This is what customers actually hope to receive as business gifts and giveaways today

Liv Butler
Authored by Liv Butler
Posted: Thursday, August 29, 2024 - 09:06

If you've ever crumpled a flyer to throw away after a business's agent handed it over to you, then you can understand gift recipients who find no real utility in the offerings received. Overrun with business gifts and trade show giveaways, customers often find that most of the promo products received have little to no real-world use, forgetting about them the second they get busy with other things. Useless promotional stuff is everywhere and often sinks to the bottom of the drawer, gets lost or thrown out, or simply disappears, preventing the giver from achieving their goals.

What if you made an exception from this rule and offered something that left a lasting impact on your recipients, thus improving your marketing campaign's return on investment? To help you get under your customers' skin and blow them away, we're offering this expertly curated rundown of things that buyers actually desire to receive as business gifts and giveaways. Read on! 

Tote bags

Mugs can quickly end up broken or on the cupboard's back, lighters tend to disappear after a few uses, stickers lose their charm after the first glance, and the list of promo products that can barely serve a purpose can go on. However, if it ever feels like the promo product that will fit into your recipient's daily tasks is so expensive that the whole aspiration becomes far-fetched, you're invited to reconsider. 

Tote bags make excellent promotional products as long as they're quality and fashionable. These items are as old as the hills and may never get out of use, thanks to the sturdiness of the excellent materials used to construct them. Moreover, customised ones have morphed into chic and timeless fashion accessories as rising numbers of individuals prefer reusable and durable canvas totes instead of plastic bags. Brand exposure starts when a buyer notices your brand's logo and name on it, and assuming the gift is superior to the fast fashion, high-street alternatives, your product's likelihood of becoming an everyday staple skyrockets. 

Offering excellent branded carrier bags that speak to your company can draw on your brand's main visual components while communicating your ideals and beliefs, too. So, what exactly is in it for you? Well, your personalised tote bags will literally be walking billboards, which, when looking stylish and outstanding, will capture everyone's eye and make your marketing effort even more rewarding. They can be foldable, cotton-made, zippered, and so on, substituting backpacks, cooler bags, sports bags, trolleys, and aesthetic shoulder bags, to name a few. What is on you to do is to simply find the best printing partner out there.

Household items 

While "household items" may sound too general to help you get a concrete idea of what your business should buy and print to offer the world later, the catch is that anything that eases customers' everyday lives is of value. A 2023 study conducted among UK employees discovered that almost 4 in 10 respondents want companies to tackle inequality and poverty in texts and messages that are conveyed and spread worldwide. And what better way to communicate your empathetic message and prove to consumers you're aligning with their views than things that become part of their everyday lives? 

A list of household items to spark your inspo for your next promotional product campaign would include customised notebooks and personalised pens, alongside branded bottle openers and stoppers, per hair removers, candle holders, cutting boards, power banks, meal boxes, dishware, bowls, aprons, cutlery, straws, and the list can go on.  

Customised t-shirts and clothes

If anyone has ever doubted the potential of a product built by one company and sold under another company's brand, just bring up Lidl fashion. It's one of the best examples of how intention and a bit of fashion sense can transform a retail chain product into a wearable trend—or, to put it frankly, into a marketing tool regardless of whether this is the intent of the company in question. 

People remain interested in their looks – it's just that they're slashing their apparel expenses against a background of rising prices and lowering disposable income. Recent data shows that the UK's apparel market dropped from 8.4% to 6.7%, which reminds businesses that there's no better time to put their marketing budgets to good use than today. Think of a stylish and versatile t-shirt model and work with a reliable company that personalises clothes for business giveaways and gifts. Then, start gifting these uniquely beautiful garments at critical locations, such as trade fairs, shopping centres' alleys, or even in your business's physical shop, should there be one.

Water bottles

If there's any trend that cannot have misanthropes downvoting it, then this is the water-drinking one. The importance of staying constantly hydrated and consuming quality, nutritional liquids with minerals and the correct pH has never been more loudly expressed. Add the temperatures that have never been higher in numerous parts of the world, Europe included, and you're likely guessing what we hint at.

Water bottles have quickly risen as a trend, and studies show that this is anything but fresh off the press. This movement's origins are found in the countercultural 60s-70s' when environmentally-friendly consumers began using reusable water recipients as solutions to combat consumerist capitalism's effects on nature. Sportsmen pushed these items to the peaks of fame, baking up their "niched" status. But now, water bottles are found everywhere and enhanced with various feats to serve different purposes. Materials, sizes, models, and other attributes differ, so you can quickly come up with the right product for your intended audience and strike it lucky!

Ending note

Some wearable items and garments can be both quality and stylish, determining the customer to use them outside their homes and transforming them into walking ads. Retail-branded clothing has become a trend, meaning that the path is cleared to create something that will become part of your consumers' wardrobe-essentials. Seemingly insignificant things like writing items can be of great value when picked right. So, do you feel ready to wow your customers and unlock the benefits of business gifts and giveaways?


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