We are living in an age where social media is the fastest and most effective medium to connect with your customers and prospects. Engaging your audience in digital conversations is no doubt a great food for your business’s health. But, when it comes to growth, your marketing strategy should equally leverage the online and offline mediums.

Social media where it is great to acquire new users, may not be enough to keep them loyal too. Your audience may love to have digital conversations, but when it comes to buy products/services, they may not be ready. Physical goods can actually add spice to the conversation and you can nurture those social media participants to become loyal customers.

Even if your startup or small business is not dealing in physical goods, these promotional products will encourage your users to buy your non-tangible products/services.

This article will discuss 5 promotional product ideas that can suit startups and small businesses of all types.

1- Gift cards:

Gift cards are loved by everyone, let it be a general Amazon gift card for your global customers or a Walmart gift card for the local audience. In fact gift cards can be more diverse than you can think of; for example, if you are a B2B company, you may offer a Facebook/Linkedin advertising coupon to your audience.

Teaming up with other companies for gift cards is the best way, i.e. you may get a good discount. Whatever the type of gift card/voucher/coupon you are giving away, make sure it’s been given in exchange for a benefit, i.e. the customer is signing up for your premium package or the purchase volume is worth giving away the gift card.

2- Custom Drinkware:

The best thing about custom drinkware giveaway is that your brand gains a valuable impression with every sip. According to the stats, those who own a custom drinkware, use it at least 2 to 3 times a week. It can be a perfect giveaway for a trade show or a conference. You can also partner up with relevant companies to offer this giveaway, i.e. a coffee brand, a nutrition brand etc.

There’s a huge variety available, i.e. BPA free bottles, cans/bottle coolers, coasters, glassware, mugs, plastic cups, thermoses, travel mugs, plastic water bottles, stainless/aluminum water bottles, so you’ve enough ideas to be unique.

3- Power Banks:

The ever increasing digital trend is taking everyone along. Let it be the students, housewives, banking professionals, educators, marketers or just anyone; they want to have their smart devices charged all the time. In fact, a downtime can cause a lot of problems. Power banks, hence prove to have a higher demand.

Giving away something highly valuable will let them remember you for years!

4- Customized Folding Bags:

Reusable bags are gaining traction among almost all age groups, but no one remembers to take it along while going out for shopping. Fold-up shopping bags solve this problem with their ultra-portable, compact size which can be carried in a purse, laptop bag or car. You can let this reusable problem-solver goodie to replace those old fashioned plastic bags and increase customer loyalty while reducing the environmental waste!

If you sell tangible products, it’s the best idea to sell them in folding bags of your brand. If your business is more of intangible in nature or you’re into services sector, still these bags make a good giveaway in events.

5- Custom Chocolate Cookie:

Probably, there’s no person on earth who will say no to chocolate; even those on a strict diet will never mind a little bite. Then, why not to take the opportunity to let them remember you. Custom chocolate cookies make great in-store giveaways. You can also offer the dainty to the clients and other general visitors to your office. The sweetness will surely remind them of your brand!

The Bottom Line:

Many entrepreneurs believe that if social media is doing well, everything is good! However, if it’s a startup it needs more than that to become a profitable business. Even, if your business is profitable, you need more efforts to take it to the next level. Using only the Internet is not the best option as most of the people are already annoyed by too much spam and promotional e-mails on daily basis. Offer them something real, tangible and more importantly, something useful, and you’ll be their hero!