Take a glance around you. Do you happen to have an NFL football team mug holding your pens? Maybe you're wearing a shirt with your favorite superhero's logo on it. Believe it or not, those are promotional products! They're just like your favorite pen you got from that one place or that branded charging brick that you always gravitate towards. Each one of those items just solidifies the fact that promotional products work!
And the numbers back it up, too.
According to a consumer study by the Promotional Products Association International (or PPAI), 78% of people enjoy receiving a promotional item from a brand they love.
Plus, 73% actually want more promotional products from those brands, especially when they're unique, like a popular fried chicken chain's chicken-scented fire logs. This also highlights the diversity of promotional products. They can be something as simple as a pen or something as elaborate as a custom set of dice for tabletop games. Plus, promotional products are handy for every industry and give your customers a tangible thing to connect your brand to, like that pizza place magnet on your fridge.
There are the fan favorites, the classics—the promotional products that work the best! Consistently, the top categories are wearables, drinkware, travel items, tech gadgets, and writing instruments like pens, highlighters, and pencils. These are tried and true and are always some of the best to have on hand. They're useful and functional, which means that consumers are more likely to keep them long-term and use them regularly.
Think back to a time when you received a promotional product. It probably made you feel appreciated, excited, or even special. It's a positive emotion, and you can pass that positive emotion on to your customers, too. Promotional products are a powerful tool at your disposal; after all, 85% of consumers who received a promotional product would do business with that advertiser in the future.