To continue our topic on promotional items that work for your business, we look at how promotional items should be a part of your marketing medium. When was the last time you really looked at your promotional products? Typically, a promotional product (like a die cut notepad) has a company’s name, logo, or message imprinted on the item. Imprinted products that are distributed free are known as promotional products. Whereas imprinted items given as an incentive for a specific action are known as premiums. Look at your promotional products a little closer and look at how you’re using your promotional products. Is it the marketing strategy you intended it to be for? Many times, I see clients giving out items for premiums that should really be giveaways. What’s the difference? Keep reading and you will see why it’s important to know what items are used for what and when.
The following is the top 10 purchasers of promotional items: 1. Education, 2. Financial, 3. Health Care, 4. Not for Profit Organization, 5. Construction, 6. Government, 7. Trade, 8. Real Estate, 9. Automotive, 10 Professional (doctors, lawyers, architects, etc.). Since promotional products can be used alone or integrated with other media, there are are endless ways to use them. The most popular ways to integrate promotional products, such as customized notepads, are business gifts, employee relations, corporate communications, tradeshows, events, and giveaways.
Of the more than $18 billion that was spent in 2011 on promotional products, the most popular categories were apparel, pens, notepads, tote bags, calendars, and accessories. Promotional items like these are extremely effective in reaching and influencing people.
When choosing the right promotional items for your business there are a few things you should 
think of. 1. Budget. Make sure that you budget enough for inventory and plan accordingly what you will be giving out at each function/event. 2. Event schedule. What type of events are you attending. Are you going to a tradeshow where you want to hand out something small like custom printed notepads or are you attending a non profit event that you need to provide premium items for. 3. Timing. You want to make sure that your promotional items coincide with what’s going on in your marketing campaigns during certain times of the year.
Knowing how to implement your promotional items with your marketing mix will help your brand stand out among the crowd. Keep following our blog to learn more about how to use promotional items in your business and why. Keep following us on Facebook and Linkedin to learn more about our new customized notepad products and specials.
