How to Distribute Company Swag to Loyal Staff and Customers

According to the ASI Global Ad Impressions Study, the three most significant factors for how long someone is likely to keep promotional swag are quality, utility, and attractiveness. If you've got those three factors handled, and your swag is on the way – or soon to be, your next step will be figuring out how you will distribute company swag to employees and customers.

There are countless ways for you to deliver your newly minted company swag. You could use some fancy custom packaging, send it out in the mail in plain packaging to remote workers, hand employee gifts out at the office, have contests to win items or swag boxes, or start a corporate merch store.

Decide How to Distribute Company Swag Based on Its Purpose

A great way to determine how you'll distribute your new company swag is to think back to the intended purpose of the products.

Are they new uniforms or daily wear to identify employees? Employee appreciation gifts? Do you intend to reward loyal customers with your promo products? How much did you spend on the gifts? Is it "just a little something" to show employee appreciation, or intended to be customer or employee gifts to mark a special occasion?

Whatever the reasons behind creating your new company swag, it's a great way to keep employees and customers connected to your brand and show appreciation for their continued support.

Below we'll outline a few different methods to distribute company swag.

Swag Distribution Platforms

In the not-so-distant past, sending out corporate swag to employees or customers working in different regions or countries was a logistical headache that took some serious thought and planning. Thanks to technological advancement in eCommerce, however, you can now have your swag designed, manufactured, and delivered – end-to-end fulfillment – by promotional products companies, or swag platforms, that handle each aspect of the swag design and delivery process.

You'll have to check with the promotional products company you choose. However, many offer to ship worldwide, ultimately alleviating the issue of getting your company swag to employees and customers scattered around the country and globe. Another positive of this solution is that it relieves your need to store swag, as you can send it out whenever and to wherever it needs to be without ever holding on to and storing the products yourself.

If you choose third-party delivery fulfillment, things to keep in mind are the weight of the items you're shipping and any Custom Duties you might have to pay to get your swag into certain countries.

Swag Boxes (as Prizes) in the Office

This is fairly standard practice and a straightforward one. Just hand over the goods – there; done.

You can do this with prizes or rewards that your staff competes for, such as "highest sales for the month/quarter," "most new leads," or "highest customer satisfaction rate" – anything you want it to be. This method of swag distribution can be quite beneficial, as competition breeds success and successful outcomes. For customer swag rewards, you might give company gifts to the "best customer of the year."

You might choose to surprise your employees with a swag box on their desk on a typical Monday morning or the last day before Christmas break. "Just handing over the goods" is a fool-proof method, at any rate.

You can spice up this distribution method with custom packaging for swag boxes or keep it simple. Again, you might want to take your cue from your promo products' or gifts intended purpose. Corporate gifts don't need to be in fancy custom packaging, but who doesn't like unwrapping a nicely wrapped or packaged gift? We'll leave it to you whether you wrap the swag boxes in colorful wrapping paper.

Set Up a Corporate Merch Store

A corporate merch store can be as simple as a restaurant or bar with multiple t-shirt options in a closet in the manager's office that employees can buy to supplement their wardrobe or as complex as a standalone gift shop or merch store on your corporate campus. If you diversify your swag offerings, and the demand is there among employees, their families, and customers, selling corporate merch can be an excellent way to add to the overall bottom line.

Swag Referral Program

When someone you know recommends a new TV series to binge-watch or a restaurant to try, most people are much more likely to try it due to this "word-of-mouth" validation. This concept rings true for business, as well. Think of the last time you needed someone to work on your car but weren't sure whether to go with option A, B or somewhere between C and Z.

There's nothing like someone you know and trust recommending something to you. Word-of-mouth advertising is irreplaceable in business and accounts for a vast swath of new customers in most industries.

So, how can you get your happy clients to share their positive experiences with your organization even more freely with their network? Well, incentivize it building a custom swag referral program. Building a relationship with your clients outside of normal client-company relations – such as rewarding them for bringing you a new customer – is an excellent method for drumming up new business.

Your options are pretty open here. It might be a gift card to your corporate merch store, a fashionable special-edition piece of clothing for five referrals, or it could be tiered as many restaurants do. For example, if you spend $75, get a free soda or side with your next purchase, spend $200, get $20 off a meal, and so on. Refer five people, receive a t-shirt; refer ten, get a hoodie; refer twenty, they'll get a hoodie and a t-shirt; refer fifty, get all of the above, plus a month of free service from your company. Tiered rewards incentivize not just one or two but continued leads. If the quality is there, what's the hold-up? Get some great swag in the hands of your loyal customers and make some new loyal customers. Win-win for everyone.

Here’s an example of how Morning Brew uses custom swag to power their referral program.

Send 'Em Out – Distribute Company Swag Far and Wide

We've outlined a few different methods for distributing company swag for employee culture building and rewarding your loyal customers. What will you choose? These are only a few of the more common methods for distributing swag that shows customer and employee appreciation, but the sky's the limit, so get creative and get your swag in the hands of your people.