Green Promotional Gifts as Marketing Tools

Eco-friendly promotional gifts create long term branding for your company

In our latest installment in our marketing green category, we take a look at using promotional gifts to market your company. We at GreenBusinessOwner.com have been doing this for years, and we love the results. We’ve printed our logo and brand name on reusable coffee mugs, stainless steel water bottles, and reusable cloth bags.

In terms of sustainability, you’re making a statement by creating a green good–reusable items people will enjoy while also reducing their footprint when they use them. In addition, you’re getting the benefits of branding. In marketing, the rule of thumb is that people have to see your name 7x before they make a purchase and decide to give your company a go. So let’s run some numbers.

If you advertise on the web, you may expect to pay anywhere from 50 cents to $2 per click to get people to come to your website. If it takes them 7 clicks to buy something, your customer acquisition cost is anywhere from $3.50 to $14. A reusable coffee mug not only helps your customer reduce their footprint, it puts your logo in front of them 7 times a week if they’re regular coffee or tea drinkers. And it may cost you anywhere from a few bucks and up depending on where you buy your promotional gifts and how many you buy (bulk orders means a fairly substantial price drop in many cases).

But the mug, many would argue, is way better than online ads. It might help breed customer loyalty because you’ve a) given a gift to your customer, and b) helped them become eco-cool in the meantime.

But the bottom line is that you’ve just achieved a result all companies want: positive PR and a connection to customers (and/or employees).