Promo items - what works and what do people want?!

[NemoTeamo]

My boss has asked me to promote the company using a smallish budget of a couple of hundred quid. She wants promo type items but not very specific about WHAT. Im keen to avoid plastic rubbish that will be binned, but cant blow the budget on three nicely embroidered bags.
What do people like? Pens? Coasters? I ideally need to get company name and contact as well as a picture (not really a logo) on it. Any thoughts anyone?

No USB sticks (most big companies won’t let you use them), no mugs (everyone has enough) or lanyards (few in the corporate world use them). Everyone has way too many cotton tote bags already.

Small umbrellas, fold up bags for life, tins of sweets or mints are popular for us. Posh branded notebooks are also extremely popular for some reason.

Cloth bags

Pens or highlighters, basically stationery. It gets used, the recipient is happy, the logo is on display when it's used. They are cheap and cheerful. I like the pens with the bit of blurb that unrolls from the middle of the pen, or have a little LED light or mobile phone stylus on one end. They are the ones I take with me in my handbag- I'm a bit of a kleptomaniac with pens so I never take my decent ones to work just in case someone else like me is there and swipes it.

I do this kind of thing all the time. With such a tight budget, I would go for pens. Everyone loves a pen. They keep them and use them and you can get decent ones with your logo on them for around 15p each.

I've done all sorts of stuff to promote myself and my products. Pens are the things that have gone down best - cheap, and you only need your name and a website address to go on it. People are always happy to get a pen. Or fridge magnets with a logo on (you can never have too many fridge magnets). Last time I did key rings very cheaply, bought transparent plastic ones and photocopied pictures of my products (which have my name on) to the right size, then spent an entire day cutting, folding and clipping them in.

Umbrellas - this is the UK after all!

The best promo item I have ever received is a memory stick. It has logo and contact info on it of the company. Its small and very useful to have in my handbag. Also, you never know when you might need one so I never bin them. I got a haul of them from the company and have them in my bag and also in my "junk" drawer at home, waiting to be called upon for handy moments!

Tote bags are awful. Why would I want to carry another company's name on my shoulder? They are also need to be used about ten thousand times to make them environmentally sustainable. You'd be better doing plastic bags that are recyclable.

I hate any promo crap and bin it all. If I had to choose - please send me food or a coffee voucher. You could easily get hotel Chocolat chocs and get a printers to fit a sleeve with your branding on it.

I hate any promo crap and bin it all.

Great thread to chose to participate in then.

Did you miss the two suggestions I made?

And I am not alone. If I hate and bin it I think that's reasonable feedback. I use events companies a lot - a pen wouldn't sway it for me. Invite me to something. Tell me something new. Demonstrate your USP. Find a way other than with stuff

For those of you with a million cotton shopping bags you don't use, please consider donating them to your local food bank!

If you do go down the bag route, put something edible in it.

Tim of lip balm
Pens

Travel mugs and insulated drinks bottles.

Notebooks! Dh works at a lot of exhibitions and I always get him to grab me the notebooks. Always useful.

I have loads of branded pens, too many to use really.

My best things are my tape measures and scale rules, but I realise I am fairly niche.

Nail files/emery boards. I always keep those.

I like a pen, a cloth bag or one of the pop sockets for the back of your phone - stuff that's genuinely useful and not just tat.

Another vote for pens. Make it stand out with something like daffodil yellow and silver lettering up it, people will grab it first

The promo things I actually use are pens, tote bags and tins of mints. Oh and one trolley token.

So much promo tat is out there, its hard not to waste your money when buying it.

What kind of events do you deal with? Could you tie up with a small trader who specialise in the food / drink / music you want to put out there and do that instead of forgettable junk?

One of the best things I got at a conference was a kite, my kids still use it.

Most of the rest of it is shite apart from pens.

Umbrellas will always go down well but £££.

Pens are good but oreferably not great big bulbous ones that ds is always finding at events.

No to lanyards - theyre not that useful for most people because workplaces often have "official" ones. And a huge NO to those pompom on ribbons things

Just remembered one of the best things I’ve seen was giant bubble wands. Loads of people were taking those (probably for their kids though).

Packets of tissues?

Not a tote bag unless your are going to make it look great (I have a million bloody free tote bags!)

We were given sporks (which some of us use all the time and others chucked away) and reusable insulated mugs. They're at the cheaper end of mugs but loads of people still use them and they're rather effective.