Promotional materials are a special part of your marketing and come in countless types, shapes, and sizes. From business cards and banners to drinkware and pop-up tents, these forms of marketing truly promote your brand in a positive way. This is because they provide your audience with a gift and something to keep on to, reminding them of your company every time they see or use it.
When thinking of promotional products, the topics of trade shows, events, and conferences come to mind. And even if your business has never attended trade shows or events, promotional items are still extremely beneficial to promote your business.
You can use promotional items as on-site handouts, you can use them within virtual event giveaways, and you can mail them to customers and prospects.
To help guide you in choosing the right materials for your promotional campaign, we have compiled 10 promotional materials that will win your customers over this year and are the perfect branded products to add to your marketing strategy.
Tote bags are always a great promo product to give your audience, and they have become a more popular item throughout the years due to their positive environmental impact.
You can use them instead of paper bags for your customers to keep forever, hand them out at trade shows along with other branded promotional items placed inside, or mail them out as giveaways. Many people keep these bags and make use of them on a daily basis. So, by giving them out, you will increase your brand's visibility while giving customers and prospects solid promotional material that’s made to last.
Everyone loves a good hat, making them the perfect promotional item for promoting your brand.
You can have your employees and team members wear your custom hats with your logo at events, tradeshows, or while golfing with potential business partners to represent your brand professionally. You can also hand them out or gift them to customers and prospects to build strong brand recognition while providing your audience with a useful and favored apparel item.
Stickers are an excellent way for your customers to advertise their loyalty to your company or spread the message about your business. Custom stickers are also an interactive way to get prospects involved with your company. They're the perfect tool for advertising, and there are endless possibilities for where your audience can place them. And no matter where they stick them, your brand is being promoted in a positive way.
Stickers are also extremely affordable compared to many other promotional materials. You can offer them to people who sign up for your weekly newsletter, hand them out at an event, include them along with your direct mail marketing campaign, or place them within packages as you ship out your online orders.
Giving away free promotional stickers is a great marketing ploy. It lets customers and prospects interact with your company while increasing brand exposure.
Pens are proven promotional materials used by every type of business, small and large, in some way. What makes pens such a great promo product is that everyone uses them whether they keep them in a drawer or pen holder, in their briefcase or purse, or even in their car for times when a pen is needed.
They can be used as a grab-and-go on your front desk, given during document signings, or even mailed.
Because pens are relatively small, they are the perfect material to include within a kitted project to be shipped to customers and prospects. This is a perfect strategy because whether your audience works in an office or at home, they can use your pen regularly while keeping your brand in mind.
Mugs, glassware, tumblers, drinks with straws, and other branded drinkware are some of the most popular promotional materials due to their reusability aspect.
There are a variety of custom drinkware options that you can use as a promotional item. You can hand them out at events as promotional freebies, use them as prizes to mail to customers, or give them away when a customer makes a purchase. No matter how you utilize promotional drinkware, it will be used again and again while your brand gets promoted each time.
Taking notes and jotting down reminders are tasks we all do in some way or another. Whether creating a grocery list, leaving a reminder on the counter, or taking notes during a meeting, everyone can benefit from a notepad or sticky note.
That is why handing out or shipping them with your company's logo is the perfect form of marketing. Every time your audience writes in it, they will see your logo while increasing your brand awareness with repeated exposure to your brand.
Custom banners are an essential tool to add to your custom signage. They are extremely effective at trade shows and social events and can also provide effective marketing when hung outside of your store to promote a big sale or a grand opening. They also come in a handful of options, including retractable banners, x-stand banners, and vinyl banners.
Banners allow you to get creative with your designs as they are large-format items. They are eye-catching promo products and inform the viewer about your brand, special events you are holding, or discounts your company is offering. Another great thing about banners is that they allow you to include a call to action large enough for anyone who walks by to take notice.
Branded t-shirts and polos are a fantastic way to promote your business, and the best part is that they never go out of style.
When you hand out, ship, or give away a promotional t-shirt or polo, you turn your audience into walking advertisements or brand ambassadors. You can include a unique design and your logo, which can become a conversation piece that gets people talking about your brand. You can host a giveaway and tell your audience that if they post on social media wearing your t-shirt, they will receive a discount or freebie. In addition, having your employees and staff wear your branded shirts at an event is an effective way to promote your brand and make a great first impression. Custom t-shirts and polos are also relatively inexpensive promotional materials compared to the amazing value they bring to your brand.
Power banks are extremely popular promotional products, especially since we use smartphones, tablets, and other devices daily. They are a lightweight and portable means for your customers and prospects to charge their devices while being exposed to your brand. The best part is that everyone has a cell phone and will appreciate and use your branded power bank.
Custom-branded power banks come in all shapes and sizes, allowing you to choose the right one to customize that meets your company's style. Some have multiple charging ports, and some have a flashlight attached for your outdoorsy and on-the-go audience.
Because power banks are practical and useful promotional items, they make the perfect giveaway or handout at trade shows and events, and for gifting to your employees. While many tech companies use promotional power banks, they work for all industry types to provide their prospects, customers, or organizations with a branded means of charging their devices on the go.
When attending any event, you typically have a business card, flyer, brochures, and other materials that you hand out so individuals have the necessary information about your business on hand for easy reference. Carrying those materials around at a conference or tradeshow can be a real hassle. To make it easier for your audience, place them within a branded pocket folder so they are easy to hold on to and organized from the other materials they receive from other businesses.
The great thing about branded pocket folders is that they can be reused for years, providing exceptional brand exposure.
Promotional merchandise is a sure way to advertise your brand in a way your audience will love. Although these are the top picks, be sure to choose promo items that match your brand's voice, style, and message. For example, a veterinary clinic could use branded pet collars as promotional items or a university could use custom bookbags as promo items. You can explore all promotional products by clicking below!
The main difference between a Panama hat vs fedora is that a Panama hat is made out of straw, and a fedora is typically made from felt.
So the biggest difference is the material.
Panama hats are woven from strands from the jipijapa plant, while fedoras are usually made from felt. We also sell fedoras with felt crowns and leather brims.
Other differences between Panama hats vs Fedoras include:
The Panama hat has a misleading name since it originated in Ecuador around the turn of the 20th century. It's unclear when the hat was "born." That said, historians note that president Teddy Roosevelt wore a Panama hat after returning from the country in 1906. Since Roosevelt was in Panama to oversee the canal's construction, people assumed that he got the hat there, and the name stuck.
Theodore Roosevelt waves a Panama hat to the crowd after returning from Ecuador.We should mention that Panama hats bear a striking resemblance to the Florentine straw hat. Florentine hats date to the mid-18th century, so it's possible the Panama hat was itself a copy.
We sell a variety of contemporary and classin panama hats.
Traditional Panama hats are woven with leaves from the jipijapa plant or the Toquilla palm tree. These hats have a 4.5-inch high profile and an indented tear-shaped crown formed by a pinched crease in front.
Milliner constructing a Panama hat in Ecuador.The brim is at least 3 inches wide, and the construction is flexible. The brim can be snapped up or down. The hat band is often fastened with a concho and adorned with exotic feather plumes.
In silhouette, a Panama hat vs fedora hat is the same, which is why some people get them mixed up. From a distance, they are indiscernible, but up close, their textures set them apart.
If you're trying to pack a Panama hat, you'll need to flatten the creases and roll the hat tight. But, we don’t recommend doing this. Other people will tell you it’s fine, but restoring it to its original shape is more pain than its worth.
Most Panama hats are handmade while most fedoras are made with a felt press.
In temperate and subtropical climates, Panama hats are worn March through April, while Fedoras are worn September through February. Panama hats are worn year round in equatorial, subequatorial and tropical climates. Fedoras are worn year round in polar and subpolar climates.In temperate and subtropical climates, Panama hats are worn March through April, while Fedoras are worn September through February. Panama hats are worn year round in equatorial, subequatorial and tropical climates. Fedoras are worn year round in polar and subpolar climates.
The best time to wear a Panama hat is in hot and sunny weather. Depending on the size of the weave, these hats are breezy.
To capture a roguish demeanor, feel free to tilt the hat forward and snap down the brim to partially cover your eye line. These hats work with sunglasses since you have to wear them outdoors. You may want to wear a Panama hat without messing up your hair. If so, buy it a half-size bigger so it doesn’t fit too tight on your crown. That said, hats should sit two fingers above your eyebrow. Tilt a larger hat back so that it won’t rest on your ears.
This hat works well for both men and women, although men are historically the target demographic. We’ve seen Meghan Markle, Mischa Barton, Bill Murray, Prince Charles, and Madonna wearing Panama hats.
Panama hats used to be worn primarily in sunny, tropical climates. But with global temperatures on the rise, Panama hats are being worn year-round these days. These hats are no longer just for vacation. You can wear them anytime, anywhere.
Panama hats are a way to bring shade with you wherever you go. Panama hats are most popular at outdoor events like Cannes, music festivals, garden parties, grand-slam tennis tournaments, and horse racing. If you want something nicer than a baseball cap, Panama hats bring style and cool shade to your appearance, especially in warmer weather.
The fedora is most notable for showing up in many movies and TV shows, from Casablanca to Raiders of the Lost Ark. So, it's fitting that the hat originated in the theater. Actress Sarah Bernhardt wore the hat in a play called Princess Fedora in the late 1800s.
Mug shot of deceased gangster Legs Diamond wearing a classic fedora with the brim snapped up.The look became instantly iconic, although the fedora was mostly in vogue from the 1920s to the 1940s. Since felt is made from sheep’s wool, fedoras are environmentally friendly with a low carbon footprint. More expensive, custom fedoras are made from fur, rather than wool.
The shape of a fedora is the same as a Panama hat. The design has a 4 to 6” high crown with a tear-shaped crease and a pinch in front. The brim can be snapped up or down.
Fedoras are made from soft, pliable felt. Wide-brimmed fedoras might curve down on both sides like the one worn by everyone’s favorite archeologist, Indiana Jones. Fedoras can be made from felt or fabric, but if they’re straw, they’re called Panama hats.
Also, if the brim is less than two inches wide, it’s called a trilby. This hat is what Frank Sinatra and Jason Mraz both wore.
You can wear a fedora with a tailored suit or jeans, a blazer, and loafers.
If you want to look like Bogie, snap the brim down. This option lends an air of mystery, which is why it worked so well in film noir.
Initially, women saw the fedora as a feminist symbol, and it was mostly women who wore them through the Roaring 20s. However, men also liked the look, and Hollywood helped push the fedora into the mainstream.
Movies featuring rogue hero protagonists wearing fedoras, like Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon and still resonate today. But Al Pacino actually wore a homburg with a pencil curl brim in The Godfather. That was instead of a traditional soft felt fedora with a snappable brim.
The fedora works well as an everyday hat, and it also adds style to special occasions. While this hat was much more common a few decades ago, it’s a great way to stand out today.
Many celebrities wear fedoras at events, including Brad Pitt, Justin Timberlake, Johnny Depp, and Britney Spears, among others. Fedoras work well in all climates, from New York to Los Angeles and everywhere in between.
Actor Jonny Deep in felt fedora hat in Central Park NYC.Now that you know the difference between a Panama hat vs fedora, you can decide which one’s right for you.