Can tote bags help promote your business? Tote-ally! Tote bags are a dream promotional item: inexpensive to produce, useful and handy for customers, and effective in helping spread your business name to the masses. Customized tote bags are an easy to produce and extremely versatile promotional item that any and every type of business should consider as part of their marketing and promotional budget. Here, we’ll detail just a few of the many ways in which customized tote bags can help boost your business.

People love a freebie!

It’s a plain and simple fact: people love a good freebie. When you offer customers a free promotional item, it will make people far more likely to give your business consideration over your competitors. Whether you’re taking part in an outdoor festival, exhibiting at a trade show, or just trying to market your retail store on a daily basis, offering branded tote bags to your customers is a proven effective method of getting them to engage with your business and to see what it is that you do, and how it might benefit them. Offering tote bags can also offer you the chance to connect with customers in a more tangible way, as well. Often, you can request that customers join your mailing list or engage with some sort of small “call to action” to receive one of the totes, which can help boost your mailing list and help spread the word about your company.

They’re a functional and useful object.

One of the best things about tote bags as a promotional item is that you can guarantee that your customers will use them. Tote bags are useful for grocery shopping, library visits, and strolling the farmer’s market, so you can pretty much guarantee that unlike some promotional items that might be thrown out or stuffed in a closet and forgotten, these totes will probably get some real use.

They’re like mini billboards.

This point is a direct extension of the previous one. Your branded tote bags are, in effect, mini billboards for your business, spreading your logo and business name wherever they are carried. And happily, since they are such a useful and functional item, they will be carried far and wide! In effect, your brand will be showcased wherever your customers take these branded totes. So whether they are shopping for groceries or going to the local farmer’s market, they are spreading the word about your business wherever they go. This increases brand recognition and makes your logo more prominent in people’s minds!

Inexpensive production = more bang for your buck.

Custom tote bags are one of the most cost-effective promotional items, which means that you get a nice “bang for your buck” in terms of being able to create many printed units for a reasonable price. With items like tote bags, the more the merrier: the more totes you hand out to customers at trade shows or in an event or retail setting, the more chance there is for the tote bags to act as the mini billboards detailed in the previous entry. Printed items like tote bags, when printed in high volume, will become a recognizable commodity. The more people see them, the more accustomed they will become to your branding. Additionally, as an added bonus, the more people see your logo, the more likely they are to express curiosity about what you are doing, which means that even people who don't have your tote might take the time to check out who you are.

They draw attention at trade shows.

Tote bags can “go viral” at trade shows, so to speak. How so? Well, as you hand out your tote bags to customers passing by your booth, more people--both exhibitors and other attendees--will begin to notice the bags and your logo. This recognition can lead to curiosity, and it might lead other people to your booth. Sure, some people might initially come just for the freebie (as previously noted, people do love a freebie!) but this means that you have an opportunity to engage with them. And even if one person who visits doesn’t buy anything or take business further with you, the fact that they are displaying your branding as they walk away can turn out to be valuable for drawing attention to your business. So even if people don’t buy what you are selling, if they take one of your totes, they might be bringing you more business without even realizing it!

Cross-promotional opportunity.

Although it might not be your first thought, your customized tote bags can also provide a fantastic promotional opportunity which will mutually benefit you and another business or businesses. Consider printing extra totes and offering them to a local business. For instance, you could connect with a local farmer and have them give customers your bags when they buy produce at the weekly farmer’s market. The vendor will benefit because they will have a highly useful item to offer their customers, and you benefit by spreading your logo and company branding to a new audience. This can be a valuable way to mutually benefit, and to “cross pollinate” and spread your company’s branding far and wide in a creative way. Conclusion: For a simple promotional item, tote bags have a lot to offer for your business. For you as the business owner, they are appealing as an easy to produce and affordable promotional item, but the benefits extend to your customers, too. Tote bags provide a useful and handy item for customers that will increase your brand awareness and spread your logo far and wide. Tote bags are appropriate for just about any type of business, and can be used in any number of different settings, from trade shows to outdoor events to even in retail settings. It’s well worth considering adding customized tote bags to your promotional suite of items; there’s little risk in producing them, yet so many benefits which they can offer your company. Have you ever printed custom tote bags for your business?