Insurance agents and firms offer a valuable service. As an insurance professional, you’re in competition with literally hundreds of other agents who are offering not only the same type of product that you offer, but the exact same lines from the exact same underwriters. It’s important to make your firm stand out from the pack, and promotional gifts offer you a way to do just that. When you use promotional items as part of an overall marketing strategy, you’ll see your business grow before your eyes.

Promotional products can be used in many ways to boost your insurance business. The most popular uses for promotional products in the insurance industry are:

- prospecting for new clients
- generating sales leads
- customer loyalty and thank you gifts
- name recognition

Promotional products can increase the effectiveness of any marketing campaign. Market research has shown time and again that a message or advertisement that is delivered along with a free gift is remembered longer by its recipients than one that is not accompanied by a promotional product. When designing your marketing strategy using promotional products, there are a few things that will help you make effective and appropriate choices.

- Choose promotional products that are easily associated with your business.
Do you sell car insurance lines? A notepad in the shape of an automobile is a clever attention getter for your business. Is your main business home and contents insurance? Hand out stress toys in the shape of a house with the imprint “Take the Worry out of Home Ownership”.

- Fit the promotional products you choose to their intended use.
Both price and type of promotional product are important when choosing items for specific purposes. In general, if you’re prospecting for new clients, you’ll want to use lower priced promotional products if for no other reason than sheer volume will make the cost prohibitive. Don’t make the mistake of sacrificing style for price, though. There are many unique, good quality and memorable products that you can use. You’re better off choosing the top quality of an inexpensive type of product than a cheap version of a flashy giveaway.

Generating sales leads calls for a slightly higher value in your promotional giveaways. You might offer a USB flash drive or inexpensive digital camera as a thank you gift to those who book sales appointments with you, or to those who give you referrals to other sales leads. Keep a stock of executive or corporate level gifts in the £10-25 price range as a thank you for those executives who allow you to present to their employees either individually or as a group.

- Customer retention and loyalty gifts
Communication and attention are the keys to maintaining the business relationships that you establish. People appreciate the personal touch that reflects good service, especially in those that they’ll turn to in an emergency. Promote that personal feeling with little touches like birthday greetings or gifts for special occasions – housewarming, baby welcome and the like. Every one of those milestones represents an opportunity to upsell – so send a congratulatory gift that will serve as a reminder of you.

For further information on corporate business gifts, items and custom printed advertising marketing products why not visit the market leading online suppliers today. Top online promotional gifts suppliers can provide a fast and efficient service and more often than not can provide highly competitive quotations with the hour unlike the traditional offline promotional products companies.