With a little help from a partner like iPromo, giving branded promotional products like customized shoes, custom tumblers, travel mugs, and even branded computer accessories has never been easier – and we represent the top brands!
All the same, you don’t want to throw good money after bad by randomly branding merchandise you’ll never have an occasion to give, or that won’t really get used.
So, we put together this high-level guide to walk you through what to brand and when, and how to make sure it offers the most value to your organization in general and marketing initiatives in particular.
What Will These Branded Promotional Products Be Used for?
Before you go out and buy 1000 custom travel mugs or hoodies, the first thing you need to figure out is what the ultimate purpose of these promotional products will be used for.
For instance, are you:
- Giving them as branded corporate gifts to business partners?
- Offering them in recognition of important employee milestones or achievements?
- Giving them as branded Christmas gifts, or for employee birthdays?
- Using them to support a non-profit or a fundraiser?
- Giving them out for team building, or during corporate sporting events, or something else of that nature?
- Using them to spread brand awareness as giveaways?
- Offering them as freebies at trade shows or industry conventions, or events like career fairs?
- Going to use them as employee incentives?
- Planning on selling them through your corporate swag store?
- Intending to use them to support brand awareness through active marketing campaigns?
- Offering them as giveaways that your sales team can use to improve brand visibility and recency?
Determining how you will be using these branded promotional products will help you get the most value out of customizing them.
You should also consider the nature of your business itself. For instance, it makes sense for a liquor store chain or brewery to customize stemless wine glasses, or for a coffee roastery to customize travel mugs.
Similarly, if you are planning on supporting something like a corporate sporting event, customizing shoes, jerseys, clothing, or other athletic gear makes the most sense.
Consider the Interest of the Recipient
If you’re not specifically looking at using these products to support marketing initiatives directly but are looking for a way to reward employees for achievements, certifications, or just other events like birthdays and holidays, it makes sense to give with a purpose.
If the person is a die-hard golfer, customize golfing equipment. If he or she is big on camping or boating, customize a cooler or umbrella or something of that nature.
Then again, there are some categories that more or less make good gifts across the board, such as:
- Custom drinkware, like custom tumblers and travel mugs
- Custom shoes
- Branded jackets
- Customized computer accessories
- Branded office supplies or desk accessories
- Totes and coolers
But, if you can, you should make an effort to determine what the interests of the intended recipient are so you can customize something useful to him or her before giving it.
Consider the Quality of the Customization
In some instances, you will have more than one way to brand promotional products.
For instance, if you’re giving custom garments, you may have the option to embroider or screen print (or even order some other customization).
Depending on what you’ll be using these promotional items for, embroidery, though more expensive, is generally long lasting than screen printing (although quality screen printing can last a long time).
It’s really all about what works for you and your budget, but in general, go with the highest quality option if you want your branded promotional products to last. Ultimately, these will be seen as a reflection on your brand and company, so this isn’t a place to spare expense!
General Advice for Branding Promotional Products
Regardless of what you ultimately end up customizing, here are some general best practices for making sure you get your money’s worth, and that the products have the intended effect.
- Invest in quality branding and customizations. The customizations you make on these branded promotional products have to stand the test of time. They will be seen as a reflection on your brand, and if of better quality, will last longer anyway. You don’t want to give something just to have the customization wear off in a few weeks or months, or to have the recipient toss it prematurely.
- Customize the top brands. If you’re giving clothing, go with the top brands, like Nike, The North Face, Under Armor, Champion, Adidas, New Era, and so on and so forth. If you’re customizing travel mugs or tumblers, stick with brands like Stanley, CamelBak, BruMate, and others like them. If you’re giving golfing equipment, stick with Titleist, Callaway, and other top brands that carry a lot of authority in the sport. The higher the quality of the branded products you give, the more people who get them will appreciate them. They also stand a better chance of getting used and thereby improving your brand visibility – which may be your purpose, after all, right?
- Give something unique if you want to captivate attention. Anyone can give a whole bunch of pens and notebooks and branded notepads. All categories are like that. Make it something people need, or unique that will turn heads. If you’re going to brand golf equipment, don’t just give golf balls. Give golf bags, or gloves, or something cool like a golf tool. If you’re giving customized outdoor living accessories or grilling accessories, don’t just give bottle openers like everyone does; give something memorable like custom zippo lighters or barbecue tool sets.
Get Started Customizing Promotional Products Today!
Hopefully you found some of the suggestions included in this article useful and have started forming a plan about what sorts of branded promotional products you need.
If you have any questions about the brands we represent or the products we sell, and how you can customize them with your brand or logo, get in touch with us directly at 888-994-7766 and we would be more than happy to help.