Putting Promotional Products and “Give-Aways” to Work

As business owners, we all recognize the importance of advertising. Without it, our business comes to a screeching halt. But while the commonly-utilized means of promoting a business such as print, radio, and television ads are at the "top of the list" for many, other, less-traditional methods are scarce given a second thought. This is unfortunate, as promotional products and "give-aways" are being shown time and time again to reach unique advertising markets, to market more effectively than other methods, and to do so time and time again.

Promotional products such as company logo t-shirts and hats, as well as "freebies" like company logo pens, water bottles, and insulated lunch bags have been shown to reach advertising markets not tapped by traditional methods. While company apparel and hats offer the advantage of a specialized exposure, that is, the familiarization of your company name with people who may already be "in the business" so to speak, give-away promotional products reach a much larger, albeit less-specialized crowd. In both cases, these are unique targets not specifically made by newspaper, print, and radio ads.

There is also research to support the notion that this approach to advertising is much more effective than traditional methods. In fact, a study that pitted promotional products against print media has shown that:

• people can recall an advertiser’s name from a promotional product they’ve received in the last 12 months 76.1% of the time.
• By comparison, the same study group could recall the name of an advertiser they had seen in a magazine or newspaper only 53.5% of the time, and that was if it had been within the last week, not a year.
• This is equivalent to a 43% increase in recall over 52 time longer span.

What’s more, promotional products and give-aways guarantee repeat exposure. With television and radio, you have to pay for every exposure of your advertisement. With newspapers, your ad is likely to be in the hands of a potential consumer for a few hours, or a couple of times over the course of a few days – at best. Magazines don’t do much better. Because of frequency with which new issues are printed, your ad will last only 2.5 weeks on average. Promotional products on the other hand, offer a repeat exposure that lasts the life of the product. Studies show that over 55% of promotional products are kept for over a year. That’s over 20 times longer than with the best of traditional print media exposure. What’s more, 35% of the same group kept these same products for over 2 years. What newspaper ad could do that?

The secret is the intrinsic value of promotional products and give-aways. Not only are these items not seen as advertising, thereby avoiding the trash can, they are generally things that people can actually use. When your advertising is useful, it creates a positive association in the mind of the user with your company name.

With over 800,000 products in our catalog, we have something your potential clients can use. Take the informed step, and advertise with promotional products and give-aways.