If you have an upcoming event like a business expo, branch opening, tradeshow or job fair, you might be starting to think about what kinds of promotional items you could give away to visitors. It’s a great way to get your name out there and get people amped up about your offers, but what kinds of products can you put out?
And what if you’re trying to keep your budget for the event low, or go the opposite route and get something super fancy?
No worries — you can absolutely stock your table with all kinds of popular branded swag without breaking the bank or working too hard on finding what’s trendy.
Here at Integra, we’ve helped countless businesses, like yours, find the perfect promotional products for their events — sometimes dozens of times per company thanks to repeat customers who loved our service. What we’ve found during those conversations and planning sessions is that a few items tend to do well no matter the company or event. They’re just staples, plain and simple. Who couldn’t use more pens, right?
So we set out to find the five most evergreen swag items, good for anytime, anywhere. In this blog post, you’ll learn about pens, bags, notebooks, lip balm and stress balls — including why they’re so popular and how they can help accelerate the promotion of your unique brand.
Bear in mind as you learn about these items that each one can range from an extremely low price tag (well under a dollar each) to an extremely high one ($10 or more per piece) based on your customizations. Want a super snazzy pen with a multifunctional configuration? No problem. Simple stick lip balm in a single flavor with your company’s name on the label? Coming right up!
#1 Promo Product: Branded Pens
Pens may have been your very first idea for a promotional product. If you have forms for visitors to fill out, they can grab their very own pen off a pristine stack of fresh freebies to get it done. Even if you don’t have anything for them to fill out and give to you, they can always take notes in the margins of your pamphlets or flyers, or write down information about what your company offers (bonus points if you supply a branded notepad, which we’ll talk about next).
What if they have nothing to write? Doesn’t matter, because everyone loves a good pen — especially when it’s free! Even in the age of smartphones and tablets, there’s no shortage of situations that have us searching our pockets or bags for a pen to write something down. Pair that with the fact that most of us are guilty of losing our pens or forgetting them in transit, and even the simplest of pens with the lowest manufacturing costs tend to be hot items at any expo, job fair, parade, party or conference.
And the way we see it, even if someone loses your branded pen at their office two days after the event, it’ll probably be found by some unsuspecting potential customer who happened to lose their pen and stumble upon yours. And there’s your logo, on a pen still diligently doing its duty as both a freebie and a marketing aid to get your name out to the masses. Talk about reach!
#2 Promo Product: Named Notebooks
We won’t go into another tirade about how valuable notebooks and notepads are even as technology becomes so prevalent that we’re each part robot…
Okay, maybe we are a little bit.
But you can take our word for it: A branded notebook will go a long way toward getting your business’s name in the minds of many. Better yet, rather than taking our word for it, look around at the next event you go to. Many different companies will have some kind of writing pad up for grabs, and there will be attendee hand after attendee hand reaching out to snatch their own.
With certain promotional items, this market flooding would be a bit of a concern. Afterall, you can only use so many phone stands or coffee mugs before you start running out of phones and cabinet space. But notebooks? They can be tucked away and used at a later date, kept at the office for memos or stuffed in a backpack (more on bags in the next section) for a rainy day.
You’ll find lots of options in the notebook and notepad category, from beautifully bound journals to small, simple sticky note pads. You can choose based on your budget and preferences, but no matter what you go with, it’s likely to be a popular item. And hey, people may even give away pieces from your promotional notepad that will, if you’ve branded each page, get your name even further along in circulation.
#3 Promo Product: Branded Bags
Bags are such a broad category that you can really go in any direction with them and see great success. If you’re looking for low-cost options, try single-stitch grocery-style bags or poly drawstring packs. No matter what kind it is, it’ll hold any pamphlets, catalogs or other free merchandise you’re offering attendees, and it’ll give people somewhere to put merch from other tables at the event. Imagine that — their items, but in a bag with your business’s name on it!
People love bags of all shapes and sizes because there’s a use for one in just about every situation. If they’re going to the gym, they can take your drawstring bag with some gear. Hitting the grocery store? There goes your brand and logo right along with them. It’s a win-win all around, and having somewhere to store the items we need from day to day will never go out of style.
#4 Promo Product: Logo’d Lip Balm
This promo item is an option many don’t think about, but it does well in just about every situation. Even single-flavor stick balm with a simple wraparound cover tends to do well in front of a crowd. It excels in all seasons but does especially well throughout the fall and winter as people try to keep their lips moisturized and healthy.
Now, here’s the kicker with lip balm that makes it even more fun: Flavors. You can really go wild with the kinds of flavors you offer. Availability will depend on stock and the type of lip balm you select, but some examples include but are by no means limited to:
- Banana
- Cinnamon
- Caramel apple
- Cherry
- Cherry vanilla
- Coffee
- Pumpkin
- Vanilla
- Watermelon
You of course do not have to offer every flavor or even give flavor options. But if you do, you’re likely to stir up more interest as people stop by to grab a tube, browse their options and chat about their flavor of choice with other attendees.
In many cases, the longer visitors stay at your table, the better. More face time means more opportunities to tell them about your business, hand out your other promotional items, give them your company’s informational materials…and maybe even outline the merits of your favorite lip balm flavor!
Now, as an added precaution, let's offer some relief to anyone who got a little too stressed out selecting the best lip balm flavor.
#5 Promo Product: Stamped Stress Balls
Okay, they aren’t actually stamped in most cases, but we weren’t about to give up the alliteration just to put a more industry-accurate term like printed here!
This one is a bit of a head-scratcher, because not everyone will actively seek a stress ball or make sure they have one nearby like they might with pens, bags and lip balm. But here’s the catch — almost everyone will reach for a stress ball if they come across one. Sometimes it’s enthusiastically, sometimes it’s absentmindedly, but almost without fail, they’ll be pumping away at it throughout their day.
The cool thing about stress balls is that while the item has remained popular — a staple in the promotional products industry that you can slap your brand on and attract tons of passersby — the designs are as close to endless as you can get. If you can dream it up, you can probably find a stress ball variant, and even if you can’t, you could look into having it made. (Note: Custom stress balls do start getting into more time and money.)
Seriously folks, we’re talking traffic cones, toilets, butterflies, pigs, dogs, pencils, construction hats, punctuation marks, holiday figures — you name it, and it probably comes in a stress-relieving bundle of foam that you can put your brand and company name on or even add a quote to.
So even if you’re following our guide on avoiding the top mistakes companies make with their promotional gear, and you’ve decided to change it up from your last event, you can stick with the same item and change the shape, color and configuration.
You shouldn’t have much stress over promotional products if you’ve perused this article, but grab an extra one for your own sanity while you’re planning out the other details of your event!
Choose Your Branded Promotional Items With Confidence and Ease
You may have been concerned about choosing the right promotional product for the season, event and audience in question when you landed on this page, but hopefully we’ve put your mind at ease that a few items out there will do you proud no matter what factors are involved. They’re steady performers in the promotional space, typically in stock across multiple vendors and unlikely to go out of style anytime soon.
So now, even if you have a last-minute event to attend or can’t think of a unique option for your giveaways, you have a bench — reliable, well-loved, tried-and-true promotional gear sure to draw a crowd.
If your next step is to find a company that can source your promo items and get your name and logo onto them, you might be wondering what it’s like to work with Integra. Feel free to read our blog post on the topic and reach out with any general questions you have about our staff or promotional capabilities.
Whether we hear from you or not, we hope to see you and a very large group of interested attendees at the next trade show in town!
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