Promotional materials can be used for all kinds of marketing activity, such as promotional giveaways at trade shows, branded items as part of a mail-out campaign, or additional branded merchandise at events or product launches to help boost brand awareness. Using promotional merchandise to give to your existing customers is a surefire way of building key relationships and keeping your company service constantly in their thoughts, especially if you give them a useful and practical item that they will continuously use.

With so many different branded merchandise items available, it can be hard trawling through endless catalogues to find exactly what you are looking for. Fortunately, we are here to help!

To get you started, here are our picks for the top branded merchandise items for customer retention:

BRANDED PENS

Let’s start off with the classic, the branded pen. While it may not seem the most exciting gift to give to your customers, there is a reason why branded pens are so popular. They are always useful to have at hand in the office, at home or in your bag. Due to the huge range of options available, it is easy to find a style of pen to suit your budget and brand. Give someone a decent promotional pen and they will cherish it until all the ink dries up and they ask for another one.

To really impress your clients, why not give them a branded Cross Pen Gift Set?

BRANDED NOTEBOOKS AND NOTEPADS

Branded notebooks are the essential handy branded merchandise item to have. Like a good pen, customers truly value a good notebook. They can come in large A4 or pocket sizes and have many different styles and options to choose from. If you’re really looking to impress, then why not give your extra special clients a branded Moleskine Notebook? If budget is a restriction, then there’s faux leatherette or soft feel alternatives such as Belluno Notebooks that can have a similar impact.

Likewise, promotional notepads will always be kept at home or at the office. Why not try something different, like creating your own branded To Do List pad?

PROMOTIONAL MUGS

You’ll probably notice a pattern here that most of the popular and useful promotional materials you would find in the office. Promotional mugs are no exception. Having your brand affiliated with a comfortable cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate if you’re lucky, only strengthens your brand image. Travel mugs are also a perfect solution for customers who are constantly on the go. Reusable mugs are also great for the environment, eradicating the need for takeaway cups that cannot be recycled.

BRANDED POWER BANKS

Branded merchandise that helps with mobile devices is always a great way of impressing your clients. Branded power banks help keep devices fully charged when they start running out of battery, so will prove an essential item to have for busy customers. If they find themselves in need of an important call while they’re out and have your branded power bank at hand, they will definitely be thanking you later.

PROMOTIONAL BAGS

Promotional bags are on trend at present, given the growing charge for plastic bags at supermarkets and other stores. Not only are they helpful and practical for your clients, they also act as a walking advertisement for your company. With a sizeable print area, your brand will be well on show.

Promotional bags need not stop at shopper bags. Delegate conference bags are ideal for trade shows and events, while branded laptop bags, rucksacks and sports bags will all hold value to your clients, depending on your client demographic.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT?  HOW ABOUT BRANDED FLIP FLOPS?

The above products are all very popular branded merchandise items that will work wonderfully for customer retention. However, we get asked a lot by our clients for “something different”. With so many promotional merchandise products available, there are plenty of different items to choose from to suit any marketing campaign.

Our advice is to make sure that the “something different” is to make sure that it is relevant to your marketing activity and coincides nicely with the rest of your promotional materials.

With that said, a great promotional gift to give out to customers (especially at summer time!) are branded flip flops! They will be used the most when they are happy the most (hopefully) while on holiday. They automatically remind your customers of holiday, so will only be happy to receive these.

Worried that your branding may not always be on show? You can print to the strap, or better yet, have your logo debossed to the sole. That way, your brand image will be left in the sand!

Make sure to get in touch on 01992 642 642 or email info@mxlltd.co.uk when you're next looking for any promotional items.  Our friendly team will be ready to help pick the perfect promotional items suited for your brand.