What Are Promotional Products?

Building a company and ensuring long-term success takes more than just offering products and services. You need a way to bring awareness and attract customers to your brand, and one way to achieve this is through promotional products. So, what are promotional products exactly?

In this article, we will dive into promotional products definition and their importance for building brand awareness and attracting customers. Continue reading to discover what are promotional gifts!

What Are Promotional Products?

Promotional products are customized items that bear the logo, name, or slogan of companies and brands that offer to advertise themselves and their products. Promotional items can include merchandised apparel, office products, etc. 

Promotional products are available in many different forms, especially since the development of screen printing. Thanks to this, screen printing allows us to print various corporate promotional products for our clients.

We aim to help you build better relationships with existing customers and successfully reach out to new ones. We print promotional items depending on our clients’ needs, industry, and customer base.

Promotional Products: Brief Historical Overview 

In recent decades, promotional items have been perfected, but they have been around for a while. The first known promotional products, looking back in history, date back to 1789.

More specifically, these items were commemorative buttons given away during the election of George Washington. In the early 19th century, there were also advertising calendars, branded rulers, and wooden items.

However, many consider an Ohio printer, Jasper Meek, the originator of using promotional products. This is because he convinced a local shoe store to supply books imprinted with the store name to local schools. Afterward, the presence of promotional products became more frequent, especially with the development of the printing industry.

The Importance of Promotional Items

Promotional products serve as a physical representation of your corporation to promote your brand. Corporate branded merch may be any company material printed with your company logo, name, slogan, and any other branding elements. 

Custom merch is among the most effective ways to raise brand awareness beyond regular marketing efforts. Well-thought-out and designed promotional products may leave lasting impressions. Corporations utilize branded merch for the following:

• Brand awareness
• Brand recognition
• Corporate culture
• Product awareness and recognition
• Customer appreciation and retention

Brand awareness

One of the main reasons for offering promotional items is their ability to generate a significant amount of brand awareness. The more people see your logo, slogan, or company name, the greater your brand exposure. 

Every person who carries, uses, or wears a branded item from your company, in a way, becomes a brand advocate. They are constantly advertising your company and helping you attract new customers to your brand.

Brand recognition 

You achieve enhanced brand recognition by constantly exposing existing and potential consumers to your company name, slogan, and logo through custom merch. For this, it is a wise idea to give away merchandise as promotional gifts. 

In fact, according to an ASI report, 85% of global consumers who receive promotional gifts remember the brand name. This is a significant number when it comes to brand recognition. Moreover, according to another report by PPAI, 66% of consumers said they could recognize the brand name on the promotional items they received in the last 12 months.

Corporate culture 

When it comes to promotional gifts, it is also crucial to consider your employees. Your employees are vital for the company’s success and expansion, and you want to keep them happy by fostering a positive corporate culture.

According to some statistics, 71% of employees would be less inclined to leave their jobs if recognized more often. By providing promotional gifts and recognizing their work, you motivate your employees and enhance their company loyalty. 

Product awareness and recognition

If you are launching a new product or want to enhance awareness of an existing product, branded merch is an excellent way to achieve this. The more people see the merch branded with your product, the bigger your potential customer pool is. Consumers who receive promotional items will likely look up the company to see its products.

Customer appreciation and retention 

Promotional gifts are also important for companies to show customer appreciation and boost retention. Your existing customers are essential for the long-term success of your business, as you want your customers to be recurring rather than one-time. When customers feel appreciated, they are more likely to remain loyal to your brand instead of going to your competitors.

What Are Good Promotional Items?

At Thrive Screen Printing, we utilize various printing techniques to provide our clients with the highest quality branded merch for their corporation. Our printing techniques include screen, gel, plastisol, foil, flock, and direct-to-garment (DTG) printing.

With our team’s guidance, you may choose the best printing method for the company materials or merch you want branded. According to PPAI, the following promotional products are the most popular and effective based on expected lifetime impressions: 

• Outerwear (windbreakers, rain slickers, and jackets) 
• T-shirts
• Headwear (hats, visors, and comparable headgear) 
• Bags (tote bags, drawstring bags)
• Writing instruments (pens, notebooks, and pencils)
• Desk accessories (organizers, bookends, and trays)
• Drinkware (glassware, water bottles, and coffee mugs)
• Umbrellas
• Calendars

Choosing the Right Custom Merch

Unfortunately, not every company utilizes promotional items as advertising products. This is often due to the perceived cost of investing in promotional products.

However, it is a misconception that unique and quality custom merch is too expensive. At Thrive Screen Printing, we can help you choose the best-branded merch for your company, even if you have a limited budget. Choosing the right company custom merch requires a thoughtful approach involving the following steps:

• Knowing your customer base and ensuring your merch aligns with their lifestyle. 
• Ensuring your promotional items align with your brand’s image and message.
• Choosing custom merch that is functional and practical for more exposure.

Conclusion 

Now that you have the answer to what are promotional products, the next step is to think about which kind is suitable for your own company. These personalized products that feature the name, logo, or slogan of businesses and brands give you a means of promotion.

So, if you need guidance through the process, feel free to reach out to us at Thrive Screen Printing. Our team is ready to assist you in choosing the best items to print on in order to spread your logo, slogan, and name. 

Working with us means you get our dedication to providing you with the highest quality products and service!