By Olivia Caitlin
As always, you want to remain relevant to your customers in 2018. The promotional product world continues to grow and is becoming a go-to for many businesses as an essential part of any new marketing campaign. Generally, promotional products have several essential benefits for your business. They can help you get your brand in front of your customers, make it more visible, and generate more leads.
However, let us be clear, the brand also has to be relevant to the public, and the most effective way to do this is to stay abreast of the hot trending products that are driving and influencing consumer culture. In this post, I am bringing forward this year’s top trends in promotional products. The demand for a specific promotional item also changes as the world continues to evolve. For example, a popular product in the past few years will be a thing of the past and be replaced with a more innovative one.
Fortunately, by using promotional products from a reliable provider, finding the products to use for your marketing campaigns doesn’t need to be complicated. Most reliable product providers offer a wide range of trending promotional items that you can conveniently choose from.
But as we all know marketing budgets are always tight, making trendy promotional items too expensive. That said, to help you get the right products without spending more money, here are some tips to stretch it as far as it will go.
Sustainable Products
The environment is on everybody’s mind these days, and we are finding that the consumer wants to see the corporations doing likewise. Cork has been gaining more popularity in the world of design. It’s durable and adds a different dimension of texture for the designer’s ideas, and of course, eco-friendly. Bamboo is also seeing an increase in attention and is being used in some very diverse ways in 2018. Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth making it a sustainable resource.
With both of these materials bringing organic modernism into our homes and workspaces, it shows it is not just about sustainability, but there is a focus on the increased cultural trend of a connected, minimalist lifestyle.
Trending Colors and Textures
This year is very much about being bold — bold colors, new bold materials and bold textures are what’s inspiring this year; textures, patterns and colors are evident everywhere. Metallic textures and marble continue to shine this year. The color of the year is ultraviolet — a prime example of people looking for bold inspiration and want to make a statement.
Wireless Technology
We all know tech is growing in strength, and with it, we are seeing a whole new array of products becoming available. Wireless chargers and Bluetooth speakers are current leaders in this category. Earbuds are the latest trend among teens and young adults, and pretty much anything that’s sound related is moving fast. In this particular niche, the importance is not just functionality it’s about looking for the sleekest and most minimalistic options. The material associated with these also lends itself to easy branding.
Work-From-Home Products
With more people working from the comfort of their homes, work-from-home products have become one of the most popular and trending promotional items this year. From coffee mugs and branded pens to notebooks and printed tees, these products appeal to home offices, telecommuters, and other remote workers.
By using work-from-home promotional items, this new segment of workers can allow businesses to promote their logo and brand name to a new audience in today’s digital world. Aside from being a marketing tool, work-from-home items can also help online workers boost their performance and productivity. When they also feel engaged with their work, they’ll strive harder to ensure the business’s growth and success.
Dual-Functionality
Where so many products are vying for exposure and attention, a defining factor can be, which one you remembered. As a business, the most critical factor is what can yield you the most at the best price. The simple answer is -to look for multifunctional products. And the main reason for this is because they are unique, stand out, and being multi-use, there is more chance of marketing exposure outdoors.
The two main products on the market are:
- Product construction’s dual function — The model is much a more standard approach, by selecting products that already have dual functionality capabilities. as an example, backpack duffel bag or a battery charger with side USB and so on.
- Artwork integration’s dual — This is a more tricky method and requires more creativity. It focuses on taking advantage of any available imprint area on items using a decoration method then add a specific design, it has uses as a secondary function also, improving the chances to be ordered. Check out things like mousepads, calendars, special sticky notes, rulers and work week planners to name a few.
More and more businesses are turning towards promotional products for corporate gifts for their staff. Serving more than one purpose, with high price points these can be a meaningful gift for an employee. Also if the gift is for outside of the office, the employee’s home or an outdoor item, it will double up as a marketing tool for when he/she has visitors for example, even greater marketing exposure for a practical outdoor item.
Hopefully, some of the trends mentioned above will help to bring some ideas to your next budget and marketing meeting. These are strong trends that look like moving well into 2019 and maybe further but always keep your ear to the ground as the industry moves fast.