You can indulge in a promotional marketing endeavor for a wide variety of reasons…introducing new products, offering new services, thanking your customers for their support, and even to the extent of motivating your own employees for their dedication. You can even use promotional items to reinforce a direct mailer campaign, building customer loyalty, enhancing brand awareness at a tradeshow, etc. Tradeshows and seminars are the best locations for distributing promotional items as a tool for highlighting your company amidst the wide range of competitors. Audiences at a tradeshow are always fascinated by free gifts, and a well planned and well designed promotional item can well serve your purpose.

Once you’ve decided to purchase corporate gifts, the next step is deciding what type to choose. Many factors may be considered including your industry, your location, your clientele, or your marketing purpose. The most important determinant should be usability. Usable items will get used. Period. If it has no usable function, it will likely be tossed aside and your marketing dollars will be wasted.

You may want to think about distributing promotional pens, likely the most widely used promotional item today. They come in a variety of styles and materials, some with flashlights, some with other catchy features. Just make sure you buy the best pens that your budget will allow. You don’t want to be remembered as the company that suppied the cheap pens that ran out of ink after a week.

Promotional mouse mats are a more innovative gift, not as common as pens, but which can serve as an excellent tool for brand awareness. They have the advantage of a larger area to display your marketing message and they are more target oriented than pens. Pens can be distributed to virtually everybody, but mouse mats must be given to computer users only, and that may be an advantage if that demographic fits with your marketing campaign.

No matter which promotional item you choose, it must be appropriate to the person you give it to. It is important to match the gift to the end user if you are to get a return on your investment. The whole concept of promotional giving is to let your clients know you are thinking about them and you appreciate their business. Giving them a usable gift will help your cause.