Do Promotional Products Really Increase Sales?

It's a question I've heard many times before. Everyone from small and medium sized businesses to nonprofits and schools use promotional products that feature their logo, contact information and tagline. The majority of them love how their promo items turn out and see an immediate return on their investment. But there are a small number who try one campaign and say it simply doesn't work. Yet, there's one thing they all have in common - None of them bother tracking their campaigns. They don't send out surveys to their existing customers, they don't offer a specific coupon code with their promotional product so they can track those results, some of them don't even bother asking new customers how they heard of them. So how can they know promotional items don't work?

Just to give you an idea of what customized merchandise can do for you, here's a few fast facts from the Advertising Speciality Institute:

• 83% of customers polled remember the advertiser from their promotional product.
• The average promotional product is kept for 5 months or more.
• 80% of customers will take a survey for a promotional mug.
• On average, Promotional tote bags are kept for 4 years.

So we know for a fact that promotional products as a marketing tool is very effective. But if you're still on the fence about promotional items, here's a few steps you can take to ensure a successful campaign:

1. Set a Goal: Do you want to build brand awareness? Get more customers? Increase the average value of your existing customers? Set a goal before all else, then use it to dictate every aspect of your campaign.
2. Consider Your Audience: Pick a promo gift that makes sense for your customers. For instance, if your customers aren't particularly tech savvy, the last thing they'd want is a custom USB drive.
3. Does Your Gift Make Sense Right Now: A promotional item should be relevant to your business and your audience. But you should also take seasonality in to account. For instance, if you're a dermatologist, giving away a branded bottle of sunscreen is a great idea! But if it's the middle of January, maybe you should wait a few month to run the promotion.

Want to learn more about how Promotional Items can help you? Click the link to browse thousands of promotional items online.