Promotional materials are an extremely important part of business marketing; contrary to what some may think they are far from outdated. However, there are many ways of approaching this aspect of promoting your name – some promotional materials are much more important than others. With this in mind, we’ve rounded up a list of the most important ones that your business simply can’t do without.

Business cards
Let’s start with the most obvious form of promotional materials – business cards. It is worth mentioning that you shouldn’t invest in business cards until you’ve got a perfect logo and well-established branding, but once you’re ready, it is time to have business cards (don’t forget the letterhead) professionally designed and printed. Why is this so important? Well, simply put, these things tell your potential customers, clients and investors that you are established, professional and that you truly mean business. It may seem a bit cheesy to you, but the best way to professionally connect with people is handing out business cards – people still treasure these gestures.
Pens and stress balls
Discounts can be quite treacherous; for example, even though a vendor might offer you a huge amount of goods for a cheap price, you should think twice before deeming it the deal of the century – what are you going to do with amounts of, say, paper, that are significantly larger than what you actually need. Plus, at the end of the day, you’re still going to end up having spent a lot of money, regardless of how lucrative a deal might seem.
On the other hand, pens are somewhat contradictory in these terms – any excess can serve as promotional material, which is great – everybody needs pens! Invest into printing your name on them and you’ll spread your name onto countless potential clients! The same goes for such items as stress balls, they are fun and useful and opting for branded stress balls can be a great approach to spreading your brand name.

Gift bags
If you are looking to invest in promotional materials, the best way to go is to give them out as parts of a gift bag. This includes the above-mentioned pens, but also stuff such as notebooks, USB sticks, cup holders and the like. Naturally, your company’s name should be included on every single item within a gift bag, but you can even go a step further and opt for handing them out in quality printed cotton bags; you’d be surprised at how much this means in terms of marketing – rest assured that all recipients will remember you in this way.
Sales or fact sheets
Every product and service that your business provides should have its own sales or fact sheet. It should include your logo and branding at the top and contain informative info, such as, price, general description of the product/service in question, how to use it, any options, terms and its complete specifications; essentially, it should include everything that your customer would need to know. Sales and fact sheets can be left after a sales meeting or sent to a prospect and are an important part of promoting your company. These can also contain other useful information, such as the company description, its history, mission statement, as well as key employee contacts.
The trifold brochure
Trifold brochures are an excellent addition that go hand-in-hand with sales and fact sheets. These should include an in-detail description of what you do as a company and what brand of products/services you’ve got in offer. Make sure to include your most fresh and popular deals here, with quality photos and brief descriptions (your sales/fact sheets will go more into details).
Do not underestimate the power of promotional materials – the more you get your name out there, the more likely your potential customers are to choose you over your competition. Make the most out of the mentioned – they are a valid investment!