What good do things like promotional pens do in this age of on-line advertising? People are more accustomed to seeing what people have liked on their Facebook pages or a promotional twitter feed, or even a business-specific app for their phone (soup of the day at TGI Fridays, maybe). So does that mean you should drive the boxes of coasters and lanyards to the recycling center?

The answer is this: never underestimate people’s enthusiasm for free stuff. No, nobody needs a pen with your company’s phone number on it when all they need to do is type the name into a web browser, but swag is a word that still nets hits. Offer a free coaster with your company name, and you can get several hits from one customer alone as they navigate to the swag page.

Yes, maybe flyer printing is going out of fashion as a way to advertise your business; maybe people are too used to tossing the things find under their windshield wipers while they are checking the twitter feed on their phones. Their recycling bins are always right at hand for guilt-free advertising disposal, but you can never go wrong with swag.

Last 5 posts by Deepak Shrivastava