The Right Promotional Products: Get Ideas From Experience

SWAG, FREEBIES, GIVE-A-WAYS, PROMOS … a bunch of different names for this marketing tool, and a lot of companies use them. We often hear the ‘common sense’ rationale for this – they get attention, they stick around awhile, people feel better about the brand, etc. Arsham Mirshah, in his article for the American Marketing Association’s Baltimore group, cites research to support “5 Ways to Create Effective Swag.” While the article has been around a few years, the foundation it stands on is still solid. Arsham provides some good insights, backed by research from several great sources.

“5 Ways to Create Effective Swag,” touches on the general use of promotional products, and to a great extent, we all already know these things… we wouldn’t buy promo products if we didn’t. But, key to making this work for your business is selecting the right product for the right time, place and purpose. When I walk the floor at iPromo, I hear our representatives talking with clients about the nuances of the products, even down to the benefits of various shades of color for a specific pen. The benefit of working directly with a company that does promotional products is the experience the representatives bring to the conversation.

There are times when you know exactly what you want and that’s great. But, if you need ideas or concepts, give your promotional products representative a call. You may hear some things you didn’t expect. Promotional product representatives see a lot of applications and learn from the many different clients with whom they work. Good promo companies are about more than just the products, they are about ideas.

We work in a pretty cool business. We get to play with different “toys”, share creative ideas and just have fun helping our clients. We can’t help but be engaged, and that helps all our clients when it comes to creating new or different ways to use promotional products. So, next time you’re stuck, give your representative a call. It could be a fun, productive conversation!