The power of swag: The benefits of promotional products

Is your company utilizing promotional products (AKA swag)?

Promotional products are tangible items imprinted with an advertiser’s name, logo or message. They are designed to increase brand awareness among consumers.

Many companies discount the usefulness of promotional products, but they are a very powerful marketing tool. They are one of the only ways consumer can interact with a brand on a physical level, engaging yet another of the senses.

Additionally, many consumers have learned to ignore other forms of marketing and advertising. Promotional items stand out from the noise, and can provide a multitude of benefits for your company.

Promotional products can be very effective. According to Sageworld:

• 8 out of 10 consumers have at least 1 promotional product.
• Six out of 10 such consumers keep promotional products with them for up to two years.
• 85% of people do business with the advertiser after receiving a promotional item.
• 89% of consumers can recall the advertiser even two years after receiving a promotional product.
• 63% of consumers give away their promotional products when not needed.

Other benefits of promotional products are that they are relatively low cost, they build brand recognition, they build business exposure, and they help build brand loyalty.

Inexpensive marketing

Most promotional items cost less than $1 per item. Even nicer “swag” can be offered for less than $10 – $20 per item. Almost anything you touch on a daily basis can be created as a promotional product, such as wireless mouses, lip balm, and foam dart guns.

Building brand recognition

Choosing an item that relates to your brand or your target market is key. When you choose something that relates closely with your brand, it becomes a tool for increasing brand recognition.

Also, folks tend to keep these items around for a while. The more they see your brand, the more familiar they become with it.

Increase business exposure

Not only do folks tend to give away their swag when they are finished with it, but they also share the creative ones on social media.  Katherine Katow shares one of our favorite examples of this in an allBusiness article. She shares the story of a lawn mowing service that gave out, “a gift of dog bones that are tied with a ribbon and attached to a thank you card and stickers” to customers with pets on the property.

“I have been proven wrong (about the ineffectiveness of promotional products) because of the tons of thank yous over Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter because of the dog bone gifts that we sent to our customers,” says Clayton. “This translated into tons of traffic for our website and also earned us reviews on Yelp, all because of sending this little bit of swag out,” wrote Katow.

Build customer loyalty

In addition to building brand recognition, customers may be influenced by the reciprocity effect. This is when a gift triggers an inherent human response to receiving a gift. This effect manifests itself in better response rates, additional business, and even referrals.

The effect swag can have on your business should not be underestimated. Browse swag options in our store, or reach out for a promotional product consultation.