Promotional items are used world wide for brand reinforcement and promotion by companies of all sizes. The industry is the third biggest advertising industry and it is not hard to see promotional products in action. Surely you will have something in your home or your office that has a company's name and logo featured on it. The repetitive use of this item allows the logo of the company to be seen contributing to brand recognition and reinforcement. Promotional items are usually used as giveaways to aid promotion at exhibitions, events, tradeshows and conferences.

There are other ways to use promotional items other than as giveaways to help boost sales, which is the use of them as sales incentives. These ways are sometimes overlooked by companies but are very effective; that is, using the promotional items as a reward in conjunction with a desired action in order to achieve that action. This is when the promotional items are actually used to increase the value of the shopping basket, encourage a sign up, encourage somebody to leave their details, or to buy a certain product.

Perhaps you run a fashion store. For an effective summer promotion you could give away a branded beach bag with every order over 50 pounds. This will not only encourage people to spend a higher value as the promotional items is desirable, but also the beach bag will have your company's logo on, reinforcing the brand to not only the client but to everybody that will see the beach bag when it is in use.

Perhaps you want somebody to sign up to a monthly membership or an ongoing subscription. The giveaway of a freebie for every sign up is a good method of achieving this as it gives that little extra incentive to do so. People are more inclined to go for a deal when they are given an incentive to do so. This tactic can also be utilised for newsletter sign up as everybody loves a freebie.

Perhaps you need to move some stock, or have a special bulk order that you need to promote. The incentive of a promotional item here can be used with each purchase; that is the giveaway of an item if this product is purchased. This again acts as an additional incentive to make that purchase as to the client they are getting extra value for money when it comes to purchasing a product.

The promotional items when used in conjunction with another product not only help to increase sales but also work towards brand recognition and brand building. Every time the item is seen, so will the logo and the company's name. This will not only be seen by the chosen client but also everyone in their vicinity. With these techniques you are getting all the benefits of the branding potential of promotional products put together with the incentives of achieving a desired action.