12 must know facts about the power of promotional products

The use of promotional products dates back as far as most dare remember and have always been relied on as a powerful marketing tool. 

These days however, it’s common for businesses to lose sight of the true power of this type of marketing having bought so wholly and at times exclusively into more technological mediums. Nevertheless, the facts and statistics speak for themselves and there’s really no denying that the power of promotional products is alive, kicking and every bit as appealing as it ever was.

Here are 12 must know facts to illustrate the true power promotional products which have been collected from research conducted by British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA), Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) and The Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM).

One of the most important outcomes for any marketing push is the increasing of general brand awareness as even if an immediate sale or connection is not made, it may happen in the future. With promotional products, a huge 84% of recipients agreed their awareness in the brand had been raised.

It’s difficult to keep a brand’s name or message in front of the eyes of a target audience member for any more than a few seconds at a time…at least by conventional means. With promotional products however, 87% of recipients hang onto their gifts for at least a year!

And when it comes to driving business and making sales, almost four fifths of consumers that are given promotional gifts admit that they’d be more likely to do business with those providing the goods. 79% of those polled agreed that businesses handing out freebies are more appealing than those that do no such thing.

In terms of long-term marketing strategies, there’s really nothing cheaper in the world than promotional products. It costs as little at £1 to put out a promotional mug or pennies to produce pens – the fact that they carry on spreading the good word on the brand for months or years makes them worth their weight in gold!

Novelties are all well and good, but a full 89% of consumers stated that they’d definitely hang onto a promotional product indefinitely if it was of use to them. As such, things like pens, cups and other basic staples remain popular tools of choice.

In terms of winning new business for the long term, almost a third of consumers admit that they’ve made the choice to switch from one brand to another purely for the purpose of gaining the free promotional products on offer.

Each year in the UK alone, £840 million is spent by businesses on promotional products – something that simply would not happen if they weren’t enormously powerful.

In terms of specific promotional products that are valued and retained by consumers, the most useful of all at the time of writing is the USB stick. In surveys, 21% stated that this would be their most useful gift choice to receive.

Promotion and marketing are all about getting a brand’s name out in the open and remembered. Studies have shown that when provided with free promotional gifts, a whopping 94% of consumers remember the name of the brand that gave it to them.

When it comes to motivating audience members to take action, promotional products have been found to be twice as powerful as the mediums of TV, radio, magazine and newspaper advertising – all for a fraction of the comparative costs.

For long-term marketing there’s simply nothing better – over a third of all recipients revealed that they still had their free promotional gifts a full four years after receiving them!

And finally, in terms of simple appreciation there is nothing better to show consumers you genuinely care for them. When polled, a full 64% agreed that promotional products made them feel appreciated, outperforming all other mediums across the board.

Interested in speaking with the team?