A Easy Guide to Choosing Promotional Products

By Imogen Brown

Diversity is the predominant word when we consider custom printed promotional products and business gifts. Businesses and organisations have more choice than ever, including mugs, pens, bags, folders, umbrellas and clothing, and high quality corporate gifts including glassware and crystal. There are thousands of promo merchandise items to choose from so selecting the right product for your target market is never an easy task. Below is a quick fire guide to help you along the way in your search for some great promotional giveaways.

What Are Your Requirements?

First, consider what your promotional items and products are intended to accomplish.

• Attract new clients and customers

• Retain existing clients

• Promote a new product or service

• Heighten brand awareness

Dependent upon your particular situation the promo items you opt for will differ. For example, if you're giving away promo products to attract new clients, you may be doing so at a trade show or similar industry event. In these cases you may end up giving away a large number of items, so it's best to choose less expensive, smaller products such as pens, key rings or stress toys. On the other hand, if you're giving promo gifts or products to clients you already have, those items will typically be a little more expensive and have a higher perceived value, as you want to give items that show the recipients that you value their continued loyalty to your company. Products such as high quality pen sets, desk clocks, wine or engraved keyrings fit perfectly in these types of situations. If you are targeting your employees then opt for merchandise that are of practical use to them during their day to day office duties. Pens, mouse mats, memo pads or desksets are ideal for this situation. Another great choice is to equip your retail employees with company-branded clothing and name tags, to help reinforce your company identity.

Who Are You Targetting?

The answer to this question is subtly different from the previous one. Basically, here you are considering far more carefully your target market and adding this in to the decision making process of what product to select to ensure it fits the recipient perfectly and increase the chances of them becoming a customer or supplier. To expand a little an example would be, supplying imprinted promotional products to a bank would differ greatly to those you may select say for a school or university.

What Is Your Budget?

Once you have picked a variety of products that meet the target market it is important to filter these into items that meet your marketing budget.

In general, it's a good idea to choose a variety of items in different price ranges-as discussed earlier, the items you choose will differ in price and other factors depending on the purpose you intend for them. It is always also a good idea to have a variety of promotional gifts in stock and which vary in price and style to ensure that you are well prepared for any unforeseen advertising or adhoc campaign you may be called upon to organise.

Imogen Brown is the marketing manager for Clickpromogifts one of the UK's premier suppliers of promotional gifts and promotional products.