Without needing to research too far, it can be assumed what some of the top-selling promotional products are across the world: pens, shirts, coffee mugs, water bottles. They are great products, in and of themselves, useful and often-used. But sometimes it seems everyone has promotional pens to give away!

This is why it is key to set your promotional product giveaways apart from the rest. It does not necessarily have to be by giving away an “out there” or completely random item. Instead, think about the way you present the free gift to your recipients. If you’ve got a selection of custom-imprinted pens, don’t just throw three of them in a bag; show your recipients all the pens you have available and allow them to choose which ones they would like. By doing something as simple as this, you are making the entire giveaway that much more personal in the most subtle, unsuspecting way possible. You are indirectly encouraging your clients to show a tiny piece of their personalities to you while also making it known that you put a little more thought into these promotional handouts.

The same idea goes for promotional items such as T-shirts. Most companies tend to give away promotional shirts in a couple of generically large sizes, keeping the idea in mind that it’s easier to receive something that’s too large than too small. However, offering a variety of shirts in sizes to accommodate all of your recipients is an easy way to impress them with your consideration. By being able to supply your clients with their favorite T-shirt size, it will not be just another promotional T-shirt that’s four sizes too big and sits in their sock drawer, buried at the bottom. They may actually wear it.

All of these “outside the box” ideas can be tweaked to suit your promotional product needs. It’s just about putting a spin on the everyday, same-old, same-old promotional products so your efforts as a company stand out and shine.

Old Faithful, the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, Times Square; these names are so closely associated with American history and identity that they make up the foundation of the American tourism industry. So it’s not much of a surprise that people within the United States, as well as other countries, travel extensively to take a look at these monuments, making tourism one of the largest retail sales industries in America.

According to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), international travelers spend around $91.1 billion in the U.S. and, as a result, they generate a tourism surplus of $8.6 billion. The site also states that shopping is the favorite activity for American and foreign tourists alike. In such a case, what better way to ensure that tourists always remember you than handing out promotional products?

When attracting tourists to your state, imprinted lapel pins in the shape of your state or state-shaped mini-magnets are fun ideas. If you’re trying to remind people about a particular attraction, you have a wide variety of choices, such as custom stress balls that symbolize the highlights of your tourist attraction. If all these sound too mundane for you, there is definitely room for you to be adventurous. For example, if you need promotional items for a zoo, then you can try out plush toys or rubber ducks.

The NASAA says that, by 2010, tourism is slated to become the foremost service industry in America and you can be in line for your share of the pie. The key is to think like tourists in order to connect with them.

Bumper stickers have become some cars’ best source of individualism. Like most trends, it started out slow, but the bumper sticker frenzy has turned into a free speech free-for-all. It is amazing the types of stickers one can find nowadays. Stickers exists for all types of people with all kinds of beliefs and opinions. And if you’re lucky when you’re stuck in traffic, a bumper bedecked in stickers can provide amusing or interesting reading material!

Companies would be smart to invest in these promotional items. Not only are custom bumper stickers a great way to maximize exposure of your company, but they also provide infinite possibilities to be creative, express an opinion or endorse a specific message.

During the recent presidential campaign here, custom bumper stickers kept to party lines, helping to separate and distinguish the candidates. They allowed people to voice their views and opinions as members of society, not just repeating the manufactured messages of a particular campaign. Instead of bumper stickers that simply stated, “OBAMA” or “MCCAIN,” numerous companies came up with their own creative twists on the entire “political” idea and made the whole movement much more individualistic.

Over the last few years, the focus of many bumper stickers has shifted to “thinking green.” Bumper stickers now circulate through every city in America with messages of going green and being more environmentally sound. With so many concerns circulating around our planet, people are becoming more and more aware of making the efforts to better the one Earth we have. Although it seems ironic that people choose to display these messages on their exhaust-releasing cars, people can still set themselves apart by the particular bumper sticker they choose to display.

Companies reaching for a new way to express their messages and interact with clients should consider custom bumper stickers. Besides speaking politics and thinking green, bumper stickers are also inexpensive, result in high exposure rates after being applied to a vehicle, are extremely durable (meaning they can last for years), serve as elements of personality for many drivers and their vehicles, and, most importantly, encourage freedom of speech and original thinking.

So the next time your company is brainstorming about new ways to promote, perhaps instead of choosing pens or coffee mugs, these decals could be the smartest, most innovative way to make your company’s message wider-known and, well, stickier!

In a world with an infinite variety of companies and promotional products, choosing the best and most effective hand-outs for your specific company can be a daunting task. It is vitally important, however, to take the time to brainstorm about what kind of products will best represent your company. Promotional action plans that are not well thought out do not reflect well on your company’s endeavors to give back to your clients on a relevant level.

For example, if you’re a woman who frequents nail salons, how would you feel if your salon’s promotional gifts of choice were the standard pens, mugs and business card holders? Although these items are useful within themselves, they are not the ideal product to hand out when promoting your beauty parlor. Why not hand out Designer Manicure Kits or Make-Up Brush Sets? These promotional products obviously speak much more to women visiting a nail salon and will be much more useful AND memorable gift.

A second example could be that you’re the owner of a western wear store and looking to promote your name at a rodeo show. Handing out promotional products such as picture frames or USB flash drives is great, but may not appeal to the specific audience attending this event. For a fun approach, consider a Horse Stress Ball, or a nifty American West Calendar. Not only will the recipients appreciate the gifts, they will give your company credit for speaking directly to their interests and hobbies.

As long as you and your co-workers take the time to put your heads together and muster up lists of the “right” kind of promotional products for every kind of specific event, your clients (and potential clients) will respect your efforts even more.

If you’ve been here before, well, you may not recognize much, as we’re redeveloping this site as a blog. But we hope you’ll still find us your one-stop resource for information about the promotional products industry.

The promotional products industry can overwhelm anyone with its sheer mass of products, suppliers, distributors and information. This is why we’ve created the Promotional Products Knowledge Base. We’ll update this site regularly with new content designed to help you get acquainted with the wide world of promotional products. Our intention remains to give you the information you need to make intelligent decisions – to help you get the most use out of your money AND your promotional products.

The value of promotional products

With the economy in its current unsettled state, it’s easy to overlook the power of promotional products because purchasing budgets have gotten smaller. But promotional products can pack a lot of advertising punch into a small budget. According to the Advertising Specialties Institute Impressions Study, released in 2008, the average cost-per-impression of a promotional product is just $0.004 – much less than just about any other advertising means. People tend to hang on to promotional products, too. The survey shows that more than 75 percent of respondents kept the item for more than six months. Just think about tote bags, for instance: They’re useful, reusable, and will keep your logo visible for as long as the bag lasts.

And promotional products can be fun! Sure, there will always be pens and notepads and coffee mugs, but with thousands of items that can be customized with your logo, any campaign can be made a lot more memorable with the right kind of product. As a bonus, people who get free promotional products from you will remember your business in a more positive light, simply because you gave them something. The ASI study showed that 42 percent of respondents had a more favorable impression after receiving an item, and 24 percent of respondents said they were more likely to do business with the advertiser who gave them the product.

A little history

Promotional products have been around for nearly 200 years, in one form or another. The Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), a trade association for promotional item distributors, says that the promotional market dates back to when George Washington created buttons for his campaign! Although the promotions market has changed and expanded a great deal since then, the original concept behind the message remains the same: Make your message visible.

Promotional items are increasingly becoming a regular part of companies’ budgets. People are realizing that potential business growth can be directly related to the use of promotional products and creative advertising. Sometimes this means having to spend a little bit more on promotional products while creatively thinking outside the box for new ways to express your message. The promotional products industry is currently one of the fasting growing industries in the nation with total sales exceeding $18 billion in 2008.