When it comes to getting the attention of individuals and the public at large, nothing is more effective than free products. In light of this, many different companies and corporations will offer promotional products to their intended audience in the hopes of instigating the individual into becoming a loyal customer of the company. Many people might be concerned that by giving away free products to so many people a business could end up hurting itself by giving away too much and not taking in enough in order to cover all the costs that they are generating. However, odds are that with a successful product and successful marketing campaigns that hinge on promotional products a person can easily make money from the process. This is because it helps to spread word of mouth about the product or company. Word of mouth is one of the most effective means of campaigning and generating interested in a particular company or product. This is because the process makes more people aware of the item or company.

There are different things that a company can offer. Some things are physical and other things are more vaguely applied to a person's interest in the item. For example, there are many companies that will offer an individual a free item with their interest in the product. At one point in time, it was very popular for banks to offer individual items such as a toaster or pots and pan sets in exchange for opening an account with the bank. Other companies will offer free samples of their product with the hopes that individuals will then try it and become so enamored with the product that they will return to the company of their own volition and continue purchasing the item at full price, thanks to the experience they enjoyed with the sample. These promotional products can be quantified and understood in physical terms, but not all promotions are this easily defined and understood.

A more abstract example of a promotional product would be something that was offered by a credit card company online. For example, many cards come with an annual fee, but there are just as many that do not have the annual fee. In order to promote interest in a particular card, the company may be inclined to initially waive the annual fee that comes with the card. As a result, more people will be inclined to look at that card. This is because they can see it written out that annually there is typically a charge that would go with the card, and while they may not currently be paying an annual fee for any of their credit cards, they can still get a card that they would not have to pay the fee on, at least not at first. This is showing the individual an abstract idea which they may not even be currently involved with, and using it as a promotional product in order to generate interest in a particular credit card that an individual might not ordinarily consider because of the annual fee.