10 least favorite promotional products
With the holidays upon us, many of us are getting lots of gifts and sweet treats from our vendors as a thank you for our business all year long. Promotional products can take you anywhere and get your message to any consumeer! However, as you all know, some of the gifts are the same ol’, same ol’. Don’t be the one to gift the blah gift to your customers. Scratch these off your idea list for good!
10) Flimsy Magnets – Nothing is worse than going to hang your child’s artwork on the fridge, and the cheap, flimsy magnet you got at that trade show won’t even hold a since piece of paper. It doesn’t matter if it is a calendar, a measuring chart, or any other useful piece of information, if it will not do the job it is intended to do… It is headed to the trash!
9) Stinky Lotion– The only problem with buying promotional lotion is that you have no idea what scent you are getting. Yes, it may be called vanilla, but their vanilla and your definition of vanilla may be totally different. There is nothing worse than putting on lotion that smells terrible and not being able to get rid of the smell.
8) Travel Hairbrush – I know there are thousands of women (and some men) out there that keep a hairbrush with them at all times. But for the most part, do not give me something that is going to break the first time I run it through my hair after I get out of the pool on vacation. I am going to be mad at the brush for breaking, and then mad at your company for choosing a promotional item that now leaves me without a hairbrush for the rest of my vacation.
7) Cheap Key Chains – I know it may be tempting to purchase those 10,000 key chains that are available for $0.25 each, but please slow down and really think about what image you are sending to your customers. Just because you can buy enough to give to everyone within a 3 state radius, it likely isn’t the best decision for your business image. Nobody wants a key chain that is so cheap it doesn’t even warrant the spare garage key.
6) Carabiner/ Climbing Hook – A little less that 3% of America’s population rock climbs. Therefore, you stand a 3% chance of someone actually liking this promotional gift. Yes, once upon a time they were cool, but about 15 years ago, everyone already had received 10 of these and their “cool factor” quickly dropped.
5) Golf Tees – Given out time after time golf tees just don’t seem to go away. If you are giving them away at a golf tournament or a golf scramble then you are perfectly in the bounds of giving them away and them being a good promotional gift. However, when someone gives you a logo’d golf tee set and you do not golf, it is totally pointless and makes that person feel silly because it is almost like they are expected to golf.
4) Triangle Highlighters –Three colors in one device sounds fantastic… but take into consideration that they do not fit anywhere!!! They don’t fit in the tray in your desk drawer and they surely do not fit in the pencil holder cup sitting on your desk. So when what happens? They just lie around and get moved from one place to the next until someone gets tired of messing with it and throws it away.
3) Old School Water Bottle – Nothing says your company is stuck in the early 1990’s like a big, bulky, old school water bottle with the giant straw that make that distinct sound when you pull it in and out of the lid. Come to the new age… people want a top that closes, bottles that don’t leak, and something that will maintain a temperature longer than the time it takes you to walk from your house to your car.
2) Stress Balls – Or boat, or house, or bus, or truck, or duck, or whatever other shape you may think it looks cute in. Bottom line is that they do not work and only make you angrier when you are actually giving it a try to reduce your stress, and it doesn’t work!
Last But Not Least…
1) Crappy Ink Pen – Kinda like the key chain thing… just because you can get 10,000 of them for a cheap price, doesn’t always mean you should. People use ink pens every day, so make the right decision and pick out a good one. It doesn’t have to be something that was $50, but forego the $0.50 ones! Ink pens are definitely something that you get what you pay for! And there is not one customer out there that says, “Man, I hate this wonderful pen!”