There are five specific ways you can use promotional products to great effect: as incentive programs, for fundraising, to create growth, to launch a new product or brand, or simply to bring joy into your life in the business world.

1. Promotional Products Are Never Just
Freebies. They Always Have Strings
Attached. You Give Them Purpose.
There are five specific ways you can use promotional
products to great effect: as incentive programs,
for fundraising, to create growth, to launch a new
product or brand, or simply to bring joy
into your life in the business world.
An Opportunity Knocks:
Sourcing and Product Ideas
Dave Burnett / db@aokmg.com

2. What’s Your Incentive to Succeed?
What Incentives Work for Your Employees?
Incentives create enthusiasm and breed success. Basically,
some companies offer incentives to reward hard work.
You’ve heard of department managers winning a trip to
Jamaica or Aruba for achieving a difficult goal. That’s often
the ultimate prize at the top of a long list of prizes awarded
to those who accomplish their company’s goals. Businesses
also use incentives to convince consumers to buy some-
thing; for example, if you buy the top-of-the-line cordless
drill, you’ll get the battery, or sometimes two batteries,
free! And that’s just one common example. The third way
organizations use incentives is to reward specific behavior,
to get you to work safely, perhaps, or to represent the
company in a highly visible volunteer charity event.
Dave Burnett www.AnOpportunityKnocks.com
Incentives create enthusiasm
and
breed success!

3. You Donate to Charitable Causes
Because You Believe in Them—And You
Don’t Mind Using the Mug Every Day!
Promotional items are prominently used in fundraising; and
fundraising comes in many forms, for many purposes.
Fundraising is used to build community, to create awareness
of a critical social need, to support a charitable or
educational organization. Fundraisers sell promotional
products to reward ever higher levels of donations; they
recognize donors for their generosity with substantial gifts.
All the logo products you see during a 5K or 10K run to
support a charitable organization, items like calendars,
T shits and water bottles with the organization’s logo‑
imprinted on them are striking and effective examples of
using promotional products for fundraising.
Dave Burnett www.AnOpportunityKnocks.com

4. “The Medium Is the Message.” (Marshall McLuhan)
What You Advertise with Says as Much
as What You Are Advertising.
Promotional products are featured prominently in advertising
and marketing campaigns, and the promotional item itself is
as much a message to the customer as it is a message about
the product. What this means is that if you want to create
growth, you give a high end product to a high end customer;‑ ‑
you spend money to make money, so to speak. You don’t
select a one-size-fits-all giveaway and expect a substantial
increase in growth. You tailor your promotional product to
your audience to ensure success. Let your budget be your guide. If you are
marketing to the masses you need an inexpensive item, like a pen or a
pocket calendar. If you’re appealing to a few wealthy prospects, you need
something commensurate to their status.
Dave Burnett www.AnOpportunityKnocks.com
A classy rosewood
clock has status
written all over it.

5. Target the Right Audience with the Right
Promotional Products in the Right Place at the
Right Time and You’ll Get the Right Results.
Right? That’s a lot of “rights,” but if you get it right you create growth for
your brand. Promotional products are great tools for creating brand
exposure. You can leave items behind on sales calls, distribute branded
portfolios to high-level prospects at trade show, imprint plastic carry-away
bags for customers—all great examples. And one of the reasons they are so
successful as part of a growth strategy is their low cost per
impression and low initial investment—they’re budget
friendly. Promotional items that create many impressions
per dollar and achieve high visibility work especially well
for new product launches, for street team giveaways, and
for sales reps’ leave behinds. Especially if they catch your
attention and create a buzz.
Dave Burnett www.AnOpportunityKnocks.com

6. Joy to the World. There’s a Reason
for This Very Popular Sentiment.
And it’s the fifth most popular reason why so many companies use
promotional products—to bring joy to individual employees and make their
workday more fun. You can use a promotional product as a surprise reward
for an employee, board member, or any stakeholder for that matter. Think
of the joy you bring to your office promotional foods items like chocolate,
chocolate covered almonds, mints and gum, and customized M&Ms with‑
your own logo. There’s no better reason to
bring joy to your hard-working employees
than to thank them for their dedication, for
the quality of their work, or for the length of
their time of service, with a gift that
demonstrates your appreciation.
Dave Burnett www.AnOpportunityKnocks.com

7. Get your name out there with
amazing promotional products
from AnOpportunityKnocks.com,
the number one promotional products
resource on the Internet.
Sixty-four categories and almost 200 subcategories of industry-leading
products, including (but not limited to): Apparel, Awards, Business Cases,
Calendars, Desk Items, Executive, Eco-Friendly, Golf, Health and Wellness ,
Key Chains, Luggage and Cases, Mugs and Tumblers, Pens, Pencils, and
Highlighters, Post-It Notes, Safety, Tools, Travel, USB Drives, and Watches.
An Opportunity Knocks:
Sourcing and Product Ideas
Dave Burnett / db@aokmg.com