no doubt that printed promotional merchandise can work extremely well as a marketing medium, but it is important to consider your objectives carefully and make sure that you choose the most appropriate products to meet those objectives.


This post was written by Angela Wagstaff at Allwag Promotions. Allwag Promotions offer an extensive range of printed promotional merchandise, branded business gifts and corporate clothing. Offering an express service on a wide range of branded promotional products from engraved corporate gifts to marketing giveaways. Visit http://www.allwag.co.uk for more information