Promotional products are used in politics to promote candidates and causes. Companies used them as incentive gifts for their employees. Examples of promotional items include pens, pencils, t-shirts, caps, key chains, umbrellas, jackets, mints, etc. The collection of certain types of promotional items is a popular hobby.

A survey of 180 college students at five U.S. universities revealed that promotional products are indeed influential and appreciated. The 95% of the students surveyed mentioned appreciation at having received the items, and 85% named an imprinted item in their immediate possession or at their home. Eighty-three percent of respondents said that promotional products would motivate them in one or more of the following ways: respond to a survey, enter a contest, purchase a product or service, patronize a business or donate to a charity.

Another survey conducted for Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) by LJ Market Research reveals the power of promotional products by measuring how end users respond to organizations that use promotional products as part of their marketing. A survey was conducted by interviewing business travelers at DFW Airport. More than 71% of them indicated they had received at least one promotional product in the last 12 months. The study also showed that the 76% of the respondents remembered the name of an advertiser on a promotional product they had received; compared to the 53% of their ability to recall the name of an advertiser from a print publication they had read in the past week

According to the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), corporations spend close to $16.9 billion a year (2004) on this type of advertising - that's more than the 14.2 billion spent on cable TV advertising.

The fact is that recipients of promotional products do remember the advertiser's name.

Business to business gifts is a great way to start or maintain a positive presence with your clientele. They can build brand awareness within the professional community as well as amongst the general public. The next time you launch a new product or service, try introducing it with a promotional item. Remember to choose a promotional product that represents your industry. This is very important. For example, if you have a handbag store, why not give away a customized compact mirror with your store logo.

This is more than handing out one item:

This is a puzzle with many pieces. It takes a consumer an average of 6-7 times of seeing and/or hearing your promotional message before they "get" it and take action of any kind - even saying "no thank you". No, it's not because your target audience is dumb, it's because they're constantly being targeted with ads and spam from all sorts of businesses.

You have to know your target audience.

If your promotion is for teens and young adults, for example, don't give them refrigerator magnets; they don't usually have refrigerators! At least not of their own yet. Give them a cool key chain or CD holder, give them something electronic, something trendy and colorful. If your target audience, are executives of a corporation, don't give them a rubber key tag or a box cutter. Give them instead a pen or a nice writing set for their desks; give them some nice executive accessory that you know they will not be ashamed to display on their mahogany desks. And if you are really on a budget, a nice desk clock, a passport holder with your company name, logo and address, or even a nice metallic photo frame will do. No matter how wonderful and unique a promotional item is, if it's given to the wrong target audience that has no use for it, they will have no use for you.