Most recently A survey recently conducted for PPAI by LJ Market Research reveals the power of promotional products by measuring how end users respond to organizations that use promotional products as part of their marketing mix.

The survey, Promotional Products - Impact, Exposure and Influence: A Survey of Business Travelers at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, was conducted by interviewing business travelers at DFW Airport. More than 71 percent of travelers indicated they had received at least one promotional product in the last 12 months. The study also showed that respondents' ability to recall the name of an advertiser on a promotional product they had received (76 percent) was much better than their ability to recall the name of an advertiser from a print publication they had read in the past week (53.5 percent).

Promotional products are also a great support vehicle for other media such as direct mail or print advertising.  A 1996 study by the Dallas Marketing Group involving over 82,000 trade magazine subscribers showed a dramatic difference in response rates when a promotional product was added to a standard print ad mailer.  Furthermore, as the quality of the promotional product increased so did the response rate.  Figures below show the actual response results:

What’s more, the study revealed that when compared to customers who did not receive a promotional product with their sales letter, customers who did receive a promotional product with their sales letter perceived the company’s sales reps as being 16% to 34% more competent.

So, despite the fact that none of the customers who received the sales letter and promotional product actually talked to or met with a sales rep, customers receiving the promotional product actually perceived the sales reps as being more competent.

With all the competition out there for your business to contend with, wouldn’t it be great to have that kind of advantage over your competitors?