Swag Ideas

9 Swag Giveaway Ideas to Boost Your Brand

Here at Swag.com, we think great swag is more than getting a lanyard at a conference. In fact, we think our swag giveaways feature is one of the most powerful tools on the market for creating and growing meaningful relationships. 

Sending your employees, customers and leads custom gifts is a great way to make an impact and send a message. In our era of digital interaction and remote work, creating a physical connection between people will help you stand out from the crowd and prove your dedication to putting people first. With our highly-curated selection of top products, we’re sure you can find something for anyone and everyone!

Reach anyone, anywhere

Whether you want to send a gift to your WFH employees, or send a customized box to every person attending your webinar, the most difficult part about reaching people is knowing where to send everything! We make it easy— simply send a link to your recipients, and they’ll give us their address. We’ll handle the shipping!

Let the people pick

Our giveaways feature lets people choose which gift they want, including the size and color for apparel options. We eliminate all the headaches that come with picking out something for someone else— after all, who knows better than you what you want?

Manage everything in one place

Easily add more gifts, track shipping and manage your swag all in one place with our simple web portal. You’ll always be in control, and have full access to permissions and flow of giveaways. Operate one or many at the same time. 

So what can you do with this powerful tool? Here are just a few of the use cases we’ve seen our creative customers come up with to build connections using swag giveaways! 

Create some buzz following event registration

Use swag giveaways to send items to all of the people who have registered for an event you’re hosting. As soon as you have someone’s email address (AKA when they register for your event), you can send them a link that will allow them to pick a gift from a list you’ve curated. You can use this to get them excited about the theme of your event, or maybe offer an item that they can use during the event. 

Swag Idea: Offer event registrants a choice of notebook or custom hat when they book a spot at your next event. Ask them to build hype by sharing a photo of their swag on social media with a hashtag of your choice!

The Moscow Notebook in various colors with one shown open with lined pages in front
Swag.com Hat in Pacific Blue with "your logo here" on the front

Send a gift to your best customers

Your best customers deserve better than a gift card or bottle of wine. Do something to stand out, and demonstrate an ongoing appreciation for their business! A custom gift, like a nice sweater, comfy blanket or fun piece of tech, will always make a bigger impression than something generic. 

Swag Idea: For your best customers, give a luxury gift option they will be delighted to receive. Offer a branded Theragun massager, or a bluetooth enabled smart mug, or invite them to experience the comfort of custom blankets!

Theragun Mini Massager in Black
Ember 12 Oz. Smart Travel Mug in Black shown in an kitchen environment
Two Marine Layer Blankets in Heather Grey/Asphalt Grey folded on top of the other

Read More: Top Custom High-End Corporate Gifts & Luxury Promotional Products

Reward referral program participants

A strong referral program is one of the best sales strategies you can implement in terms of ROI. But in order to build a strong base, you need to incentivize participation in your program. Of course this means offering discounts on your products or services— but you’ll need to offer something that creates a real connection with your brand if you want fans instead of customers. 

Swag Idea: Offer a selection of great apparel options to participants in your referral program. Options like a custom hat, custom t-shirt or custom backpack make your customers feel like they are a part of your team, and more likely to boost your brand.

Swag.com Hat in Emerald Forest
Swag.com Unisex Triblend Crew T-Shirt in Navy shown on a male model
Timbuk2 Eco Parkside 2.0 Backpack in Eco Gunmetal with an example logo embroidered toward the top

Read More: Jumpstart Your Referral Reward Program with Swag

Grow your email subscription list

It’s a perennial problem for marketers everywhere: how can you get more people subscribed to your email list? When a newsletter is not enough to incentivize sign ups, try offering a mystery swag giveaways to entice people! In exchange for providing an email address, you can let people choose a small gift with your branding. It doesn’t have to be something big— but it should definitely have your logo on it. 

Swag Idea: Offer new signups a custom sticker, patch or other small item with your branding when they add their email address to your subscription list. It offers your sales team a nice topic to open up with: “How did you like your sticker?”

Custom Vinyl Stickers showing an example custom design
Custom Embroidered Patches showing an example design

More Ideas: Marketing Event Cancelled? Use swag to engage missed connections.

Follow up with event attendees

After you’ve handled the last bit of event clean up, how will make sure that attendees continue to engage with the ideas and brands from your event? Sending a follow-up gift will remind them to stay connected, whether it’s to their fellow attendees or your brand itself. This is especially important if the point of your event was to establish or grow some type of community. 

Swag Idea: Send an item that reminds folks about the important lessons or themes from your event. For example, if it was about sustainability, offer some reusable straws, a recycled tote bag or a bamboo lunch kit!

Aviana 4-Pack Reusable Straw Set of reusable metal straws with a black travel case and cleaning brush.
Recycled Cotton Tote Bag with an example logo digitally printed on the front
Bamboo Lunch Box

Read More: 7 Ideas for Virtual Event Follow-Up

Create a physical connection for virtual events

The world of virtual events exploded in 2020, proving that digitally interfaced gatherings are a viable model going forward. However, there are some things that virtual events will not be able to do as well as in-person events, chief among them being creating deep connections between people. You can work around this by sending great swag and event items that leave attendees feeling like there is something concrete they gained attending your event!

Engage prospects and leads

When cold calls and emails aren’t getting the job done, or when you have a lead that just needs one more push towards closing the deal, try sending a custom gift their way. This is a powerful tool that AEs and BDRs keep in their back pocket, a secret sauce of goodwill they can deploy easily and right on time. 

Swag Idea: Keep a stash of great gifts in your online inventory. When you notice a lead needs a little nudge to keep them engaged, send a great gift their way using the giveaways link. Some awesome headphones, a nice water bottle or a phone charger are good bets.

Skullcandy Jib Earbuds in Aqua shown next to their carrying pouch with an example logo heat transferred on the front
Swag 17 Ounce Water Bottle in Matte Grey with an example logo
Nimble Lite Portable Charger with an example logo on the front

Read More: Sales Gifts Ideas to Engage Leads and Prospects

Enhance your (digital) recruiting strategies

Recruiting is an art best expressed with many outlets. Swag has always been a great bet to entice top talent, but in our virtual age it has become all the more important in gaining people’s attention and building goodwill with your company. Sending potential hires gifts using swag giveaways is a fantastic way to preview the company culture you maintain, and hopefully entice them to join up. 

Swag Idea: Show recruits you’re serious by sending small gifts early in the interview process. This is an especially effective method for snagging the attention of senior talent, and even C-suite execs. High ticket items like Painted Apple AirPods will certainly perk up their ears.

Gold Painted Apple AirPods in a purple case

Read more: Top 5 Virtual Recruiting Tips from Flo Recruit

Send office hoodies without stressing over sizes

Buying apparel for the office just got so much easier. With our giveaways feature, you can let people select the sizes and colors of the apparel you’re gifting. This means the end of spreadsheets, crossing names off lists, and the uncomfortable moment when all you have left is an XXL shirt for the office intern who was last to grab their gift. 

Swag Idea: Offer the same hoodie in a few different colors, and let people choose what makes them happiest! We love this awesome tie-dye hoodie that comes in a few great colorways. 

Tie-Dye Women's Cropped Hoodie in Cotton Candy shown on a model
Tie-Dye Women's Cropped Hoodie in Lagoon shown on a model

Read More: How to Choose the Right Sizes For Apparel Swag

Make Work From Home (WFH) a little more fun

With many businesses adopting hybrid office and remote work approaches, it’s clear that the majority of office workers will be working out of a home office for the foreseeable future. You can make their lives a little more fun and comfortable by offering a choice of office gifts to enhance their makeshift workstations! Keeping employees engaged and happy while WFH home relies in big part on making sure they are feeling connected with the team at large. 

Swag Idea: Give the “office” a choice in what they want— pick things that are good for WFH, like mugs, desk sets and wireless phone chargers.

12 Oz. Olanta Mug in Wallflower with a beach background
Carrara Desktop Set shown with pens
Walnut Qi Charger with an example logo printed on top

Read More: 17 Work From Home Care Package Ideas


These are just some of the ways you can use our giveaways feature to deliver meaningful connections between your brand and the world at large. If you want to know more about how we can help create your gifting or swag vision, fill out the form below and one of our expert swag representatives will be in contact as soon as possible!