This trend was confirmed by PPAI’s latest survey* which found that online sales of promotional products in the US have continued to grow slowly but steadily, increasing from $1.6 billion in 2003 to $2.7 billion in 2006. (Online sales are defined as those that result from orders placed through a website or online store.) What is equally interesting to note is that this rise was reflected across the board, irrespective of the size of firm.

The Internet is set to become an increasingly important factor in distributor sales due to the fact that a large proportion of Promotional products buyers now belong to Generation Y, which encompasses anyone born after 1982. This generation is most at ease when establishing and developing relationships – both on a professional and personal level – online rather than face to face.

Although Internet marketing is finally gaining pace amongst Promotional products distributors, the industry as a whole still depends primarily on personal selling which remains the major sales channel. However, what we are likely to see happening more often is a complementary blending of channels, with the Internet used for business transactions and the sales force employed to provide consultation services for promotional products.

The first thing to remember is that you want to have your brand and contact details in the front of your customer’s mind at the point where he or she is considering a purchase relevant to you. There are many promotional products that are great for this. Examples are desktop promotional products such as calendars, calculators, memo pads, mugs and pens.

It is important to ensure that your logo is clearly visible on these items. You can choose from single print colours to multiple print colours. In most cases a good accurate reproduction of your logo is achievable, along with the most important part, your contact phone number.

Some promotional items are best delivered by post, examples are air toys (foam toys that are great for flinging around the office) and small foldable frisbees. Fridge magnets and pens also work well in a mailout.

Conferences and exhibitions are a favourite place to plant branded lead generators (i.e. promotional products) with key customers. Slightly larger objects can be distributed this way such as promotional calendars and memo pads, or umbrellas. If the client has kids then any number of toys like the elastic cube and kites are very popular.

Talk to a promotional products company about your needs. Talking (i.e. not just emailing) is important. Many promotional products companies went over to fully ecommerce enabled websites two or three years ago. Cutting the human contact out of the loop was a bad idea for these companies. The process of branding products with your logo requires skill and experience and quite often a proof of concept initial sample. For this reason, many promotional products companies have removed their ecommerce enabled websites and have returned to the good old fashioned telephone.

There are many http://www.amtmarketing.com/promotional-products-home.html promotional products  companies. It is best to choose a company that has been in business for quite a number of years. That way you know that they have had to provide a consistently high level of service to survive this very competitive market space.

Costs can be very low. The cheapest items like pens and sweets can be a few pence each. The most luxurious items like a Christmas hamper are more expensive. Though if you are entertaining the executive administering the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, then maybe a champagne hamper is not too big an investment.

Delivery times vary with the product. Bear in mind that it takes a few days to personalize the products with the logo and contact details. However, a few days from picking up the phone to receiving the promotional products can be achieved.

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