Best Promotional Items to Buy in Bulk to Get and Keep Customers

If you’re browsing for the best promotional items for small business, how much to buy is a key consideration. Most of our products are available in a wide range of order sizes because we focus on serving small businesses, but there are noteworthy advantages to increasing your order quantity when it comes to bulk promotional products. Read on to understand why—and when—it pays to think big for buying bulk promotional items with logo. 

Why Bulk Promotional Products Are So Important

Distributing gifts that are customized with your logo, special messaging, or event name helps to keep your business top of mind and associate your brand with good feelings, well beyond a single transaction. The best promotional items help you achieve business goals by being both attractive and useful, like a travel tumbler like the Full Color 22 oz. Stainless Steel Eli Travel Mug or a bag like the Heavy Cotton Tote Bag with Pocket.

Gifts like these are always welcome and make your brand stand out. What benefits do you (and your customers) see when you buy these types of promotional products in bulk? Bulk promotional items with logo allow you to expand your reach in three key ways: 

1. Lower Cost: When you purchase the best promotional items in bulk, your cost per piece goes down quickly as you increase quantity. Also, any one-time fees like shipping or setup costs are spread among more pieces, making them a smaller portion of your total investment.

2. More Generous Distribution: Having promotional gifts at the ready, and knowing you got them at a discount due to high quantity, can make you more likely to hand them out not just to committed clients but also to looky-loos and other “not yet converted” members of the market. This expands your reach among new potential audiences and increases referral opportunities. Gift-giving shows you prioritize connecting with customers and your community, and a key ingredient in the art of generosity is having abundant supply.

3. Multiple Uses: Buying in bulk allows you to have customized products for all sorts of channels. The custom gift set you give to new customers can also welcome new employees or show appreciation around holidays and birthdays.

The Best Time to Give Bulk Promotional Items with Logo

Having a gift on hand for customers and prospects is always a good way to start a new relationship or show appreciation for ongoing business. Your recipient could be a client, customer, employee, donor to your fundraiser, or event attendee. Your occasion could be a meeting, direction mail, customer service encounter, or special event like a convention, holiday, anniversary, or celebration of a major milestone.  

Bulk Promotional Products for Events:

There’s a special thrill when you take your seat at a seminar, wedding, or other invitation-only event, and there’s a gift waiting just for you. If there’s a special occasion to be noted, the best promotional items will add import to the occasion and help your recipients remember it for years to come.  

For expos and conferences where your goal is networking and new contacts, bulk promotional items with logo can be the honey that attracts the attendee bees to your booth. Pick something with a price point that allows generous distribution (booth visitors can sense if you’re holding back!) and is easy to travel with, like a trendy pen such as the Mineral Alpha Soft Touch Pen with Rose Gold Trim, or a water bottle like this 17 oz. Aspen Water Bottle with Carabiner.  

Bulk Promotional Products for Meetings:

A meeting is destined to go better when it starts with gratitude. Set the tone with promotional products that get things off to a great start. For example: 

• Partner Up: Greet clients coming into your tax preparation office with a fun gift that eases their stress and shows you’ve got their back, like a document holder or tax-themed mug (choose the “1040 Return” template when you customize). They might come in feeling frazzled, but they’ll leave feeling cared for.

• Lighten the Vibe: Whether a meeting’s in a conference room or at a customer service counter, when a document needs a signature, make sure it’s with a bulk personalized pen that they get to keep so signing on the dotted line feels a little more friendly.

Bulk Promotional Products for Beginnings:

A customized promotional product sets the tone for a positive first day of school, first day of work, or first client meeting. For example: 

• New Clients: Give clients an elegant pen and pen set like this Mineral Soft Touch Note Caddy & Pen Set.

• New Employees: Welcome new employees with this a practical and presentation-ready pen and flashlight set, like the Athos Gelebration™ Gel Pen Gift Set.

• New Students: For new students, they’ll be hankering to take note of your lecture, and take notes in class, with a multi-ink pen like the Mineral Soft Touch Lucina 4-Ink Stylus Pen. Consider personalized can coolers in bulk to get your name out in front of every social event.

What to Keep in Mind When Picking Your Bulk Promotional Items with Logo

When you’re looking to see economies of scale and reap rewards from advanced preparation by purchasing bulk promotional products, shop with these guidelines in mind to get the most out of your investment:  

1. Evergreen and Multi-Season: The goal of bulk purchasing is maximum quantity for a low price per piece without holding extra inventory. To that end, avoid occasion-specific products that may not have shelf life in the long run. Lean toward a pen like the Engraved Mineral Aria Pen with Rose Gold Trim over a Patriotic MopToppers® Pen.

2. Lightweight: If you’re gearing up for the trade show circuit or a mass mailing, weight matters as much as price point. When you’re paying to mail items or want to ensure your recipients will easily be able to add your custom gift to their carry-on bag, the best promotional items to buy in bulk can fit into a standard envelope for direct mail or a travel bag for conferences. For direct mail, consider a flat, perennial piece like a Magnetic Note Pad. For conferences and trade shows, look at a travel-friendly tote like the Multi-Pocket Mesh Orion Tote Bag.

3. Multi-Use and Mass Appeal: When you’re buying in bulk, customize products that are always in demand, multi-functional, or can be used by several people within a household. A few popular choices are the Mineral Soft Touch Lucina 4-Ink Stylus Pen (or for an even lower price point, the  Medley Multi-Ink Pen).  The Multi-Function Tool Box Stylus Pen makes an attractive first impression and is too handy to overlook. If you’re considering the ever-popular tote bag, pick one that tops the others, like an insulated option (see the Keep It Cool Insulated Tote Bag).

4. Say Less: When you customize your bulk promotional products, go big on quantity but when it comes time to customizing, less is best. If you’re going to a trade show, include your name but not the event. If you’re celebrating top employees, imprint your business name but avoid including a specific year or project name.

Best Bulk Promotional Items for Your Business

For a marketing strategy that uses bulk promotional products for ongoing outreach to clients and prospects, buy more, pay less, and distribute your giveaways near and far.