The Ultimate Guide to High-Impact Promotional Items in Salt Lake City for 2025

Salt Lake City businesses are leveraging promotional products to create lasting brand impressions in a market ranked #1 for ease of doing business in North America. For marketing leaders at large companies with budgets for trade shows, employee recognition, and customer gifts, promotional items offer tangible benefits that digital advertising can’t match.

At JC Pro Design, winner of the “Best Bespoke Screen Printer & Embroidery Company in Utah 2025” award, we help businesses in Salt Lake City choose custom branded promotional items that drive real results.

What promotional products work best?

A study by Barnett (2024) on “Promotional Product Brand Message Effectiveness” provides valuable insights into how branded items influence consumer behavior. The research found that promotional products can create “lasting brand impressions that digital ads simply can’t match” and foster “emotional connections with brands and effectively keep companies top-of-mind for recipients.” This research shows that promotional products are not just freebies but powerful marketing tools that build relationships with potential customers.

The best promotional items have three key qualities: usefulness, quality, and relevance. Products that fit into daily routines provide ongoing exposure to your brand. Our clients see strong results with:

• Custom apparel (t-shirts, polos, jackets)
• Tech accessories (phone chargers, USB drives)
• Drinkware (water bottles, tumblers, mugs)
• Office supplies
• Tote bags

The key is matching the item to your audience and brand. A tech company might do better with wireless chargers, while a fitness brand might see better results with branded water bottles.

What is the most useful promotional item?

The most useful promotional items solve everyday problems. That’s why drinkware consistently performs well – everyone needs to drink. Other useful items include:

• Power banks for charging on the go
• Reusable shopping bags
• High-quality pens
• Desk organizers
• Weather-related items (umbrellas, ice scrapers)

 JC Pro Design helps businesses choose items that recipients will actually use, maximizing your brand’s daily exposure.

What are some good giveaway items?

Good giveaway items balance cost, impact and memorability. For events where you need quantity, consider custom pens or pencils, keychains, phone wallets, microfiber cloths or branded packaging with mints or candy.

For higher-value contacts, we recommend stepping up to items like custom shirts, hats or premium drinkware with your logo.

Are promotional items gifts?

Promotional items function differently from gifts for tax purposes when they have low individual value and wide distribution patterns.

Promotional items like logo-printed pens or t-shirts serve primarily as advertising tools rather than personal gifts to specific clients. The IRS typically classifies these as marketing expenses when they cost under $4 per item and display your business name or logo.

Unlike business gifts, promotional products don’t fall under the $25 per recipient limit for deductions. This means your branded merchandise – pens, notepads, and similar items – count as business expenses rather than gifts on your tax return.

Corporate gifts differ in several ways:

• They target specific business relationships
• They typically have higher value
• They often include personalization

The main tax distinction comes down to intent and distribution. Promotional items aim for broad brand awareness while corporate gifts build relationships with particular individuals. Promotional products generally remain generic while corporate gifts tend to be more personalized.

We recommend consulting with your financial advisor to discuss any tax implications. 

Trade Show Strategies

With major events like Outdoor Retailer, FACTS Elevate Conference 2025, and the Qualtrics X4 Summit happening this year around Salt Lake, many businesses recognize that having a solid trade show strategy built around networking is key for driving new sales opportunities.

How do you attract attendees to a trade show?

Create pre-show buzz through email campaigns and social media and offer show-only promotions. Design your booth with eye-catching visuals and position staff at entrances rather than behind tables. Incorporate interactive elements or mini-events and focus on providing information rather than sales pitches. JC Pro Design creates custom banners, trade show displays and signage that grab attention from across the floor.

How do you stand out at an event?

Standing out requires a cohesive visual strategy across all touchpoints:

• Custom booth design with professional lighting
• Staff in matching branded apparel
• High-quality printed materials
• Memorable promotional giveaways
• Interactive technology or demonstrations
• Well-trained, engaging staff

Our clients find that coordinating all visual elements creates a professional, memorable presence.

What is needed for a convention booth?

A complete show booth requires several key elements:

• Branded backdrop or display wall
• Table coverings with your logo
• Product displays or demonstrations
• Promotional literature
• Lead capture system
• Giveaway items
• Proper lighting
• Staff identification (name tags or branded shirts)
• Storage for personal items and extra materials

JC Pro Design offers complete trade show solutions for all these needs.

Are trade shows still worth it?

Trade shows are definitely worth considering as part of your go-to-market strategy in 2025, but the effectiveness of attending depends on how you plan, and how you execute.

Here are a few of the benefits of attending trade shows:

1. Opportunities for face-to-face interaction with potential customers, partners and influential people in your industry. 
2. Brand awareness and visibility with people in your niche.
3. Market research by seeing what your competitors are doing, including how they’re marketing their products or services
4. Generating high quality leads and sales with decision makers who are actively seeking solutions.

Despite digital marketing’s growth, exhibitions are still valuable for building face-to-face relationships, demonstrating products hands-on, competitive research and direct feedback. Physical presence creates connections that digital can’t replicate. The key is to approach shows strategically with clear goals and metrics.

How do you make a trade show fun?

To make your booth memorable you need interactive product demos, contests with branded prizes and photo opportunities. Technology integrations like VR or touchscreens, refreshments, live demos and conversation-starting promotional items all help create an engaging environment. JC Pro Design helps clients create fun, engaging experiences with custom materials and unique promotional items.

What do companies do at conferences?

Companies use trade shows for multiple business objectives including new product launches, lead generation, relationship building, market research, competitor analysis and industry networking. Partnership development, direct sales, brand awareness building and talent recruiting are also common goals. The most successful exhibitors have clear objectives and track relevant metrics.

What is the best thing to hand out at a trade show?

The best show giveaways are relevant to your audience, connected to your brand, useful during or after the show, distinctive from competitors’ offerings and high enough quality to reflect well on your company. Popular options include reusable water bottles or travel mugs, power banks for charging devices, quality pens with stylus tips, branded flash drives with pre-loaded information and tote bags for carrying show materials. JC Pro Design offers custom options for all of these items.

How to be successful at an event

Success at live sales events requires setting specific, measurable goals, training staff properly, and then having a postmortem meeting after the show to discuss what went right (and what went wrong). Creating a visual strategy that stands out, following up quickly with leads and capturing contact information systematically are all critical. Focus on creating a welcoming atmosphere, scheduling staff breaks to maintain energy, bringing sufficient promotional materials and testing all technology before the show.

Our clients find that preparation makes the difference between wasted expenses and profitable outcomes.

How do you budget for a trade show?

Effective budgeting includes space rental, display materials, shipping, travel, staff time, promotional items, printed materials, lead capture technology and follow-up costs. Most experts recommend allocating about 20-30% of your total budget for promotional materials and giveaway items.

How do you set up meetings with high-value prospects?

If you know that some bigger-opportunity prospects are going to be attending the same show that you’re exhibiting at, it’s worth trying to get meetings booked with them ahead of time.

Most shows will have an attendee list they can provide you (sometimes they may charge for this). Cross reference any key decision makers with prospects in your CRM to identify any opportunities.

Start outreach to these prospects well in advance. Use personalized text-only emails, Linkedin messages and phone calls to get meetings scheduled.

We’d also recommend setting up meetings outside of the convention space, like hotel meeting rooms or banquet halls for more privacy. 

What is the ROI of a live event?

Want to calculate if a show was worth attending? Use this simple formula:

ROI for trade shows can be calculated as: ROI = (Revenue Attributed to Show – Show Costs) / Show Costs × 100.

For example, if you spent $5,000 on a trade show and generated $15,000 in attributed sales, your ROI would be 200%. Beyond direct sales, consider additional value from brand awareness, media coverage, competitive intelligence, team building, customer feedback and new partnerships.

 

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Corporate Recognition and Client Gifts

Beyond trade shows, promotional items play a key role in employee recognition and client relationships.

What is a good welcome gift for a new employee?

According to a systematic review by Frögéli, Jenner, and Gustavsson (2023) titled “Effectiveness of formal onboarding for facilitating organizational socialization,” organizations with structured onboarding processes “experience 2.5 times as great revenue growth and 1.9 times as great profit margin than organizations that are less active and effective in relation to onboarding their newcomers.”

The researchers emphasize that well-designed welcome materials help new employees develop “a sense of competence and control, predictability and meaningfulness, and social belonging,” making promotional products an essential part of effective onboarding strategies.

Effective welcome gifts include quality branded apparel, office essentials kits, company-branded drinkware, tech accessories relevant to their role and premium notebook sets. JC Pro Design helps companies create custom welcome packages that make lasting first impressions.

What are the three primary characteristics of a good employee appreciation program?

Employees value gifts that are:

1. Practical for daily use,
2. High quality rather than cheaply made, and
3. Thoughtfully selected for their preferences

Items with subtle branding and personalization are particularly appreciated. Popular options include premium branded apparel like jackets and quarter-zips, high-quality drinkware, tech accessories, experience gifts with branded mementos and work-from-home comfort items.

Effective employee appreciation gifts include custom apparel from quality brands, engraved awards for achievements, gift cards with branded holders, tech accessories with subtle branding. Custom gift sets based on interests, executive items for leadership and team-building experiences with branded keepsakes also show meaningful recognition. JC Pro Design offers laser engraving services that add a personal touch to these items.

What do you put in an employee appreciation basket?

Meaningful appreciation baskets should include a company-branded premium item as the centerpiece, accompanied by local treats, self-care items and a gift card or experiential component. A personalized note, team photo in a branded frame or practical desk accessory complete the package. The presentation matters as much as the contents – custom packaging with your branding elevates the experience.

What are some unique employee recognition gift ideas?

Stand out with unique recognition ideas such as:

• Custom engraved awards reflecting company values
• Branded high-end outdoor gear
• Limited edition items made specifically for your team
• Personalized items reflecting individual interests
• Experience gifts with branded mementos
• Custom apparel with employee names

What are some welcome gift ideas for new clients?

Welcome new clients with premium notebook and pen sets, custom gift baskets or welcome kits with useful industry tools. High quality branded apparel, executive desk accessories, tech items that complement your services and custom laser-engraved items all set a positive tone for your ongoing relationship.

What is the ROI on promotional products?

Tracking the effectiveness of your promotional items helps refine future strategies. Key metrics to measure include impressions (how many times people see your branded item), reach (number of recipients), conversion rate (percentage who took desired action), cost per impression, incremental sales and customer acquisition cost. Implement tracking through QR codes, unique URLs or promo codes to monitor engagement accurately.

10 Best Company Swag Ideas Based On Our Experience

Trade Show Giveaways

1) Branded Tote Bags: These practical, eco-friendly bags give attendees a way to carry materials throughout the event. Your logo travels the show floor, creating hundreds of additional impressions beyond your booth.

2) Custom Pens: Everyone needs to write something during a trade show. A quality pen with your branding stays on desks long after the event, providing months of brand visibility at minimal cost.

3) LED Light-Up Charging Cables: These functional tech accessories grab attention with their visual appeal. Attendees appreciate the practicality and the light-up feature makes your brand visible even in low light.

New Hire Welcome Kits

4) Branded Apparel: Quality shirts, hoodies or hats help new team members feel like part of the group immediately. They serve as walking billboards for your company culture both inside and outside the office.

5) Tech Accessories: Items like portable power banks or blue-light glasses show you care about employee well-being and productivity. These practical tools integrate into daily work routines, reinforcing your brand.

6) Customized Stanley Water Bottles: These promote healthy habits while keeping your logo visible all day. Water bottles travel to meetings, gyms and homes, extending your brand reach beyond the workplace.

Corporate Gifts for High-Value Prospects

7) Personalized Nomatic Backpacks: These premium, feature-rich backpacks make a statement. By adding a subtle personalization, you create a high-value gift prospects actually use for travel and daily commutes. Check out Nomatic’s corporate and group sales rates.

8) Custom Outerwear from The North Face: Respected for quality and values, The North Face items with your logo associate your brand with premium quality. These items become favorites in personal wardrobes, not just “company gear.” We’re an authorized decorator for The North Face, thanks to our attention to detail and quality.

9) Customized Desk Items: These permanent fixtures on a prospect’s desk create daily brand impressions. The quality and thoughtfulness of a well-designed desk item speaks volumes about how you value the relationship.

Additional Ideas

10) Customized Yeti Travel Mugs: These practical items join your clients on their daily commute and sit on their desk throughout the day. The frequent use creates thousands of brand impressions over the product’s lifetime.

Work with JC Pro Design

JC Pro Design offers Salt Lake City businesses a complete solution for promotional products that make an impact. Unlike other print shops where projects get lost in the shuffle, owner Justin Leader personally oversees every order from start to finish.

Our process starts with understanding your vision and goals, then aligning our capabilities to deliver exactly what you need, when you need it, at a price that makes sense.

Ready to Make Your Marketing Budget Work Harder?

Tired of promotional items that end up in the trash? At JC Pro Design, we help marketing leaders select high-impact branded products that create lasting impressions and deliver measurable ROI.

As Salt Lake City’s award-winning promotional product experts, we’ve helped companies like yours turn trade show appearances and corporate gifting into meaningful business results.

Fill out our quick form below to request a free consultation. We’ll help you find the perfect promotional items for your next campaign, event, or recognition program.