Using Promotional Products to Increase Brand Awareness

When you are trying to increase awareness about your own brand, you should look towards using the same types of strategies and marketing techniques that companies use to increase awareness for their own brand.

In this article, we are going to look at the concept of using promotional products to increase your own brand awareness the same that bigger companies use promotional products to get their brand name out into the market. Promotional products - which are products with your name and logo on them - not only increase brand awareness, but help get your personal brand out and what you do, and help your target audience remember who you are since the promotional products will be front of mind for a long period of time.

Why Use Promotional Products for Personal Branding?

Everyone in business typically carries business cards that will help others remember you and contact you again, so using promotional products will that one step further and not only give people something they can remember you by, but is a unique gesture that will help you stand out even more. Below are some of the advantages of using promotional products as a marketing tool:

• Branded merchandise can be obtained at minimal cost. This way, you are able to test out if promotional products are able to work for your purposes, or you can try other types of promotional products to see which ones work the best for you.
• A recent research study showed conclusive evidence that those who receive promotional products are able to better recognise a brand and are more likely to do business with said company that gave them the promotional gift.
• The same study also found that recipients of promotional products keep those products for a year or longer, which means they are continually exposed to your brand and are constantly reminded about your company's name.
• Everyone loves a free gift, so handing out promotional products improves the recipient's sentiment about you or your brand.

What Types of Promotional Products are best for Personal Branding?

When you first hear about promotional products as part of any marketing campaign, you might think of promotional pens with the company's name on them. However, promotional products have evolved and there is now a huge variety of promotional products available to be branded with your logo, name, website, phone number, etc. It is highly important when choosing a promotional product campaign that you choose the sort of product that can be easily identified with you or whatever it is that you do. Secondly, it is just as important that the product is something that is useful to the person who is receiving it. Remember, you can have your logo, name, contact information, and even your company's slogan added to your promotional products.

Below are the 10 categories of promotional products that can not only help people remember who your company is, but also help get the message out into the market about what you do, what you stand for, or perhaps a cause you would like to be associated with.

1. If you want your brand to be associated with the concept of saving money, you can hand out branded piggy banks, calculators, or financial planner booklets.
2. If you want people to know that your company can protect or heal people, giving out promotional umbrellas, sunblock, or first aid kits.
3. If you happen to be in the food, beverage, cooking, or restaurant industry, your promotional products might be a branded apron, mugs, cups, cooking utensils, or coasters.
4. Real estate agents will typically give out promotional pens, magnets, mugs, clocks or any other item that can double as a house warming gift.
5. If you're all about saving the environment and reducing the carbon footprint on Earth, recycled promotional products would be your best bet. You might also consider reusable bags, recycled paper products, seeds and planters, as they are all excellent choices for environmentally friendly brands.
6. Are you a travel agent or tour guide? You may want your personal brand to be associated with travel, so your promotional products could be beach bags, beach towels, trip planners, or travel cases.
7. Writers can promote their work with promotional pens, notepads, journals, or diaries.
8. If you are working with children, why not give them something that they will remember? The best way to get hired is to win the children over first, and you can do this by giving them promotional items such as puzzles, toys, hats, or even teddy bears.
9. If you exist in the tech world to fix computers or teach people about new software, there are a large number of gadgets that you can use to promote what you do while being associated with the technology too. USB sticks, tablet cases, and stylus pens are just some of the items you can use as promotional products.
10. If your personal brand would like to promote a charity, there are a number promotional product ideas that can help let others know that your personal brand supports that charity or cause. Some of these ideas include rubber band bracelets or clothing with your contact information on them as well as the charity's logo.