Best promotional items to give away

By Samantha O'Rourke

Every year, there are tens of thousands of professional conferences and trade shows across the country. These are exciting events where professionals go to network and learn about new products and services. As such, they also provide excellent opportunities for companies looking to make an impression and grow their brand. This sets out a gauntlet of sorts for companies and event marketers—to not only attract prospects to your booth, but also to ensure they remember who you are.

There are many ways to make a splash at the next trade show or conference, but one of the easiest and most cost-effective is through promotional items. Just giving something away for free isn’t the point, though. Instead, choosing the right product or products matters. So, what are the best promotional products for 2025 and beyond? Keep reading for an overview of everything you need to know, so you can choose the best promotional items for your company to offer at its next event.

Do promotional items really work?

Yes, there are plenty of advantages to offering promotional items as a way to grow brand awareness and enhance marketing campaigns. Especially in highly competitive, crowded industries, a well-selected promotional product can make a significant difference in a company’s ability to make an impression.

There is perhaps no better context for providing promotional items than the trade show floor, where competition can be thick. Within a busy trade show or similar event, prospects are exposed to many different brands, so any opportunity to rise above the competition and make an impact should certainly be considered. Offering promotional items can help companies increase booth traffic, strengthen brand awareness and generate strong leads.

What are the statistics for promotional products in 2024?

To better understand the potential power of promotional items as part of a sales or marketing strategy, consider the fact that 80% of decision-makers opens in new window said they “were impressed with a company after receiving a promotional product,” making them more likely to consider doing business with them over their competitors.

Further, the current state of the promotional products industry indicates that companies must be doing a good job of offering useful items, since over 80% opens in new window of consumers hold on to promotional items for a year or more and over half (53%) “use a promotional product at least once a week.”

Choosing the best promotional items for your small business can make a monumental difference in your ability to make the most of every event. As it turns out, giving away well-designed and useful promotional items is one of the most interesting and cost-effective ways to grow your brand.

How can promotional products impact sales, marketing?

The broad goals of giving away promotional items center around connecting with the right audience and increasing brand recognition. In addition, promotional item giveaways can also enhance both sales and marketing initiatives. Next, let’s look at how well-selected promotional products can impact sales and marketing initiatives.

How do promotional products increase sales?

Promotional products can play a significant role in a company’s ability to generate interest and connect with potential customers. There are plenty of ways to establish a link between promotional items and increased brand awareness and loyalty.

• Consumers are tired of ads and are tuning them out. Over half (59%) of people “would rather receive a useful promotional product than be exposed to ads on television, social media, radio and other forms of advertising,” according to PPAI research opens in new window. Another recent case study opens in new window performed by the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) found that consumers “are almost 2.5 times more likely to think positively about tangible branded products” over traditional advertising modes.
• Promotional items leave an impression. Another study opens in new window found that most (83%) of consumers can “recall the brand name associated with a promotional product they had received,” 65% keep promotional items for at least a year, and nearly half (48%) say they are “more likely to do business with a company that gave them a promotional product.”
• Increased reach means increased sales. By increasing their brand awareness and reach, companies can differentiate themselves, improve booth traffic and attract more customers—each of which can lead to increased sales.

How do promotional products enhance marketing efforts?

While using promotional items to complement marketing campaigns is a popular approach, around three-fourths (79% opens in new window) of companies actually report seeing positive results from using promotional products in “standalone” campaigns.

Not only have these companies found that providing promotional items increases the likelihood of a sale, they’ve also discovered that a majority of prospects seek to learn more about the company after receiving a promotional item, helping to generate high-quality leads at an impressive rate.

As Forbes opens in new window notes, “the goals are simple to understand” when it comes to incorporating promotional items into sales and marketing campaigns. First, your campaign should “inspire people to take action” by working with your organization rather than a competitor. And even if that doesn’t immediately occur, promotional items can “help people remember the brand so that, at some point in the future, they opt for it and do business with it.”

What is the best giveaway for marketing?

No matter what industry you’re in or what kind of business you are trying to attract, there is one quality that the best small business promotional items share: usefulness. Think about the last time you attended a trade show or conference. Did you leave with a bag (or two) full of free stuff? You probably did. Now, do you still have any of those items? Chances are, you do. And, chances are, the items you held on to are those that are most useful.

Some of the most popular giveaways that consumers actually want (and will use) include things like customized writing utensils, tote bags, sunglasses and USB flash drives, making these among the best promotional items for 2025.

There is also a link between the quality of a promotional item and the chances of recipients remembering and doing business with the companies that provide them. According to Forbes opens in new window, nearly three-fourths (72%) of consumers “correlate the quality of promotional products with the reputation of a brand,” increasing their likelihood of becoming a customer.

Are promotional items worth it?

There are two sides to determining whether promotional items are worth it for a company: the amount they invest in these products and the return on their investment. Countless variables go into setting a company’s marketing budget, but most companies set aside a certain portion of their budget (an average of 13.6% opens in new window, according to Deloitte) for things like trade shows and conferences. A portion of this, then, goes toward promotional items.

Without context, that 20% figure may not mean a whole lot, so let’s talk about the ROI of promotional items. The fact that many companies are still hesitant about offering customized promotional items doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re still one of the most cost-effective forms of advertising.

When you realize their potential reach (and staying power). It’s no wonder that 70% of brands opens in new window “consider promotional products mostly or always effective in achieving marketing goals.”

What makes a good promotional product?

Evaluating creative promotional products ideas can feel like comparing apples to oranges, but it’s much simpler once you realize what the most popular items—the ones people hold on to—have in common: usefulness. After all, why would anyone hold on to something that’s of no use to them? To put it simply, they don’t.

What is the most useful promotional item?

Just as no two companies—or prospective customers—are the same, there is no single item you can say is the most useful. There are, however, several categories that stand above the rest. These include:

• Apparel and accessories: Custom items like branded T-shirts, polos, hats and outerwear have been consistently popular among conference and trade show attendees, with one catch: they have to be creatively designed and well-made. It has to be something they actually want to wear.
• Bags: General-purpose tote bags, travel bags and backpacks are also extremely popular among event attendees and potential customers—especially when you consider that they will need something to carry all their other promotional products in as they browse the trade show floor.
• Office supplies: Another popular option is customized stationery—things like notebooks, padfolios, calendars and writing utensils. These are the types of items that many prospective customers use on a daily basis, making them a great opportunity for increasing brand awareness in both the short- and long-term.
• Personal care products: Less-common (though incredibly useful) promotional items center around improving wellness. When considering what types of promotional items to offer, consider things like lip balm, hand sanitizers, first aid kits and stress relievers.
• Technology accessories: Technology accessories are an increasingly popular category of promotional items that many prospects will find highly useful—like USB flash drives, charging devices and phone accessories.
• Drinkware: While many people already have a favorite mug or tumbler, you can’t argue against their usefulness. Today, some of the most popular promotional drinkware items include coffee mugs, reusable water bottles and lightweight tumblers.

What are the best inexpensive promotional items?

Fortunately, many of the most effective promotional items aren’t particularly expensive, meaning you can give away quality products without straining your budget too much. The key is to find items that are both cost-effective and useful, so don’t overlook things like pens, pencils, notepads or tech accessories—even if you’re not the only company on the trade show floor giving them away.

Remember, too, that usefulness and cost aren’t the only important considerations for promotional items. They should also be well-designed and reinforce the brand. Otherwise, it may only be a matter of time before prospective customers ditch the giveaways and forget about your company altogether.

How do I choose a promotional product (or products) for my next event?

With a wider variety of promotional products available than ever before, it can be tricky to know where to start when it comes to selecting the right items to offer at your trade show booth. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming, though. Next, let’s look at a basic, 6-step process for evaluating promotional products.

Step 1: What is our objective?

Choosing the right promotional items for your business begins with setting clear, measurable objectives. You might, for example, be seeking to improve brand recognition and increase reach, generate customer interest and referrals or fill your marketing pipeline with new subscribers to your email newsletter.

At this stage, be sure to include stakeholders from both sales and marketing, to ensure that the product (or products) you choose to offer will align with each teams’ campaign objectives.

Step 2: What is our budget?

Your marketing budget should obviously play a role in the type or types of promotional items you offer. In some cases, you may have a very limited budget, making it important to determine the best possible items to offer. In other cases, you may have a larger budget, in which case you wouldn’t necessarily need to limit yourself to a single type of promotional item.

Step 3: Who are we trying to attract?

This step is all about defining your target audience, so you can better understand them and select the best promotional offerings for one or more customer profiles. While you don’t want to draw any broad conclusions about your target audience, the more you understand about their demographic breakdown—from age and gender to hobbies or financial status—the easier it will be to determine the right promotional items to make the right impression.

Step 4: What should we offer?

When trying to determine what type(s) of promotional items to offer, it can be beneficial to brainstorm and think outside of the box. That way, you can differentiate yourself from your competitors, who may all be offering similar items. After you’ve compiled potential ideas, you can narrow down your list by focusing on useful, well-made products—the kinds of things prospects might want and use.

Step 5: How can we reflect our brand?

No matter what you’re offering, it should complement your branding. When possible, use your brand’s color scheme when designing and customizing your promotional items. This helps to ensure that the recipients associate the item with your brand—not just right after a trade show or conference, but as they use the item on a daily basis.

By working with 4imprint, you can browse thousands of promotional items, all of which are completely customizable with your brand, colors, preferred text and more.

Step 6: How can we get our items in consumers’ hands?

If you’re offering free promotional items at a conference or trade show, chances are you aren’t the only company doing so. These events offer a great opportunity for increasing brand awareness among a large and varied audience, but you have a limited opportunity to catch attendees’ attention and make a first impression. With that in mind, you’ll need to make sure your booth is attractive and welcoming, and then you’ll need to engage with prospects. Before they leave the booth, then, giving them a useful promotional item can be the key to making an impression that lasts.

What’s hot in promotional products?

While there’s nothing wrong with giving away popular products like branded writing utensils or tote bags, it’s more important than ever for a brand to stand out from the crowd. According to one expert cited by a recent Advertising Specialty Institute opens in new window study, “promotional branding is everywhere now,” and the “increasing presence of promo products” stands as the “single most important factor” brands should consider when evaluating promotional items for their company.

At the end of the day, though, usefulness is still the number-one thing to consider. Trending products may come and go, but items that serve a purpose will never really go out of style, as long as they serve a need.

Another trend to be aware of is consumers’ increasing interest in products with a more positive environmental impact, and working with companies that prioritize sustainability. In fact, as much as “90% of consumers aged 50 and younger are willing to spend more for products that are better for the environment,” according to a study cited by the International Association of Exhibitions and Events.

At 4imprint, we take environmental responsibility seriously—and we’re passionate about helping companies to make conscious decisions by offering a wide range of customizable, sustainable products.

Consider our Better Choices^® program. In many of our promotional items categories, we’ve made it easier than ever to find the products that align with environmental impact and sustainability initiatives. This includes products that:

• Are made with better materials, including recycled, sustainable and carbon neutral options with a lower environmental impact than other traditional offerings.
• Come from accredited brands and suppliers, including B Corporations and companies certified by the Fair Labor Association (FLA).
• Comply with a wide range of industry standards and regulations, including ANSI safety standards and technology performance standards.

What are the top trending promotional items for 2025 and beyond?

As it turns out, many of the trending promotional items for 2025 and beyond are fairly familiar to trade show attendees, largely due to their usefulness. Many of the most popular items are things attendees can not only use in their daily work and lives, but as they walk the trade show floor as well. These include products like:

• Tote bags and drawstring sportpacks for carrying around necessities (as well as all of the other promotional items they collect from other booths)
• Water bottles and drinkware to keep them hydrated and engaged throughout the day
• Portable power banks and other tech accessories to keep them connected
• Writing utensils and stationery so trade show goers can keep track of contacts they make throughout the trade show or conference

In addition to the categories listed above (and many others), 4imprint also offers exclusive brands you won’t find anywhere else, including Crossland^®, Life Is Good^®, reFresh^® and more.

Elevate your next event with 4imprint

If you’re looking for the kind of cost-effective yet unique promotional items with your logo for an upcoming trade show or conference, start your search with 4imprint. We can help bring your branding vision to life with high-quality promotional items. If you’re in the market for a creative new logo design or professional-grade graphic design elements, our in-house creative department is ready to work with you.

By choosing to work with 4imprint, you can rest easy that you’ll receive promotional items that are of the highest quality and delivered on time, every time—thanks to our 360° guarantee_®.