Promotional Products Marketing Ideas

While some consider the fanny pack a fashion faux-pas, others see it as a viable contender for a comeback trend and yet others never even realized that it went out of style. For a fun, and maybe trendy, promotional item, give your customers a fanny pack. 

Nylon fanny packs come in many colors, including two-tone options in red, black or brown with silver. They can be embroidered or printed with a custom message such as your logo or business' name. If you are trying to regenerate customer interest in your company, you can print a joke about trends that have made successful comebacks in the past. To make fanny packs even more fun, you can even print iconic retro symbols on them that older customers might recognize and enjoy.

Giving away fanny packs can also be a good marketing product idea for organizations like sororities or high schools that sometimes throw '80s-themed dance parties. Even if there isn't an event right away, recipients can keep your promotional gift and use it later on, keeping your business' name on their minds.

Customers might appreciate your fun-loving gesture when they realize they don't have to scour a thrift store to be dressed in theme and a unique promotional gift can help your business stand out from competitors.
 

Four million babies are born every year in the U.S. The hospitals delivering those babies can help parents welcome their new additions by giving them a promotional gift for their child to wear home. In 2011, the most popular names for newborns were Mason, Ethan and Noah for boys and Olivia, Emma and Isabella for girls.

Hospitals can give a short sleeve one-piece in blue or yellow to all those Masons and Noahs, while the Emmas and Olivias can go home in pink or black. For a gender neutral item, all newborns can be given a simple white one-piece.

Some baby clothes are available in organic cotton, or come pre-washed for extra softness and can be custom printed or embroidered with the hospital's name or logo in matching pastel colors. Parents can take their babies home in the new outfits and re-use them as part of a wardrobe or put them aside as a keepsake.

When their babies grow up, parents can show children the first gift they ever received. Kids can keep the custom one-piece as a memory of the day they were born and a reminder of hospital's name. Having this promotional gift can be a source of comforting memories as well as helpful information if they ever need to track down important records or documents. 

The average American owns more than 10 t-shirts, according to a survery conducted by Jerzees, and a BlueCotton study found four out of five people admit having an attachment to an old favorite. Give your customers and employees a custom-printed t-shirt to add something new and exciting to their wardrobe.

Custom designed t-shirts can be a great promotional product to give to customers. Offering shirts imprinted with your logo and name can be an opportunity for free advertisement, and loyal customers that enjoy your products and services might want to buy a t-shirt to have their own little piece of the business. They might enjoy showing their support for a small business and helping to spread the word to others in your community.

Shirts that are printed with your name and logo can also serve as casual and comfortable uniforms for employees. If your design is cool enough, it might become one of their favorites that they also like to wear when they're off work..

If you are looking to get custom t-shirts printed for your business, you can choose to create the design yourself, or enlist the help of graphic designers that can take your idea and make sure it translates beautifully onto a high-quality cotton canvas.

When creating custom apparel, whether as a promotional product, a corporate gift to employees, a fundraiser or just as a sellable product, the placement and design of your company logo can be an important part of the item's success.

The first thing to take into consideration is your customer base. If the custom t-shirt for your restaurant is a promotional prize that you award to those who finish your triple XL pasta platter in one sitting, then a large logo covering the front of the shirt might be appropriate. If, however, your customer isn't bragging about his iron stomach, a smaller and more discreet logo might be preferable.

The logo design is important as well. The people who wear these shirts are giving you the opportunity for some free advertisement. Making sure your logo is recognizable is key in this situation. The advertisement will do no good if no one knows what it's for, but if you can make your logo noticeable, any amount spent on creating the shirts will be worth it.

Ultimately, a logo can be a powerful tool, as long as you make sure the design and the apparel suits your clientele.

Promoting a restaurant is a bit different than promoting other businesses. Many restaurants don't have much of a budget for advertising and rely greatly on both word of mouth and social networking. While those can both be effective ways to get your name out there, they also rely on you providing a unique experience.

Consider using promotional products to encourage part of that experience. Custom t-shirts are a great way to advertise your restaurant while making customers excited to own one. A good design will pair with quality food and make diners want to show their allegiance for and love of your eatery.

Consider also utilizing the custom t-shirts as a prize of some kind. Create a specialty menu item that is particularly difficult to eat, whether because of extreme flavors or because of its size. Offer this item as a special promotion where those who finish get a free custom t-shirt. The competitive aspect combined with the prize will have diners flocking to your restaurant to give it a try.

There are many other ways to advertise with custom t-shirts, and investing in them is a step forward for your restaurant.

Different businesses have different demographics, and while it's true that some items sell better to certain groups of people than others, diversification is often a good thing. Companies that offer products traditionally offered to older people but that would do well among the college crowd should consider using custom t-shirts as a way to promote their companies.

It's a common joke that a college student will take anything as long as it's free. The joke is so common because of the truth behind the concept, though some items will fare better than others. Simply set up a booth on or near a college campus after making sure to get permission and bring t-shirts with your business' name and logo on it.

To limit the number of shirts you have to give out, offer them as rewards for signing up on a mailing list.  Hand out coupons or discounts along with the shirts and encourage the students to visit. At the end of the day, not only will you have introduced many new potential customers to your product, but you've also made those students living advertisements, giving others the idea to visit as well.

As the winter months close in, warmth is something on many people's minds. This is especially true for those who work outdoors. Consider giving a company logo emblazoned jacket to those employees as complimentary gifts.

While companies that work exclusively outdoors likely already provide their employees with cold weather gear, for many companies, outdoor work is a rarity. Engineering firms, for example, often work indoors in offices, but the job occasionally requires them to study building sites or local ecosystems.
For businesses like that, providing employees with company jackets is a great way to make their shifts comfortable while allowing your company to be advertised to every person who passes them on the street.

Consider providing more than one jacket so that there's always something available for all weather conditions, such as a heavy jacket for the cold and a waterproof hooded windbreaker for warmer but rainy days. Employee morale is as important to your company's success as advertising it. With a custom jacket, you can accomplish both.
 

When giving out prizes, it can be tempting to use medals or trophies to celebrate the achievements of those competing. However, that may not always be the most exciting choice.

Instead, consider making a series of custom shirts to give away as indicators of accomplishment. If you're working for a corporate business, print up a variety of shirts with the company logo on them to be given out for free to winners of corporate contests or company picnic competitions.

When giving out prizes at a school for attendance or grade point average at the end of the year, a t-shirt will likely be much more appreciated than a plaque.

Similarly, if you're part of a sporting organization, shirts will be more highly regarded than trophies or medals. Giving a white t-shirt out to the first place and red to the second place finisher in a track meet instead of a medal will not only be a unique approach, but the t-shirt will be proudly worn while the medal will be shut away in a trophy case.

Make up team t-shirts for soccer teams that win their conference. Ultimately, it is both a more practical prize and a more appreciated one.