One of the more common uses of business gifts is to raise your business visibility. Promotional merchandise carrying the name of your business can increase your name exposure. The more people who are exposed to your name on a regular basis, the better it is for your company or product. Time and again, research and surveys have proven that familiarity is a powerful motivating force when people have to make a choice between two products. They will most often choose the more familiar name simply because they recognize it.

That bit of knowledge explains why companies invest so much of their marketing budget in promotional items with their business name and logo imprinted on them. These types of business gifts are meant for several purposes:

1. increase name recognition to get the familiarity advantage

2. inspire good will from potential or existing customers

3. build a brand imag

Unlike business gifts that are strictly promotional ? i.e., that you get as a condition of buying, registering information, joining an organization or otherwise performing an action ? business gifts that are meant to promote name recognition and build brand image are given without expectation of immediate return. That doesn't mean that they should be handed out without a plan in place to make sure that they achieve their aim, though. If you're using business gifts to improve your brand image or increase public recognition and awareness of your brand, product or message, here are a few considerations that can help you aim your promotions more effectively.

Who is your target market?

The business gifts you choose depend a great deal on the market that you're trying to reach. If your product is of little use to anyone but the parents of preschool children, for example, it's a waste of your money to invest in promotional products and business gifts that appeal to everyone. If you decide to give away refrigerator magnets, as an example, you might choose picture frame magnets with a nursery print, which will appeal to parents of young children ? and not be appealing outside your target audience. Why give away business gifts to people that will ultimately have no interest in your product?

Where do people use your product?

Many companies that do business with other businesses invest in desktop items as business gift, and they do so with good reason. Their customers are most likely to be at their desks when deciding to buy the product in question. Going back to our preschoolers example ? if your product is, for instance, pre-moistened wipes, an excellent business gift would be a purse pack that holds a small supply of the wipes for toting along. If you put your name on the outside of it, even if your users refill the pack with a rival's wipes, they'll be advertising YOUR brand whenever they take the pack out of their purse.

Before you choose business gifts to promote your company or product, think through your marketing plan. Be certain that the gifts you choose make sense for your brand, and are attractive to your prospective market. By choosing the right business gifts and promotional products, you can increase your name recognition and ultimately, your sales.