Argon Promotional Products and Promotional Gifts. » Promotional Gifts

With stiff competition from every quarter, corporate houses and businesses are figuring out new marketing approaches to garner and to reach out to prospective customers. Print ads, audio visual ads and online ads definitely help businesses to promote themselves. However, a small gesture like giving out promotional gifts helps enterprises to get closer to their target audience and imprint their brand in the minds of the general public.

Brand awareness, the main aim of any advertising campaign or marketing strategy helps business ventures, big or small to be recognized by a large number of people. Promoting your company or business bluntly through advertisements will get you customers but doing it with promotional products gets you more customers. The recipients of the gifts will reciprocate your gesture by buying your products and becoming your endorsers.

Recognizing the target group of your company and marketing your products/brand/services to them helps you in amassing profits. Select promotional gifts that suit your target band. The item you distribute to the public must enhance your brand visibility and be useful too. Choose durable products that last for a longer period over the attractive and short-lived ones. Your chosen giveaways should remind your customers and the prospective ones of your brand/product.

You can give away items like promotional mugs, t-shirts, keyrings, calendars, notepads, caps, bags, fridge magnets, ice scrapers and pens, etc. Posters, leaflets and pamphlets are also distributed as gifts. Fun items like frisbees and foam hands are also used for promoting a brand. It is imperative to have your company’s logo, name, slogan and colour scheme on the body of the products.

They can be distributed to people at exhibition venues and crowded places like malls. You can enter into an understanding with the nearby radio station and give away these gifts as prizes, for trivia contests organized by the radio stations. You can sponsor community and sports events and distribute your giveaways as rewards. You can even give out these items for a fund raising event.

Dubbed as cost-effective marketing tools, these are known to suit any kind of budget. Being economical they are chosen by many companies and individuals to market their products/services along with traditional methods of marketing. The promotional gifts can range from a simple pen to Mp3 players. Irrespective of the gift you give, you are assured of greater prospects and better profits with this simple and innovative marketing move.

The human being wants attention.  Right from infancy, we clamour for attention and it seems as if only when you can get attention, will you get what you want.  It sounds something like “the crying baby gets the milk” quote that seems to keep rearing itself up again and again.

Well, is seems like brands are no different and businesses can thrive only if you can draw the attention of your customers and the general public at regular intervals.  Otherwise it looks as if the “out of sight, out of mind” quote would become true and that means kaput for business.  Getting the attention is however, easier said than done, what with the surfeit of marketing and aggressive promotions that are constantly under way from various companies like yourself and the customer having to face a deluge of campaigns, making it difficult for him to distinguish one from the other.

Promotional items have often proved effective in meeting this objective and many companies have hopped on to this bandwagon as well. The challenge in this space now, is to choose an item that can produce the best visibility for the brand and draw the attention of the maximum number of people to your brand.  Some of the time tested items like pens, mugs, and keyrings do have their strong points but suffer in terms of attracting wide attention at a single point in time and also do not allow for expansive messages due to constraint of space.  However, in terms of grabbing immediate attention of a large number of people at one time, nothing can beat the promotional umbrella.  That is because its wide canopy provides an ideal space to imprint the logo as well as essential contact information such as phone numbers as well as the website address.  This is a great advantage as your brand and important company information reaches many people at one time and you can get enquiries pretty fast from persons interested in your products.

Choosing the right promotional umbrella is a far easier task, thanks to the huge number of choices available that will complement your company logo and colours in the manner you want.  Customizing messages by imprinting them with eye catching designs relevant to your company business is also possible.  Since the space on the canopy is quite sufficient, you can experiment with different font styles, the idea being that your messages must be visible and clear from a distance.  While bright coloured promotional umbrellas always turn heads, it is the graphics on the imprints that grabs attention and that is an area you can make your own with some careful thinking and font selection.

With the global recession in full swing, marketing spends have drastically been cut and everybody is having a tough time reallocating resources for their branding campaigns.  The approach now is more on selective and focused marketing rather than a broad based random advertising campaign.  So the more expensive promotional campaigns are now being given the pass in favour of low budget, low profile advertising and promotional gifts are making their presence felt in helping a brand really stand out.

Some very good products like desk sets and other attractive corporate gifts are at hand to ensure that even your low budget campaign, when directed at the right people can pay you very good dividends.  Moreover, the perceived value of some of the products available permits them to automatically qualify as top end gifts and this is of great benefit in times like these, when the economy is slow and every penny counts.  It means that you get more for less and as far as the customer is concerned, he is also happy to receive them thanks to his enhanced perception of such items.

This perceived value of a promotional gift gets a big fillip if you can match it with the utility requirement of the recipient, meaning the customer would have anyways purchased the item if it were not gifted to him by you. You can imagine the gratitude and recollection for your brand in such a situation and this becomes a classic case of making the best use of your available resources to come out with a win-win for everybody.
Other promotional gifts include business bags and luggage and these are again perceived to be of high value, especially the branded ones.  For a corporate professional, they are always welcome and are worth pursuing.  Some other luxurious items are Waterman pens and watches and these have always been well received.  They have high price tags and can be given to only your premium customers.  In terms of perceived value, another item that comes to mind is branded golf luggage, though this is not something that is often distributed due to its specific function.  Silver plated gifts also make for excellent corporate givaways as they have an exclusive feel about them.

It is thus clear that it is not always necessary to only go for big bang advertising blasts and splurge a lot of money in the process.  Knowing the customer’s preference and adapting your purchase of promotional gifts can possibly give even better results than the traditional form of advertising.  A freeze or cut on ad spend is not therefore a bad thing after all.  It forces you to come out with out of the box ideas and use your resources in the best manner possible and if at the end of it you are successful, then you would have done your job as a responsible company employee.

It is worthwhile looking at some corporate gift options that are available on the website which you can hand over to your customers and employees who are sure to receive them with great enthusiasm and appreciation.

The first one deserving mention is the flash drive which has made the storage of data such an easy task, besides lending the convenience of portability and any time access.  These devices give you the benefit of taking a back up and are available in many colours and with varying storage capacities.  Their utility and features have made them very popular with the corporate world and are worthy gifts to be handed over.  When these types of products are distributed as corporate gifts with the company logo imprinted on them, your brand receives excellent top of mind recall every time the flash drive is used.

These types of products can be very creatively used during seminars and exhibitions. They can be distributed as giveaways to visitors at the stall and can be loaded with useful company information on products and services which visitors would definitely look at and thereby approach you for business.  These flash drives can also contain testimonials and the various projects that your company has undertaken successfully to serve as additional proofs reflecting the capabilities of your company.

Another useful product is the promotional computer gift set.  These sets, while being reasonably priced contain very useful items attractively packed.  They are ideal gifts that you can give to some of your customers who are tech savvy or to specific people in a company who are from the IT department.  They have all the right equipment and accessories that the IT guys need and they will thank you for making their jobs easier, by gifting them something which they can access quickly at one place.  It is imperative to know your customers and their tastes very well to hand over gifts of this type and can do a lot for your brand image as well as for the person handling the account.  It conveys the impression that you care about your customers and give a lot of thought to even a supposedly mundane activity like gift distribution.  These corporate gifts get noticed by many people within your customer’s office and all of them will have a very positive opinion about your company.  The best thing about these gifts is that they can also be bought in smaller quantities as per your need and you can spend your budget wisely.

It is worthwhile to pause and look at off beat options like the ones described above and select the ones you feel will be accepted gladly by the customer.  They serve as a good diversion in comparison to the other gifts and you are able to establish relationships with other equally important departments within your customer’s company.

If you want to get a business or brand off the ground at a low marketing cost, you need not look beyond promotional keyrings.  They are akin to pens in the sense that they are utility products that have the capability to reach your advertising message to many people in a short time.  These items are the best when it comes to cost effectiveness.  They have been popular promotional items because of their practical value and the fact that they are so much closer to the customer.  They can be either custom printed or laser engraved with your brand and message at a very reasonable expense, enabling even smaller enterprises to go for them as their brand ambassadors.  They are manufactured from different material like plastic, leather, metal, glass and also have multiple applications like torches, whistles, panic sprays, calculators and bottle openers attached to them.

The other positive aspect of these keyrings is the longer life span and that in itself is a very important factor behind its sustenance as a promotional item for such a long time.  Every company wants its advertising costs to give back good return and with these giveaways, their durability ensures that this requirement is well met.  These items are not only close to the customer physically, they remain in his actual vision at least 3 -5 times a day, giving your brand the visibility which is difficult with other items.

Promotional keyrings work as an excellent publicity tool for everybody irrespective of whether you are in the product or service industry.  Many companies use these for distribution at exhibitions and trade fairs to either announce their arrival or sustain their brand recall.  Some typical examples are real estate agencies, travel agencies, bookstores, home improvement agencies, car retail shops and many others.

One more promotional innovation with these useful and very popular products is the application of relevant themes engraved in the metal variety.  They are laser engraved for durability and themes can be designed so that it matches your business.  So an automotive shop can have a promotional keyring with the theme of a steering wheel and a pharmaceutical company specializing in heart related drugs could distribute them with a theme of a heart.  This renders a distinctive touch to the gift and the recipient will surely identify them from all the others very quickly.

When considering the price that a promotional keyring will cost this is surely one of the best economical brand builders you can distribute.

The simple promotional mouse mat is found in almost every office.  It is a great promotional idea and many offices are resorting to this billiant idea of gifting.  A mouse mat with the company logo is a wonderful way of marketing the company’s brand image.  The company’s emblem on the mouse mat lends a feeling of security and stability to the employees. Gifting these handy products is a totally new concept when compared to the traditional methods of advertising and marketing.  These useful products help in conveying the message of the company in a simpler manner, without being overly showy or pompous.

With computers pervading many homes and offices, there is no one single person who does not use the computer.  When there is a computer, there has to be a mouse mat.  When this is printed with the company’s logo and message, it is catchier and people are able to relate to it.  Companies can print the message in catchy and bright colours so that everyone remembers it. When the company’s name is displayed on the surface, people automatically get familiar with the brand image.  Companies can also gift these to their employees.  Employees would take pride in possessing such a mouse mat.

The main idea behind promotional advertising is that companies want to make sure that their brand image still holds fresh in the minds of the people.  Promotional items are a way to remind people of the company.    Gifting a mouse mat is a personalized way of reaching out to customers and employees and meets that objective very well.

These can also be gifted to employees either at a sales conference or during a meeting. The employees also feel grateful for having received this gift.   The company should make sure that the quality of the product is good since it would be used day in and day out.

The company has to identify what kind of people they want to attract with these products.  Depending on the audience they want to cater to, these can be customized and delivered.  The plethora of choices in terms of sizes, shapes, designs and colours have made it relatively easy for anybody to take their pick of the design and colour combination they would want and place the order. They also offer both utility and convenience.  It also works out to be cheaper when compared to other promotional items.  There can be a variety of permutations and combinations which can be explored when it comes to promotional mouse mats.

In these days of heavy cost cutting, the choice of promotional items becomes crucial as the items have to justify the costs and the return on investment is a key criterion.  The accent is on maximizing the bang for the buck and companies are taking a hard look at some of the promotional items to review whether they are really providing them the advantages initially perceived.  Most companies have however not given up on promotional bags as an effective advertising tool and are still placing orders for distributing these bags to not only their customers but also to vendors, third party associates and employees.  Besides companies, promotional bags are very popular with a whole host of other organizations like hospitals, educational universities, schools etc.

What is the reason for such demand and popularity?
There are many reasons and one of them is the tremendous variety that is on offer.  So whether it is the luggage and trolley bag best suited for airlines staff, the backpack ones for those on the run, vanity and cosmetic bags for the beauty conscious or simple laptop bags for the busy executive, you get them all in the form of promotional bags.  The list does not end here.  You can get eco-friendly designs, duffel bags and a whole spectrum of high quality and high utility items which are sure to meet with everybody’s requirement and get you a lot of appreciation.  This variety really sets this popular product apart from all other promotional items as there is hardly any other item that offers such diverse utility value and that too at very reasonable prices.

Coming to specifics, the air porter trolley varieties are truly for the busy traveler and though they cost more than their other peers, these are gifts that you would do well to give your high profile customers who are always travelling.  The practical utility of such items is sure to impress your customers and they will continue to favour you with their business for a long time.  The brand recall will also be very strong as you have given the customers something they are going to use regularly and it is human nature to remember what is dear and useful to us.  These products travel with your customers to locations which may be outside the country and thus provide superb exposure to your brand even at those locations.  Nothing can be more value for the money spent and since your customer is a regular traveler, he is going to make your brand visible to many people many times, which definitely would not be possible with conventional advertising.  So the money spent in this case on a luxurious air porter bag is well worth it and you should not have any regrets.

Whichever promotional bags you decide on for your campaign you are sure to reap the rewards and increase your brand awareness.

It is always a tough decision to take on the feasibility of a promotional campaign during such recessionary times.  You do not have much of an option if you wish to keep your present customers in good humour and also want to enlist new customers into your fold.  In fact during times as tough as this, it is all the more important to maintain goodwill and strive to retain existing business as they are more profitable and you might not want to take on the acquisition costs of new customers for the moment.  So the crux is to utilize the budget at hand in the most prudent and thrifty manner to achieve your objectives.  A couple of business gifts would serve your cause very well as they are both inexpensive and at the same time good for the visibility of your brand.

The first one is the promotional calendar.  They are great items to gift due to their utility and will pay you back adequately.  People will not stash away these calendars, but will prefer to hang them on the wall providing a lot of positive publicity to your brand through the year.  This is one promotional piece that is required by all offices and custom printing them in themes of your choice does not cost a lot.  It is of course necessary and ideal to hand over these business gifts at the beginning of the calendar year to rake in the full benefit of this gift and enjoy brand recognition for all twelve months.

The other business gift is the calculator which again is a necessity for every business meeting and a handy tool in general.  These calculators are always well received due to their utility, portability and durability.  They are very inexpensive to procure and present adequate space to advertise your company trademark.  They are a hit with all departments and hierarchies in a company – from the sales person to the finance guy and from the ordinary accountant to the top boss.  In fact these items are useful and used by everybody. They are practical tools and can be gifted to anybody irrespective of gender or age.  Due to the need to perform accurate and swift calculations on a daily basis, your brand gets noticed every time they are used and staff within your customer’s organization will thank you for making their task easier.  They are not items that people will discard and will thus present your brand in good light for a long time.  High quality calculators will not tax your limited budget and yet provide you with a good marketing option.

The basic aim of any business establishment is to have the maximum profit margin it can attain. For maximizing profit, it is really important that it has a base of customers who are loyal to the company. For increasing the overall profit, it is imperative that this customer base is augmented on a regular basis. Here comes the role of the marketing team in a company. It is the responsibility of the marketing team to popularize the company’s products among the common people, and create a positive image of the brand in the minds of the general public. Good quality products are of primary importance. But equally important are the right marketing strategies according to the target audience. Good advertisements always work. In addition, it is often very useful to launch a range of promotional items to popularize the brand’s name among members of the target audience.

In general, promotional items are inexpensive items bearing the company’s name and/or logo. After the target audience is decided according to the nature of the products, such freebies can be distributed among the public to make them aware of the company and create a general curiosity regarding the products. People never say no to something they are getting for free, so most likely they will carry home the item you give them. As this will probably be their first interaction with your company, it is important to make a really good impression. They will judge the quality of the products you offer on the basis of the promotional item you have offered them… so be sure that whatever it is, the item should be of the best possible make. If your item makes a favourable impression on someone, they are likely to try your products at least once. And if they are satisfied with the products, then bang! You have got yourself a new customer!

Certain studies suggest that on an average, people use good promotional items for a minimum of 5-6 months. Also, freebies sent through the mail are supposed to be more effective at building a brand image than giveaways distributed randomly. Keep in mind, selection and distribution of an appropriate item is no mean task. It takes a lot of planning and preparation. Depending upon the nature of the organisation and the target audience, a variety of products may be chosen from. Such items may have one of two kinds of value for the potential customer: aesthetic value or utility value. Corporate houses may favour scratch pads and conference folders, whereas a computer peripherals company may go for decorative mouse pads.  Soft drink companies may go for bottle openers, and baseball caps will do pretty well for sports manufacturers and retailers. Bags also tend to work well and also corporate planners and yearly diaries, etc.

Promotional items, if handled correctly, can get you a multitude of new customers. A few pointers: make sure that the item bears clearly the logo of your company, and has the same colour scheme. Some caption which generates interest regarding the promoted products should be clearly visible on the item. Make sure you plan well ahead and distribute the freebies amongst the right audience. Follow these simple guidelines and you should be good to go!

The most valuable intangible asset of a company is its brand which also maintains and bears its reputation.  If for some reason, your competitors do not spend their budget on any promotional merchandise, they are only compromising their own brand identity and this is when you must demonstrate through this form of media your gratitude to your customers for their support.  It is very important in a stagnating economy to at least maintain your market share, since new business would be difficult to procure.  When you maintain your brand equity and market share in troubled times, as and when the good times come along, your target audience would immediately favour you with business as your brand name would still remain fresh in their minds thanks to some of the promotional campaigns run during the tough times.  The worst thing to happen in business is, everything is hunky dory, but your brand name has been forgotten.

In fact during economy slowdown times, you must do all the more in terms of brand building and indulge in promotional activities.  You will have more time to focus on such activities and do it more professionally.  It may seem a paradox that you are indulging in business promotion when business itself is floundering, but that is the precise reason for its success and effectiveness.  You need to do something different from others and will be noticed for it, lending your brand the uniqueness and exclusivity.  At times of recession, you need to keep in touch with the top honchos of your customers and honour them with carefully chosen promotional merchandise.  It may happen that some of them might get retrenched and would start off on their own and you need to be at the forefront to be considered favourably by them when they are looking for vendors in their new avatar.  So, by concentrating on fine tuning promotional campaigns and taking the time to meet influential decision makers during the rough times, you are actually investing your time and effort to reap the fruits, when the good times return and by doing this, you will be putting yourself in a sound position to cash in when things start looking good again.  The fact that you recognized the true value of distributing promotional merchandise and the suitable timing of this will ensure that your competitors will have a lot to catch up and it won’t be easy to grab your customers.

So make the best of even the recessionary times by choosing suitable and useful promotional merchandise and getting your message out to the right people.  You will not regret it.