Promotional business gifts are a fantastic way to spread awareness of your brand and increase customer retention, as well as offering a range of other benefits. No matter what kind of industry you are in, if you can find the right branded merchandise, you are likely to see significant benefits for your business.

Not every piece of business merchandise is right for every company, however, so the trick is to identify what will appeal to your customers (or whoever else the recipients will be). In this article we will look at the benefits of using branded business gifts for your business, show you how to choose the right merchandise for your brand and suggest five of the best promotional business gifts to give you some inspiration.

 

The benefits of using branded business gifts to promote your business

There are various ways promotional merchandise can help your business. Depending on your goals, you can almost certainly find a promotional product that will help. Some of the key benefits people usually see are highlighted below.

Boosting brand awareness

Branded gifts are a great way to get your name out there and are often used as giveaways at conferences and tradeshows for that very purpose. They can help get your name on people’s lips and ensure it stays there. Research shows 66% of people remember the name of a company who gave them a promotional gift within the last 12 months.

Improving your company’s image

If you want to project a particular image for your brand, choosing the right promotional merchandise can help. For example, if you want to be seen as environmentally conscious, giving out eco-friendly promotional business gifts can be highly effective.

Increasing repeat business

79% of people who received a promotional gift said they would be likely to do business with the company again. This is because these kinds of gifts act both as a reminder and make customers feel more valued, increasingly their likelihood of coming to you again in future.

 

How to choose the right branded merchandise for your business

According to the British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA), there are four main qualities a piece of promotional merchandise should have to be successful. To achieve success, you should aim to pick something which is:

  • Unique
  • Personalised
  • Genuinely useful
  • Good quality

If you hit all of these key elements, you should end up with a piece of branded merchandise which is memorable, successfully promotes your brand, is used frequently and lasts a long time.

To choose the right merchandise for your business, think about what your customers (or any other recipients) will need. A good place to start is by considering what problems they have and how you can use a piece of promotional merchandise to help solve this. For example, if you have customers who spend a lot of time on the road,  promotional power banks could be ideal as they will allow them to keep their mobile phones and other electronic devices charged.

By focusing your efforts on meeting your customers’ needs, you are likely to have much more success in finding promotional merchandise that will have a genuine, long term impact. Try to think outside of the box rather than opting for traditional promotional pens or branded notebooks for example.

 

5 top promotional business gift ideas

Which promotional gifts will work best for your business depends on various factors. These can include your industry, your target market and where the gifts will be given out. That said, the following are five of the most commonly used promotional gifts to give you some food for thought.

Printed conference bags

Most people end up collecting armfuls of stuff when going around conferences, trade shows and other industry events. Conference bags are therefore a highly popular promotional gift, which allows people to easily carry everything they pick up during the event. They then make great bags for work, so have a long life beyond the event. Tote bags provide a cheaper alternative and are also great for conferences, before taking on a new life as a shopping bag afterwards.

Printed hoodies

Company branded hoodies are ideal to give away and for your own staff to wear, allowing them to advertise your brand wherever you go. Hoodies are increasingly becoming the uniform of choice for many exciting new tech start ups, as well as being popular in a range of more traditional industries. This means they are one of the most popular items of promotional clothing around. Embroidered polo shirts can be a good choice if hoodies don’t quite fit your brand image.

Promotional water bottles

If you are keen to promote a healthy brand image, sports bottles and general drinks bottles can be a good choice. They encourage exercise and good hydration and have the advantage of being something highly practical that the recipient is likely to look at multiple times a day.

Looking to make a big impression with health conscious customers? Promotional pedometers are an increasingly popular option too.

Printed USB flash drives

Many businesses are both reliant on data and concerned about data security. If you need to back up or move around you key data securely, a USB flash drive is hard to beat. These are especially good for those in technology driven industries. Promotional USB hubs also make a highly practical alternative.

Trolley coin keyrings

Printed keyrings have long been a popular promotional gift, but to ensure they really get used, adding some extra practicality is a good idea. Trolley coin keyrings are highly popular as they mean the recipient will never have to worry about whether they have a pound coin on hand again when they visit the supermarket. They are, perhaps unsurprisingly, particular popular with retail focused brands and also with charities. Stress toy keyrings are also a popular choice.

 

Find the ideal promotional business gifts for your brand

Looking for the perfect promotional business gifts to help your brand make a big impact? We have a wide range of custom-printed business merchandise to help you stand out and get remembered. No matter what your sector, or how large or small your budget, we can offer you branded promotional business gifts that will help you achieve your goals.

At Go Promotional, we work with many household name brands, including the likes of Amazon, Google, Disney, and Cadbury. We also regularly supply promotional merchandise to many small and medium sized businesses. However big or small you are, we offer the same attention to detail and dedicated service, so you can be confident you will get exactly what you need to succeed.

Take a look at our full range of promotional merchandise to see what we have on offer and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.