The stereotypical example of advertising with promotional products is a business giving an inexpensive imprinted item to anyone for just walking by or stopping in. To simply get the word out about your business, indiscriminate distribution of promotional items like this will do the trick. However, a more selective approach can provide you with valuable business opportunities and information and a greater return on your advertising investment.

Let’s start with who you should give the items to. Targeting specific audiences is one of the basics of effective advertising. Mostly due to the fact that a target audience is one that will probably want what you offer. Narrow that target audience down into prospects that are in the market for your product or service. These are the high value targets that you need to make sure you are engaged with. The idea here is quality over quantity.

Now that you are not just giving away promotional items to just anyone, the next step is to not give them away for free. Encourage prospects to do something that is beneficial to your business. Have your prospects listen to a presentation or stop by your tradeshow booth. This gives you the opportunity to personally engage your prospects. The product then becomes a memento of the “event”, continually reminding them of the presentation and their experience.

Another way to not give your products away for free is to have prospects fill out a card redeemable for the promotional gift. Whether you do it online or by direct mail, collect important contact information for future engagement and offers. Increase the engagement by having the prospect visit your physical location to pick up the product. Now you are receiving valuable customer data for future business.

By not just giving your products away, you improve your return on investment. For starters, immediately receive something of value to your business from prospects like contact information or face time. Better engagement keeps you top of mind and improves the likelihood of conversion from prospect to customer.

For the sake of my job, I’m not advocating buying less promotional products. But being more selective or having two separate giveaways - one for everybody and one for select prospects, can improve your sales and marketing efforts. I should also point out that a more selective campaign is similar to an incentive - that is, they should be something a prospect would desire. Products used in this approach should have a high perceived value, be useful to the recipient and be relevant to your brand or campaign.