We recently kicked off a new Business Building Fundamentals monthly webinar series. First in the series was a discussion about top markets and top products! Here’s a recap of our webinar, where we discussed what industries and items were trending at the close of 2020. Use this info to find out which businesses and industries to target and to get ideas for trending promo items!

Top 5 Markets

Check out more of the latest research here.

#5 Construction: The fifth largest market makes up about 10% of all promo products profit in the U.S. and it only continues to grow. Here are a few ideas for sales opportunities within the construction market:

• Safety Programs and Awards: The majority of construction customers are buying apparel or promo for onsite safety programs.
• Customer Appreciation: Customer loyalty is key right now, so try suggesting products that can reward repeat customers.
• Apparel: T-shirts for new hires and headwear like logoed caps are big with these construction markets. Plus, there’s opportunity for uniform and safety gear sales year-round.
• Sales Incentives: Construction companies like to thank and reward their workers, and they’ll spend as much as $200 per person.
• Top Tip: “Early spring and summer are prime building season, not the time to approach this industry. Lay the groundwork and reach out in the off-season, which is late fall through winter.” – ASI Top 40 Supplier

#4 Finance: With such an emphasis on customer service, branded appreciation gifts make this market a top industry leader. Try these options for your next pitch meeting to a finance company:

• Trade Show Giveaways: When in-person events open back up, make sure your customers are ready with products like mini piggy banks, stress balls or a classic T-shirt.
• Self-Promos: Marketing giveaways are great for increasing customer awareness. Think branded lollipops, credit card wallets or drinkware.
• Client Gifts: These types of gifts are really on the rise right now, with companies working hard to increase customer retention. Food baskets or golf ball sets are great. Don’t miss the opportunity for branded thank-you cards as well.
• Awards: Although they’re mainly given out at events, financial companies also give employees awards for exceeding their sales goals, completing training, or just going above and beyond for their customers.
• Top Tip: “Business cards and brochures aren’t cutting it anymore. They want pens, hand sanitizer, credit card wallets, mints, even socks.” – ASI Distributor

#3 Manufacturing: There are 18 industries that comprise the manufacturing market, so there’s a lot of potential here. Here are some ideas for selling to manufacturing companies:

• Uniform: Within any given manufacturing company, there are many different job roles that require an array of apparel pieces: industrial shirts and pants for the production floor; high-visibility clothing; jackets, hats and gloves for truckers; and dress shirts and polos for front-office executives and sales personnel.
• Recruitment: According to the National Association of Manufacturers, 80% of manufacturers can’t find the skilled workers they need, which makes recruitment a crucial part of the industry.
• Point-of-Purchase: Display signs for front desks can help to promote a new product line.
• PPE: This is essential for factories that have in-person operations.
• Sales Incentive Programs: Manufacturers like to motivate their salespeople via a tiered system of goals, with rewards for those who make it to certain checkpoints. Consider performance apparel, corporate gifts or branded jackets.
• Top Tip: “Once you have a contact within the organization, such as a safety manager, you can ask for referrals to other departments such as human resources.” – ASI Distributor

#2 Education: Historically, education held that #1 spot in the promo products industry. It dipped to #2 in 2020, with schools taking a long hiatus in the spring due to COVID-19.

• Apparel: Wearables are key for the education market, as T-shirts are given away during school events and uniforms are still a staple for many schools.
• Awards: Awards are used to congratulate students and teachers on their achievements. There are a wide variety of options here, with paper certificates with seals or stamps offered as a less expensive alternative for budget-conscious customers.
• Office Supplies: According to a Global Ad Impressions Study conducted by the ASI Research team (see the full product stats here), 90% of consumers own promo pens, which produce an average of 3,000 impressions. Writing instruments are also kept for an average of nine months.
• Sporting Events: There’s a lot of potential for sports within the education market – fan spirit items like rally towels, pom-poms and hand fans are all popular items. But also consider team uniforms and water bottles.
• Top Tip: Consider multifunctional promo. One ASI Distributor offered schools “multifunctional headwear that protects the neck, ears and face, but that can also be a rally towel, armband and spirit wear, so it’s a statement piece with other use.”

#1 Healthcare: This top market is booming thanks to a national interest in health and wellness in 2020.

• Nursing Homes: These health-focused facilities need items like embroidered polos and healthcare-related items such as pill organizers and rubber gloves.
• Dentists: Use promo ideas like branded toothbrushes or floss. Consider younger patients who may be nervous about going to the dentist and suggest branded stickers.
• Pharmacies: Pharmacies are a little tougher, but they all need branded prescription bags. Try thinking outside the box and offer calendars for patients to mark order refill dates or have a branded business card holder for contact info cards.
• Physical Therapists: Consider all the things a patient needs to continue therapy at home.
• Top Tip: “You have to go day by day when it comes to the healthcare market. You never know what legislation is going to do. You need to be aware of what’s going on that can affect your clients and then be proactive in helping them solve any problems.” – ASI Top 40 Distributor

Top Products

Check out the full list of the top 100 products.

• Pens, bags and mugs were dethroned by two PPE items: masks and hand sanitizer.
• Masks were by far the most popular product search of the year, boasting over 50% more searches than the next closest product: sanitizer.
• The other PPE items in the Top 10 products searched: antibacterial products, gloves, reusable masks, and coronavirus and face shields. Additional products like neck gaiters and touchless openers aren’t PPE, but they certainly owe their spots on the list to demand from the pandemic.
• On the backs of huge sales of masks and sanitizer, PPE accounted for nearly 30% of all products sold last year – a total of $6 billion!
• Thermometers, touchless openers and other medical items all jumped last year, making this a popular and trending category.
• Even prior to 2020, T-shirts have been the biggest-selling item in promo, but they historically have finished lower than other products in ESP searches. The reason? Most distributors know where to find T-shirts outside of ESP, as opposed to other product categories.
• Bags have the second-most search terms in the Top 20 with a total of four (bags, tote bags, backpacks and coolers). Only drinkware has more.
• Drinkware remains a hot category and it shows in the ranks. No other category has more search terms (17 in total) or more in the Top 25 (six total search terms: mugs, water bottles, tumblers, bottles, Yeti and Koozie).
• Who doesn’t enjoy a good blanket? With employees quarantining at home, blankets (which ranked 22nd overall) were a popular gift this past holiday season.
• Games are another popular trend. At the beginning of the pandemic, ASI sent employees a puzzle of an all-company photo to connect us all. We had a contest for who could complete it the fastest.

We’ve tied it all up with our marketing tip of the week:

The more education you can provide on the value and effectiveness of promo, the better your business will be.

 

Want more great business-building content like this? Check out our lineup of upcoming webinars. You can also listen to the full recording.