You love your customers, right? The repeat clients who come back time and time again for your products and services are your bread and butter. No matter how steady they are however, as a business owner, you should never overlook the power of attracting new customers.

Of course everyone wants new clients and more business but acquiring new customers can be a bit tricky. If you haven’t tried it yet, use promotional products to attract newbies and expand your business even more. The only way anyone will remember your business is if they repeatedly see your name. Customers are fickle and for every business there’s a replacement business just waiting to take over. Keep your name in front of customers on a regular basis to ensure they won’t forget about you. This is especially true for businesses that rely greatly on referrals. If customers forget about your business, they won’t be able to pass along your name. While marketing may not be in your budget or on your business plan, promotional products should be. These products take the place of newspaper and television advertising and offer businesses an inexpensive way to circulate their name. The more useful the promotional item, the better. A teddy bear may look adorable when it’s wearing a t-shirt with your business name splashed across it, but CEOs aren’t carrying this teddy bear around with them as they walk the streets of New York City.

Promotional products need to be used over and over again in a public manner. That’s why pens, key chains and coffee mugs make excellent promotional items. People use these items in front of other professional people and consumers. Nobody can go even one day without needing a pen. Everyone carries around a set of keys. Most people pour a cup of coffee at the office before sitting down at their desks.

Tote bags are one of the best promotional items because your business name will be face first and available for immense viewing. Promotional products should be simple, straightforward and never time sensitive. The difference between a promotional item and an ad is that the promotional item never gets old. As long as your business is still up and running, your business name, telephone number and website address will be too. Never push a specific date or event on the promotional item. When the event is over or the product sells out, you don’t want to have to order all new promotional items.

Naturally, your business name and logo should be the biggest thing on the item. Your phone number and website should be prominent as well. The print should always be proportionate to the item; the larger the item, the larger the print. If you have an oversized tote bag with your website address in tiny font, nobody will be visiting your site later that day.

The pull of promotional items boils down to a very simple concept: people love getting free things. Any item is valuable if the consumer didn’t have to pay for it. This is especially true for items that everyone deems as a necessity. We all need a calendar for our office, a mouse pad for our computer desk, a t-shirt to wear to the gym, a calculator, a water bottle, etc. Since customers are going to be spending money on these items, it’s always nice to get them for free. When you give something to someone that they need and you don’t charge for it, that person will immediately think of you in a good light. This attraction is integral for pulling in more customers.

Samuel Mautz is a marketing blogger with a particular interest in acquiring and maintaining consumer trust. He also thinks using free products like personalised t shirts can be a great way to get potential customers to think of you first when they need your product or service.

Implementing a promotional program for your business can sometimes seem like an overwhelming task. There are hundreds of thousands of products from which to choose, and you may find yourself feeling a little lost in the mix. Choosing the right promotional products for your business is essential, and at Clayton Kendall, we have something for everyone. No matter the size of your business, we are more than prepared to handle any and all of your promotional item needs.

If you’re exhibiting in a trade show, home show, or any type of public display, you’ve likely thought about having some promotional products on hand. There are lots of reasons this is a smart thing to do as an exhibitor, so let’s go over them.

1. Attracting an Audience

People are funny and fickle. They’re smart and independent, but when you put them in a group, they largely become sheep. When potential customers of your business come walking by your booth, if they see no one talking to you, they’re less likely to stop unless they’re immediately in the market. What’s interesting is when your booth attracts a small crowd, more and more people will stop and listen.

People are afraid of salespeople. It’s not the people, per se; it’s the high pressure that makes people uncomfortable. The more people watching the presentation, the less opportunity for a salesperson to lock on and put pressure on any single individual. It’s much more comfortable to stand with others.

If there’s a crowd, there must be a reason for people to be standing there. We’re all a bit curious about what’s so alluring at the booth, so we gather around to check it out ourselves. Giving away candy is a sure way to get people to your booth, but they always take the candy and run. That’s where promotional products come in – they’re more expensive than candy, but that works to their advantage. People are more likely to stop and ask permission to take, and less likely to take a promotional product and run. That gives you time to talk, which attracts an audience of others wanting to listen to what you have to say.

2. Living with Your Brand

On average, a customer will have encountered your brand seven times before their purchase. For the hundreds or thousands of people you need to buy your product to encounter your brand seven times, you have to spend a LOT of money on advertising. Send your trade show attendees home with something useful or beautiful that makes them want to keep it around, and they’ll encounter your brand daily!

Don’t get me wrong – you likely won’t see a sales spike from your promotional products sitting around in peoples’ homes. But you will see the effectiveness of your other marketing increase as people live with your brand on a daily basis.

3. Image of Winning

In sales, appearance means a lot. We’re more likely to do business with a company we perceive as successful, than one that is failing or run by chintzy, fat-cat executives. It’s all about the perception. For that reason, having cooler or more interesting promotional products will get you noticed and draw visitors to your booth, while seamlessly branding yourself in the homes and offices of those who take these products. Plus you get the added benefit of looking like a company which is on top of its game. Your company, through the use of promotional products with high perceived value and low cost, can be perceived as the successful company that everyone should be doing business with!

Make sure your booth matches the message you’re putting out there. Get a nice quality fabric backdrop, branded with your company. Make sure you and your sales staff are dressed nicely and appear friendly and easy to talk to. Have an interesting product/demo out to get attention. Look the part, and your promotional products will augment your strategy.

So there you have it – 3 reasons why promotional products augment your presence as an exhibitor at any show. Use these items for the most successful presence at a trade show. Also, I’d love to hear your experiences with promotional items at shows in the comments, as well!

About the Author: AJ Wilcox is a marketing director with considerable experience as a trade show exhibitor for a Utah home automation company. He loves exotic cars, running, and teaching keys to success that he’s learned over the years.