If you plan on giving away items to help promote your company,
you need to be aware of just what kinds of items there are to give away, and what categories they fall in.
The first is practical.
Within this category you’ll find things like calendar printing, staplers, pens, and a whole slew of other office equipment and so on. This category is designed around the kinds of things that people can actually use in everyday life, and usually in relation to their business.
The costs for give-away items like this are usually low, which is very helpful for the companies without a huge budget to call upon when getting their promotional items made. Most products from color printing companies can be done in bulk for a reasonable price.
The great thing about these kinds of promotional items is that because they can be put to good use, you increase the odds of people keeping them around for a long time. Your calendar can be in their home for a full year, and they might have your pen for many more years to come.
The next category are items that can still be used, but run a higher cost for production.
Within this category you get things like t-shirts, hats, and other articles of clothing. I’ve seen companies handing out free small bags as well. All of them are useable just like the first category, but you can’t the same number of them for low prices that you can the other forms of promotional items. If you have the budget for them, by all means, they work.
Next is the fun, if not practical, items.
I’ve been handed free mini-footballs or basketballs before. I’ve seen companies with a free slinky of all things. Frisbees can also be found in this category. The purpose here is to give someone something they can mess around and play with.
Ever thought about handing out little things of silly putty, your company name on the plastic case, and inside you pressed the putty against your logo so the first thing they see when opening it is your company name? Not very practical, no, but it can sure be fun to get something like that from a company.
Along the same lines, the last area is the obscure promotional items. To list them would kind of defeat the purpose of this category, because the point is to give something no one else is. You get remembered because of just how unique your gift was.
Remember, that most give away items started out in this category. The first time someone gave a Frisbee out they were squarely in this category of promotional items. Trying out something new isn’t always the safest route, but it also has the best potential for getting conversations started. You have to take risks to make the big impacts.
Figure out which one is best for your company. All of them have their strengths, and if you can’t settle on only one, go for all of them.
