Planning to hand out free promotional merchandise is an excellent idea. It is your chance to give something to people without asking for anything in return. You can give away free bags, pens, mugs, and many other items.
Before you determine which items to give away, you need to organise a meeting among your team. Come up with excellent ideas to ensure that this endeavour will be worth it.
Brainstorming session
Although you have ideas on what to give away to your target audience, you also need to know what the other people in your team are thinking. You can organise a brainstorming session since it allows you to share ideas, even crazy ones, that might work if given a chance. At this stage, avoid saying no to the information you receive. Let everyone feel free to voice their ideas without fear of being judged.
Invite different people
You also want various ideas during this process. Although you have a marketing team that you can trust to come up with brilliant ideas, they are not the only ones who will give you something useful. You might also want to invite regular employees who are not a part of your marketing team. They know the company well, and they will help come up with ideas that might work for you.
Do not focus on the advertising part
These promotional items are cost-effective because even if you are giving them away for free, you are also getting free advertising in return. However, it is wrong to focus mostly on the advertisement aspect of the items. Although it helps if whatever you give away contains the name and logo of your company, it does not need to be the priority. You need to look at the quality of the items and the overall design first.
Come up with different designs
Once you have decided what item to give away, you need to think of a design. You can partner with your IT team to deal with the design. You might also want to conduct a competition among all employees and offer a reward for the best design. You can determine the winner by allowing everyone to vote.
Determine the distribution process
After finishing the design, you can partner with a company that will handle the production of the items. You will then receive them after the indicated time. While waiting, you need to determine how you are going to distribute them. You can start by giving away free stuff to your loyal customers. You can also include your employees among the priority recipients. For the remaining items, you can give them out to those who purchase your products and spend a specific amount.
It takes time to think of a quality promotional item to give away, but the process can be fun. Take the pressure out of it by not expecting anything in return. The goal is to give back to the people who have been supportive of your business.