Using promotional products as giveaways is a tried and true marketing technique. However, giving out a bad giveaway can easily lead to it being ignored or even worse, can damage your brand. Planning for a giveaway should be part of your overall marketing strategy. We know this can be overwhelming, so here is everything you need to know when planning your Swag Giveaways.
Here are some questions you should ask first?
What is the Purpose of this Giveaway? What do you hope to achieve?
The most common use of swag giveaways is at an event or trade show. Often these giveaways are treated as an afterthought, but they should not be. A good giveaway is a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd and to amplify your brand and brand messaging.
The best way to approach choosing trade show giveaways is to ask what you hope to achieve with the giveaway. Is it just for increasing brand recognition? Then perhaps a low-cost giveaway promotional product is appropriate. Are you trying to increase meetings or scan leads at a display or booth? Then perhaps a higher-value item or something trendy is your best bet. See the section below for more specific ideas.
Another question to ask is how can the giveaway fit into your messaging for the event. Does your display or booth have a theme, then your giveaway swag might work to really bring this messaging alive. For example, maybe your booth has an 80s theme – so maybe a custom Rubik’s cube would be a fun giveaway.
Beyond Trade Show Giveaways
However, many giveaway opportunities exist outside of trade shows. With the rise of Account-based marketing and more personalized sales outreach, sending a promotional product through direct mail to sales prospects is becoming more common. Of course, sending giveaways or promotional gifts is also an effective way to show your customers that you appreciate them and stay on their mind.
For these types of giveaways, you’ll want something that will stand out and is fun, something that speaks to your brand and something the receiver will appreciate. It might be best to stay away from apparel and other things that are not one size fits all.
How is the Giveaway actually being given away?
Once you have determined the purpose and goal of your swag giveaways, you’ll have to think about how the items will end up in the hands of the intended target. For trade show giveaways, will they be included in an event swag bag? If giving them out at a booth, what can you do to attract traffic to the booth? Are you using it as an incentive for meetings or lead scanning? If so, when will your lead receive it? Does it make sense to follow-up with a giveaway after the event so the recipient doesn’t have to travel with it? It is important to think about these issues when planning your trade show giveaway.
If you are planning on mailing your promo product giveaway, you’ll have to consider some different things – packaging, cost of shipping, whether you have your contact’s physical mailing addresses. This is where you might want to consider using a Swag Box that is ready to ship. And you might also want to consider a service that can handle dropping shipping your swag to multiple addresses. Our Swag Inventory feature can handle this.
Who is your audience for this giveaway and what swag items are best for this audience
OK, so now you know the purpose of your promo giveaway and how it will be distributed. So now it is time to choose the swag items you want to giveaway. Of course there are many options, so it is important to consider the answers to the questions above when choosing. The products you choose should fit the goal, audience and be something that makes sense for the method of distribution and should fit within your budget. Here are a few suggestions:
- Budget friendly Tradeshow Giveaways – We have many options for tradeshow giveaways that are easy on the wallet and are good to give away en masse. But here are a few of our most popular:
- Popsockets – This item is always a popular option at trade shows. It is a great giveaway because it can keep your brand literally in the fingertips of your audience more often than most of them would like to admit.
- Silicone Phone Wallet – Another really popular, useful option that will be in the hands of your audience.
- Gum pack or Mint Tin – This option is a great trade show giveaway because no one wants coffee breath while networking at the event
- Attention-grabber Giveaways – These items might be a little pricer, but they will be in-demand and will help you stand out as a trade show promo or as a direct mail gift.
- Juicebox Power Bank – This is a fun product that gives you a lot of room for creative branding and memorable packaging but will also be appreciated (and used) by your audience
- Selfie Light – While not right for every audience, this selfie ring is a fun option that will help you audience take great cell phone photos and make their Instagrams really stand out.
- Tile Mate – This is a promotional product that I have seen people line up to get at a trade show. It is one of those useful items that everyone wants (nobody likes to lose their keys), but probably haven’t bought for themselves. And people can never have too many.
- Mail-friendly Promotional Products – These items are fun items that you can mail to your prospects and customers and will grab their attention and make you standout.
- Tumblers – These to-go cups are so popular because they are easy to take with you and are good for both cold and hot drinks. They are available in many colors and styles.
- Custom Socks – Our Custom Socks have been a really popular item because the branding options are endless, they can really stand out and are a fun apparel option.
- Journals and Notebooks – A good notebook or journal is another really popular gift. They are useful, people love to have a good one on hand and they come in a wide variety of options. Two tips regarding though: don’t skimp on quality (it really matters!) and be creative with the sizing, colors and branding.
Using Giveaways for Lead Generation or Qualification
Another creative way to use a promotional product giveaway is to offer a giveaway as a means to generate leads or to further qualify or nurture existing leads. You can use a form on your site to collect information from leads by offering a free gift.
Our Swag.com Inventory option allows you to create free giveaway links that you can send to your prospects via email and we will handle all the packing and shipping of swag that you hold in our inventory. Find out more about our Swag Inventory feature or schedule a consultation.
