Why use Promotional & Branded Products & Amenities?
Promotional items or promotional products refers to articles of merchandise that are used in marketing and communication programs. The items are usually imprinted or decorated with your company's name, logo or message, using techniques such as Embroidery, Silkscreen, or Embossing. Premiums, incentives, advertising specialties, business gifts, awards and commemoratives are also considered promotional products. Often distributed at trade shows, used in direct mail and as part of guerrilla marketing campaigns, these items are also referred to by the slang terms "swag" and "tchotchke". These phrases grew from the random use of promotional products as give-aways and not as a part of an integrated marketing effort. Today, many more promotional products are distributed by businesses and organizations, sometimes with the assistance of a Promotional Consultant, to specific target markets to generate specific and measurable results.
Promotional items are also used in politics to promote candidates and causes. Promotional items are also used by schools and other organizations, often as a part of fund raising and awareness-raising campaigns. A prominent example was the livestrong wristband, used to promote cancer awareness and raise funds to support cancer survivorship programs and research.
Examples of promotional items include logo-branded t-shirts, caps, keychains, bumper stickers, pens, badges and many other useful items.
Promotional items are widely appreciated and often requested because they appeal to all ages and effect all five senses. The use of these items is gaining popularity because they are able to be targeted to specific markets.
The largest product category for promotional items are wearables which include t-shirts, golf shirts, jackets, caps, hats, footwear and the like which make up more than 30% of the total. Other popular categories include writing instruments, calendars, desk and office accessories, bags, drinkware, recognition awards, leisure products, travel accessories, tools, stickers and decals, games and playing cards, automotive accessories, computer products, buttons, magnets, textiles, food gifts and time pieces.
Promotional items are used to activate several types of motivation, recognition and commemorative programs. Business gifts used to foster customer goodwill and retention are the most common program use at 18.5%. Other objectives that marketers use promotional items to facilitate include tradeshow traffic-building, brand awareness, public relations, employee relations and events, dealer and distributor programs, new customer generation, not-for-profit programs, employee service awards, new product introductions, internal incentive programs, safety education, customer referrals and marketing research.
