Promotional gifts are not one size fits all. You can have something as small as a pen or as large as a wine set to carry across your company name. You need to match your intended goal into the promotional gifts that you choose, in order to keep a uniform branding image all around. This takes a bit of planning and insight into your target market.



The first question you need to ask yourself – what IS your target market? Are you going after current customers? Would you like to entice a few on the fence customers to become loyal to your brand? How about potential customers, would you like to draw a few of them in? What is the demographic of all of those customer groups? Let's not even get into B2B promotional gifts, which can make this process even more complex as you figure out what to get employees, vendors, and other clients.

The promotional item industry is huge, even bigger than Internet advertising. As such, you have almost endless choices in what type of promotional product to go with. Once you have identified your target market, you will need to figure out what type of promo item will get the most brand exposure for you. Should you go with something big and flashy to generate buzz and talk around the water cooler? Maybe something small, practical, and thoughtful that will make them think warm happy thoughts about your company? Would something as small as a pen make an impact, or should you go with something more elaborate?

This is where customer surveys and other demographic data comes in handy. You will want to get as much information on all aspects of their lives as possible. Figure out what the best universal gift would be, then implement it in a way as to build positive brand recognition. Promo items will also build direct sales and leads, so you will want to make sure to be as thorough as possible in your research. You don't want to be too over the top, but you don't want people thinking that you're cheap. Make sure that you get quality promotional gifts that will lead a good taste in your customer's mouths.

Some of the best items to use are ones that will get a lot of use around town, in the office, or in the home. You can associate it with a particular part of your company, or just use them to build overall brand recognition. You can even give out promo items for launches or contests. No matter what you go with, promotional item advertising is one of the most cost effective forms of advertising you can ever try out. If you can think of it, chances are you can stamp your logo on it and give it away for free. Don't underestimate the power of freebies – people love them far more than you might think at first, and they will give you a great return on investment when all is said and done.