Bankers Advertising Articles

How to Choose the Right Promotional Product for Your Audience

November 4, 2024

 

Selecting the ideal promotional product is key to building lasting connections with your customers. Promotional products are more than giveaways—they’re tools that reflect your brand’s values and message. A well-chosen product reinforces brand awareness and makes your company memorable. But selecting the right item requires thoughtful audience targeting, brand alignment, and budget management.

Here’s a guide to help you make the best choice for your campaign—and how Bankers Advertising can support your efforts every step of the way.

  1. Know Your Audience: The Power of Targeting

Understanding your audience is essential for choosing products that will resonate. Consider their age, interests, profession, and lifestyle to select products that are not only relevant but also practical.

  • Example: Busy professionals appreciate items like wireless chargers or tech accessories, while families may prefer branded water bottles or household items.
  • Healthcare or Eco-Conscious Audiences: For targeted audiences, items like hand sanitizers or reusable tote bags show you understand their values.

Ask yourself:

  • What are the key demographics of my audience?
  • Are there specific needs or trends I should address with my product?

How Bankers Advertising Can Help:
We can assist with audience research and suggest creative product options that match your specific customer base. Our industry expertise ensures the right product is chosen for maximum impact.

  1. Align the Product with Your Brand Identity

The right promotional product should reflect your brand’s voice and mission. Think of each product as an ambassador for your company—delivering a message and leaving a positive impression.

  • Example: If your business promotes sustainability, offering eco-friendly products like bamboo utensils or reusable straws reinforces your values.
  • Quality Counts: Even a small giveaway like a pen should feel well-made, reflecting the high standards of your brand.

Ask yourself:

  • Does this product reflect my company’s identity and message?
  • How will customers feel when they receive and use this product?

How Bankers Advertising Can Help:
Our team will help you find custom products that align perfectly with your brand values. We offer extensive customization services to ensure every detail—from colors to messaging—reinforces your identity.

  1. Balancing Budget and Value

It’s important to balance your budget with the product’s perceived value. High-quality, useful items tend to stay in customers’ hands longer, extending your brand’s visibility. But different campaigns may call for different strategies—some events require premium gifts, while others demand high-quantity, lower-cost giveaways.

  • Example: Tote bags or pens work well for large trade shows, but VIP events might call for premium journals or insulated drinkware.
  • Smart Spending: Plan ahead to take advantage of bulk order discounts and seasonal promotions.

Ask yourself:

  • Should I prioritize quality or quantity for this campaign?
  • How can I stay within budget while maximizing value?

How Bankers Advertising Can Help:
We’ll help you strategize based on your budget, ensuring you get the best value without compromising on quality. With access to thousands of products, we’ll identify creative solutions that fit your financial plan.

  1. Timing and Trends Matter

Aligning your promotional products with current events, seasons, or trends boosts their impact. A product given at the right time—like a branded blanket in winter or a festival-themed giveaway in summer—feels more thoughtful and relevant to recipients.

  • Example: Seasonal campaigns using holiday-themed items or branded calendars offer year-round visibility.
  • Trending Products: Today’s consumers love sustainable or tech-driven products, making these categories smart choices.

Ask yourself:

  • Are there seasonal opportunities I can tie into my campaign?
  • What trends are currently influencing consumer behavior?

How Bankers Advertising Can Help:
Our product experts stay on top of industry trends and can recommend items that fit seasonal campaigns or tap into popular consumer interests. We ensure your products are relevant, timely, and aligned with what’s hot in the marketplace.

  1. Measuring Success

A promotional campaign doesn’t end when the products are distributed. Tracking results—whether through leads, customer engagement, or social media impressions—helps determine the campaign’s effectiveness.

  • Example: QR codes on products or a social media hashtag can make it easy to track customer engagement.
  • Feedback Loop: Asking customers for feedback on your promotional products offers insights for future campaigns.

Ask yourself:

  • How will I track the success of this campaign?
  • What metrics will tell me if my product made an impact?

How Bankers Advertising Can Help:
We don’t just stop at delivery. We can assist you in measuring your campaign’s success, offering advice on ways to track engagement and gather feedback. Our team is committed to helping you refine and improve your promotional strategy for future campaigns.

Why Bankers Advertising is Your Promotional Partner

At Bankers Advertising, we understand that the right promotional product can make all the difference. With decades of experience in the promotional products industry, we’ve helped businesses of all sizes connect with their customers and grow their brands. Whether you need a high-quantity order for an event or a unique, premium gift for VIP clients, we’re here to guide you.

Our advantages:

  • In-depth expertise in audience targeting and product trends
  • Creative solutions aligned with your brand and budget
  • Customized products with superior attention to detail
  • Long-term partnerships focused on your business’s success

Let us help you make every giveaway count. Contact us today to explore your options and get started on your next promotional campaign!

Advertising,Apparel,Bags,Branding,Marketing,Promotional Products — Molly Beavers @ 1:10 pm

The coolest promo? You can never go wrong with sunglasses!

June 25, 2021

You can’t deny the unassailable cool that comes with donning a stylish pair of shades — and with your branding on the stem or lens, you can be part of the fashion-forward statements of all your fans. But looks aren’t the only benefit. You’ll be offering protection from a whole host of sun-related eye damages; UV damage can cause macular degeneration (a leading cause of age-related blindness). The sun can also be to blame for eye cancer and the sunburn-like photokeratitis.

Designer Karl Lagerfeld is quoted as saying, “Sunglasses are like eye shadow: They make everything look younger and pretty.”

Hand out an accessory that completes any look. We have a multitude of options. And remember to wear your shades this Sunday, June 27 — National Sunglasses Day!

Advertising,Branding — Genevieve Trainor @ 8:52 am

Send customers into summer prepared!

May 28, 2021

The Surgeon General says that more than one out of every three people in the U.S. get sunburns every year. Dermatologists recommend protecting your skin with SPF 30 sunscreen, which blocks 97 percent of the sun’s UVB rays. Show your concern for clients and staff with branded sunscreen, available in a variety of dispensers with ample imprint area! Pair it with some supercool shades and they’ll be ready to take your brand to the beach!

Speaking of the beach, read on to learn more about the benefits of reef safe sunscreen.
(Click image to expand.)
Protect their skin and our planet!

Branding — Genevieve Trainor @ 10:38 am

Pantone announces another two-color year!

December 11, 2020

A sunbeam cracks through the gray clouds above. You turn your face toward it, basking in its unexpected warmth and beauty.

Congrats; you’ve just experienced Pantone’s Colors of the Year for 2021!

For just the second time, the Pantone Color of the Year is in fact a pair of colors: PANTONE® 17-5104 Ultimate Gray and PANTONE® 13-0647 Illuminating (this happened previously in 2016, when PANTONE® 13-1520 Rose Quartz and PANTONE® 15-3919 Serenity were featured). The Pantone Color Institute, which has selected a Color of the Year since 2000, regularly forecasts and consults on color trends, brand identities, and the leveraging of color psychology and emotion in design.

Pantone notes on their website that the two colors are exemplary of the way that “different elements come together to support one another,” a mood that they found valuable heading into 2021. They emphasize Ultimate Gray’s “deeper feelings of thoughtfulness” and Illuminating’s “promise of something sunny and friendly.”

In color theory, yellow is considered the color of happiness and optimism. It is recognized as the most attention-getting of any color. In Hinduism and ancient Egyptian religion, it was the color most associated with deity. Interestingly, yellow’s negative associations fall into illness and caution, two ideas that certainly lurk in the background of the coming year as well. But overwhelmingly, worldwide, it is a color of creativity and warmth.

Gray is a color associated with wisdom and compromise. It’s a color of stability, but with an eye toward the future, with echoes of industrial design and smooth, sleek efficiency. It can also be considered a color of boredom and ambiguity or uncertainty, which are also ahead for us — but at its best, it is a color of reaching a middle ground, something that would be a welcome respite from the many different types of extremes we’ve experienced in 2020.

“The union of an enduring Ultimate Gray with the vibrant yellow Illuminating expresses a message of positivity supported by fortitude,” said Pantone Color Institute Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman in the announcement of the colors. “Practical and rock solid but at the same time warming and optimistic, this is a color combination that gives us resilience and hope. We need to feel encouraged and uplifted; this is essential to the human spirit.”

In marketing and promotions, teaming these two colors together will give your customers a sensation of a steady foundation from which to launch into a joyful positivity. They work together to make consumers feel safe and secure enough to be hopeful again—something that will be invaluable as we work to lift the economy as well as our spirits. Consumer confidence is going to be crucial to everyone’s experience of the coming year, and pairing Ultimate Gray and Illuminating in marketing opportunities can help to foster that.

“Emboldening the spirit,” the announcement reads, “the pairing of PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 [Illuminating] highlights our innate need to be seen, to be visible, to be recognized, to have our voices heard.”

This is the perfect opportunity for you to listen to your customers’ needs and highlight both your reliable infrastructure and your willingness to cast your eyes forward to a better future.

Advertising,Branding,Marketing — Genevieve Trainor @ 1:29 pm

And the winner is: PROMO!

November 9, 2020

As a tumultuous election season came to an apparent end over the weekend, one event rose to prominence in the public conscious: a press conference featuring members of President Trump’s team, held at Four Seasons.

No, not the Four Seasons, as in the hotel. At Four Seasons Total Landscaping — more precisely, in the parking lot behind the small, family-owned Philadelphia business. The business was proud to host the presser, and many members of the press showed up despite confusion about the unconventional location.
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Advertising,Branding,Promotional Products — Genevieve Trainor @ 10:12 am

Connecting Through Promo

August 28, 2020

Members of the 185th Air Refueling Wing Civil Engineering Squadron, Iowa Air National Guard uses a skid loader to remove downed trees among downed power lines in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 18, 2020. High winds uprooted trees, caused wide spread structural damage and power outages throughout Southeast Iowa. — U.S. Air National Guard photo Senior Master Sgt. Vincent De Groo

 

On Monday, Aug. 10, a derecho (essentially an inland hurricane) barreled through the Midwest, leveling some of its worst damage, with sustained 100+ mph winds, as it passed over Eastern Iowa, including Iowa City, where Bankers HQ is located. We were largely spared — some staff were left without power at home, some lost trees, but our office is unscathed. We were lucky enough to keep power and internet service, although many in our city remained without for several days.

 

Just half an hour North of here, where a few of our suppliers are located, as well as several of our sales partners and customers, the situation is a lot more grim. The entire city of Cedar Rapids lost power. Many are still, two weeks later, without internet, and cell service is spotty. Lines at the few working gas stations were hours long that first week. Sales partners and customers across the state of Iowa have been affected to varying degrees by the wide swathe of the storm.

 

When friends and neighbors are facing devastation like that, it’s easy to feel helpless. It’s the same feeling we all feel, as a nation, as we trudge through month five of the COVID-19 pandemic. But feeling helpless, while entirely natural, gets us nowhere. I am a member of Delta Gamma sorority from my long-ago college years, and our motto is Do Good. I think of that motto frequently in these times of tragedy upon tragedy. It’s so simple, but it’s our best, and often only, choice. And one powerful way to do good is through promo.

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Branding,Marketing,Promotional Products — Genevieve Trainor @ 5:07 pm

Communicate. Connect. Celebrate.

April 28, 2016

Are you buying books? Did you know we offer branded books from all your favorite authors and themes?  We can easily add your logo and personal page to any book.book1

We have access to:

  • Every published book
  • More than 3 million titles available
  • Every Title. Every Author.
  • Every Budget, Every Theme

Branded books make great gifts for everyone. If you are looking for a unique gift that appeals to everyone no matter what your demographics are….then think books.

Never Thrown Away

Books are something that people will treasure. They are read, discussed, displayed and shared.

Smart Communicationbook2

The right book will reinforce your key messages and themes with intelligence and credibility.

More than Just a Logo

Books offer space for dramatic customization. Promo-Pages can feature full color artwork, detailed messaging, photos, contact information and more!

Educational and Entertaining

Books provide an experience that stay with people. They create a lasting bond with your brand. People will remember your company every time they think about the book and the message and feeling they received.

Look to Bankers Advertising for creative ideas to promote your brand or message. We can provide suggestions for every audience, every theme and every budget. We provide novel and notable promotions. From coffee table books, cookbooks, puzzle books, business books, quotation books, children books and leisure – we have access to books.

Branding,Customer Appreciation,Marketing,Promotional Products — Molly Beavers @ 3:17 pm

National Handwriting Day

January 22, 2016

MyHandwriting

Handwriting is a true art form. Sadly, due to our our heavy use of technology, its seldom appreciated these days. Here at Bankers, we want to celebrate the importance of handwriting. For children, learning how to write also helps teach them self-expression.  For adults, even in a world brimming with technology, handwriting remains a primary and very personal communication tool.  And… naturally… um… we sell branded pens. We heart pens! I mean really… who doesn’t have a *favorite* pen?!

I don’t know about you, but with all the typing I do, my handwriting has suffered. It’s always a good idea to keep such skills in check. Here are some steps I plan to take to improve my handwriting.

Handwriting is such a personal thing. We want to see yours! Enter to win some freebies by sending us a pic.

There is how to enter

  1. Write something cool on anything
  2. Comment on our Facebook post and #MyHandwriting
  3. Post on Facebook and #MyHandwriting
  4. Tag us on Twitter @BankersAdCo and #MyHandwriting

Advertising,Branding,Facebook,Marketing,Pens,Promotional Products,Social Media,Twitter — Marie Young @ 4:40 pm

This new craze is the next best thing to meditation

January 14, 2016

It’s an unlikely past time, but coloring is a fantastic way to reduce stress, keep your mind sharp and release your creativity.EE6BA1C5-FB98-4678-92ED-8E2DD8B32286

Coloring allows you to relieve stress and unlock creativity you may have not known you had. As psychologist Antoni Martínez explains: “I recommend it as a relaxation technique. We can use it to enter a more creative, freer state. I recommend it in a quiet environment, even with chill music. Let the color and the lines flow.”

Here are some ways coloring can make you a happier person.

Improve concentration. Our concentration is often incredibly split between work, home, electronics etc. When you sit down and focus on one thing, like coloring, it improves your ability to focus elsewhere.

Release your inner creativity. Adults who color are more likely to approach problems with a clearer mind and find better and faster solutions.

It’s like meditation. When you color, your brain has the same reaction as when you meditate.A8B37FCF-3CFB-49C3-A9FE-1F800C915C7B

It improves your motor skills. You’ll be using a lot of hand-eye coordination.

Get rid of negativity. When you color, you focus on what you’re doing and you just sort of naturally release tension and unconscious negativity that you’re carrying around.

RESULT: An overall decrease in your anxiety and stress.

Ben Michaelis, a psychologist, says, “There is a long history of people coloring for mental health reasons. Carl Jung used to try to get his patients to color in mandalas at the turn of the last century, as a way of getting people to focus and allow the subconscious to let go. Now we know it has a lot of other stress-busting qualities as well.”

Having a cruddy day? Get out those crayons and colored pencils and start coloring! Check out our coloring book options here.

References:

http://www.the-open-mind.com

http://www.artthesystem.com

Advertising,Branding,Marketing,Promotional Products,Stress Relief — Marie Young @ 5:01 pm

Tradeshow Time | Increase your exposure at Tradeshows!

December 18, 2015

Trade shows and exhibitions provide businesses and organizations with a unique opportunity to see a large number of people, face-to-face in a short amount of time. It allows for personal interaction with their brand and to hear their story. Over the past few years, reports from the Center of Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) state attendees come to these events intending to buy. They found that 91% of visitors feel that they get more useful buying information by attending a show and that 75% buy as a result of the information gathered at the event.1 - Tradeshow quote image

Get started with a pre-show mailing. A recent study indicates that 76% of attendees plan their booth visits in advance. Don’t forget the promotional item as a gift for stopping by either. Booth traffic can increase up to 30% with a pre-show mailing offering a promotional item as a gift for stopping by.

Your staff at the show is the face of the company and will be the first impression of your brand. It’s important that your team has a brand conscious, professional look and an easily identifiable uniform.

Giveaways, traditionally a sample or a promotional item, are almost expected at trade shows. A relevant, unique and fun item can create a buzz around your customer’s booth.

After the event is where the money is made and, according to the CEIR, 80% of exhibitors do nothing. After investing in attending an event, it would be a tragedy to waste the effort and expense by not following up on the leads and contacts made. As your Bankers consultant to help you create a thank you package or mailer so you can “strike while the iron is hot”.

Remember, your consultant can help you with signage, displays, apparel (uniform), lanyards & badges, totes, giveaways and more. Browse ideas here.

Here’s to a successful Tradeshow Season!

Advertising,Branding,Marketing,Promotional Products,Trade show,Uncategorized — Molly Beavers @ 4:31 pm

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