What promotional products really work?

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What makes a promotional product effective, and why are some promotional products successful, while others are a waste of your marketing budget dollars, never resulting in a lead or sale and often just ending up in the trash? The answer to this question is that there are three common sense characteristics that define promotional products that work.

1. YOUR PROMOTIONAL PRODUCT MUST BE USEFUL!
Hand out an item that people need and can actually use. If you leave in Minnesota, handing out plastic windshield ice scrapers during the winter makes sense, but it doesn't make sense to do that in Hawaii. More specifically, you need to know who your target market is, and if they might have a specific need. If you're targeting auto mechanics, then a spark-plug gap checker would make sense, but said gap checker wouldn't be much use if your target market is stay-at-home-moms. In a more general sense, your promotional item just has to be needed period. And how many earth-shaped squishy stress balls do we really need? It can be challenging, but it is essential... you must come up with a item that your target market can use and would keep.

2. YOUR PROMOTIONAL PRODUCT MUST ACTUALLY WORK AND NOT BREAK/FAIL (QUALITY MATTERS)!
It should be obvious, but based on the number of promotional items I've gotten in the past that have broken or stopped working almost immediately and then ended up in the trash, what should be obvious isn't. Since you're giving your promotional item away for free, it's obvious you don't want to spend a lot of money on each item. But whatever you decide on, you need to pay enough to make sure it works. A few years ago, LED flashlights were all the rage for promotional giveaways, especially at trade shows. I collected several, but they all burned out or stopped working within weeks. What's the point of having a flashlight that doesn't work? Talk about getting left in the dark! All a worthless promotional item does is reflect poorly on the company that puts their promotional marketing message on it. Make sure you get samples and evaluate any promotional product and/or vendor that you are thinking of using.

3. YOUR PROMOTIONAL PRODUCT SHOULD BE RELATED TO WHAT YOU DO, AND SERVE AS A NOT-SO-SUBTLE SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE OF HOW YOU CAN HELP!
If at all possible, the best promotional products are those that remind people of what you do. A case in point - many years ago at a machinery trade show, I got a bright blue anodized aluminum beer bottle opener that I could attach to my keychain. It has the anodizing company's name and website on it. Every time I use it, I'm reminded of who I would use (and have used) if I need to get any aluminum anodizing done.

If your promotional item isn't specifically related to what you do, then another option is to make it just-plain-awesome. In other words, come up with a promotional item with wow-factor, which will have people saying, "That's cool. Where did you get it?" In fact, I'll give you an absolutely-free awesome idea... the railroad spike beer bottle opener (see picture below). I made one by hand, and it's cool. You just need to get some old, abandoned railroad spikes (don't pull them out of a functioning railroad!) and put a notch in them like the picture. It took me about half an hour with a drill press, and hacksaw, and a file, to make my bottle opener, and I stopped after making two of them. If I could figure out an easier way to make them, I would. In the meantime, you can steal my idea. Make the railroad spike openers, and then stamp or engrave your company name and marketing message on them. If you want to be really fancy, you can chrome plate them. Hand them out as trade show giveaways or promotional items, and I promise you, they will be popular. Anytime I offer a guest my spike for the first time to open their beer bottle, it always starts a conversation. It's not uncommon for the conversation to not only be about how good the spike is for opening a beer, but also how one could defend their beer if needed with said heavy spike. The railroad spike beer bottle opener...  It's.  Just.  Cool.

a one-of-a-kind handmade railroad spike beer bottle opener
(and personal defense weapon)

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