If you've been put in charge of securing promotional products, it can be a whirlwind of emotions. Whether you're feeling anxious or excited, bored or creative, one thing is for sure - there is no time to waste!

The first step is going to be developing your swag budget. This alone is quite the endeavor, but don't stress - we're here to help you get it done right. Today, we're going to cover everything you need to know about creating a promotional budget for swag. But most importantly, we're going to share some tips you can implement to get the most out of it.

Then at the very end, we'll uncover the #1 place to find all your swag needs - spoiler alert, but Swag Bar is the #1 choice if you want to get the most out of your budget and actually end up with quality promotional products your employees or clients will love. Let's start by talking about how to set your swag marketing budget, though.

Setting & Maximizing Your Swag Budget: Best Practices

You'll have to start by thinking about your swag product budget and what is realistic. Maybe the higher-ups have already given you a budget to stay within. But if you are responsible for developing the budget, here is what you should consider:

How Much Swag Do You Need (New Hires, Thank You Gifts For Clients, etc.)

There are quite a few instances in which businesses or organizations should consider giving out promotional product. Of course, there is never a bad time to give out swag!

But, it's commonplace to welcome new employees on their first day with a new hire swag bag. This gets the relationship off on the right food, helps them feel like part of the team right away, and provides them with some useful products to start their new job with.

Another instance in which you might give your employees promotional items is at the end of the year around Christmas time. This is a great way to say thank you for all the hard work. But it isn't just employees who would love to receive some promotional products from you!

That's right, clients and vendors love swag too. Similar to how you treat a new hire, you can get off to a great new relationship with both clients and vendors through swag. Or, you can thank them for what they do for you at the end of the year come Christmas time.

Start thinking about how frequently you want to give swag to clients and vendors. Then, consider how many new hires you bring in a year. Addressing these variables will provide you with a better understanding of how much swag you need.

What Type Of Swag Do You Need (Clothing, Office Supplies, etc.)

Once you know how much swag you need, you can determine what type of swag you need. Together, these two factors will give you a baseline budget to work within. Some goods cost more than others, and the degree to which you customize them will affect the price as well.

If you are just starting out your journey to secure the best swag, you might be wondering what type of promotional products you have to choose among. The fun part? There are a seemingly endless number of swag ideas! Just about anything you can imagine can be considered swag when branded with your company or organization logo. However, here are some of the most popular categories:

• Clothing (t-shirts, hoodies, socks, hats, jackets, gloves, scarfs, etc.)
• Food & Drinkware (coffee mugs, tumblers, collapsible water bottles, etc.)
• Notebooks, Sticky Notes, & Pens
• Tech Goods (phone accessories, speakers, blue light blocking glasses, computer accessories, and more)
• Travel Bags & Backpacks
• Food & Snacks
• Planters
• Hand Sanitizer
• Drink Koozies
• Playing Cards
• No Touch Keys
• Coasters
• Towels & Blankets
• Umbrella
• Sunscreen
• Sunglasses
• And much, much more!

As you can see, just about anything can be considered swag once you get your hands on it. There is no real estimate you can put on what swag costs. There is just too much variance among these different promotional products! For example, you can get 100 bottle openers for around $25 each. Or, you can get 50 AirPods for $250 each. You'll have to really consider which products you want - or if you want to build a bundle.

Factor In Shipping, Warehousing, & Fulfiling The Swag

One thing that often gets overlooked in building your promotional product budget is the cost of shipping, warehousing, and fulfilling the swag. If you are looking for promotional items just for your employees and they're all in-house, this won't be an issue.

But consider a remote company with hundreds of employees, vendors, and clients - shipping the swag to this many people is going to add up quickly. Then, you have to consider if you're going to need swag for an event and can clear it all out in a day, or if you are going to keep swag in a part of your warehouse. Storing swag comes with costs, too.

Set Your Swag Marketing Budget By Quarters

When setting your swag marketing budget, looking at it over the course of the calendar year can really overwhelm you. And, the budget will be much larger - making it a harder ask when you take it to the higher-ups for approval.

That's why we recommend setting your promotional budget by quarter - or at the very least, semiannual. This will also make it easier to plan out your promotional products. For example, you can provide a fun fall harvest outing pack during Q3 followed by a comfy, cozy winter swag pack for Q4.

You can come back to evaluate your swag budget on a quarterly basis and determine if you need to make adjustments as you bring more employees on, or sign new clients, etc.

Buy More Swag To Save Money

If you were looking for the best way to stretch your marketing dollars further, it wouldn't necessarily be to find inexpensive items. Rather, we would recommend you buy in bulk! Most swag vendors are happy to offer lower prices the more you buy.

For example, you can get 50 water bottles at around $12, or get 1,000 of the same water bottle for half the price at $6. Not every business can justify this many promotional products taking up space in their warehouse, but for others, 1,000 swag packs is a typical holiday season!

Choose The Right Swag Vendor

The best way to maximize your promotional product budget is to find the best possible swag vendor. This one should be where you allot most of your time in an effort to find the best quality products, the best service, and the lowest prices.

We do want to warn you against shopping entirely based on price, though. Many try and cut costs by going with the cheapest promotional items possible from the cheapest vendor. Typically, the end result is exactly what you would expect: disappointment and embarrassment. The last thing you want to do is be in charge of your company or organization swag budgeting and let everyone down because you tried to save money.

You typically get what you pay for when it comes to promotional products - so keep that in mind. With that said, we know of a swag vendor that can help you stay well within budget while still securing a curation of quality promotional products your clients, vendors, and employees will love.

Where Can You Go To Maximize Your Swag Budget?

At the outlook of this article, we promised to help you start your swag journey on the right foot. We've provided you with everything you need to know about setting and maximizing your promotional products budget. The only thing that's left to do now is to choose your swag vendor - and this is the tricky part.

But, it can be very, very simple when you choose the experts here at Swag Bar. We provide on-demand, branded swag packs for companies and organizations around the world. And, we can make sure you knock it out of the park with your promotional products.

When it comes to swag, nobody does it quite like us! There is a reason we're trusted by brands like Cisco, Salvation Army, Blade and Bow, Bulleit Bourbon, and many other amazing companies. Simply put, you won't find better quality and service for the money anywhere else.

Why Swag Bar Is The Best Choice For All Your Promotional Products

Here at Swag Bar, we're changing the narrative around what "swag" means. In the past, maybe you or your employees looked at swag as the clothing that gets shoved to the bottom of your dresser. Or, maybe it was a water bottle you never really used.

When you trust the experts here at Swag Bar with your promotional products, we not only help you save money and get the most out of your budget. But, we provide you with swag packs chock-full of amazing products people actually want. We've curated the most extensive list of products we can print your logo on, with basically everything under the sun in our offerings.

We've got a package for every occasion. We offer employee swag boxes, client gift baskets, corporate gift baskets, promotional gift baskets, and even virtual swag bags. We even keep a rotation of fun, seasonal swag packs that have been preconfigured with awesome goodies. All you do is pick your specific items, quantities, and send us your logo - we'll handle the rest. Ready to get started? Here is how it works.

How To Get Started

If you're ready to start your swag journey with us, we're excited you're making the right choice! You can either request a quote or begin building your own swag pack. You can choose a themed pack or start entirely from scratch.

To limit decision overwhelm, we've curated the best items in each category. You can choose multiple items per category, and if you don't see an item you want - just let us know. We can probably find it for you!

We display example prices for 100 packs to help you get a baseline of where you're at in your budget when building your pack. Note that by making your picks, you aren't placing an order - you won't pay till the very end. Most of our offerings come with a minimum quantity of 25 packs - but to save money, you can buy more.

Then, let us know when you need these packs by, we'll get your logo, and we'll handle the rest. It's that simple - so head over today and get started!