How to Create the Best Event Merchandise?

Coming up with the perfect merchandise is essential for every event that your company hosts. Not only because good merch will remind the attendees of the fun time they’ve had at your event, but also for promotional purposes.

Yet, figuring out the right approach can be a little tricky. So, we’ve put together this guide on how to create the best event merchandise to wow your audience.

Let’s get started!

Things to Consider Before Designing Your Event Merchandise

Of course, coming up with the best ideas for your event’s merch requires a lot of planning on your part. You need to keep a few things in mind to give your attendees keepsakes that will stay with them for a while after the event is over.

The Purpose of Your Merchandise

The most important thing you need to think about is the exact goal of your merchandise. This will allow you to make up your mind about the right types of products to offer your guests.

For instance, if your merch is merely promotional, then the design needs to be simple, eye-catching, and dependant on visuals. You’ll need to cut down on text and focus more on marketing your company’s products or services.

Thus, you can go for:

●  Flyers

●  Personalised products such as wristbands, you could even design your own custom silicone wristbands.

●  Calendars

On the other hand, your strategy will be completely different if your goal is of corporate nature. In this case, you’ll want your attendees to know all the information they could about your company.

Here, the best thing you can do is make your merch informational. For example, your products can include:

●  Brochures

●  Magazines

●  Catalogs

Your Company’s Field of Operation

Your event profile is another indicator of the approach you’ll take when coming up with merch ideas. For instance, if your audience consists of business-related and VIP guests, you should consider ordering:

●  Brochures

●  Catalogues

●  Business cards

●  Magazines

However, if your showcase focuses on the customers themselves, you may want to invest in other products such as:

●  Small newspapers

●  Custom shirts, branded umbrellas or wristbands with your brand’s logo

●  Office supplies

●  Calendars

●  Leaflets or flyers

Your Budget

The budget dedicated to an event’s merchandise can also affect your choice. Our advice here is to not save on merchandise because high-quality products will leave a good impression on your guests.

Therefore, all the expenses that you spend on merch can be worth it in the long run by increasing the reputation of your firm.

Yet, if your budget is limited, you should find a decent balance between price and value to impress your attendees.

Why Good Merchandise Is Essential for Your Event

Without a doubt, a successful event requires great merchandise to leave a lasting effect on each one of your guests. However, this isn’t the only reason why proper merch is crucial for an engaging event.

A Quick Reminder of Your Event’s Main Points

Whether your company is hosting a conference, presentation, or showcase, your guests will receive a lot of data in a short time. You need to make sure that the main points of discussion will stick with your attendees for a while.

By including these simple ideas within your merch, your guests will always remember what happened during the event.

Of course, this has been your goal all along.

Cost-Effective Ads

These products will work as promotional material that should cost you less than other forms of advertising.

Also, many types of merchandise such as t-shirts and flyers are fast produced. You can ensure that they’re printed only a few hours before the event is due.

Therefore, you’ll be saving money and time in the process.

Yes, designing your ad material can be time-consuming since it’s the most important stage of creating merchandise. However, once you’ve settled on an idea or more, the rest should go smoothly.

A Higher Chance of Increasing Your Audience Reach

The best thing about well-thought merchandise is that it can generate more potential customers to your brand.

Once each attendee goes home with their keepsakes, they’ll be likely to share these products with other people. Therefore, the number of people familiar with your brand will grow, offering you a larger base of potential clients in the future.

Merchandise Examples to Involve at Your Event

Naturally, there’s a wide range of products that you can offer at events, which makes your choice rather tough. So, in this section, we’ll discuss the characteristics of each option to help you figure out which one suits your needs best.

Business Cards

No matter what type of audience you’ll be having, business cards should be available at all times. These physical cards will contain your contact information. Therefore, every potential client or business partner should have them.

Your business cards should have vivid designs while also sticking to the identity of your company. We’ll address how to create the best event merchandise design later on.

Personalized Merchandise

Nothing can possibly boost your promotional strategies better than personalized merch. This type of product has so much popularity, and you can apply it to a multitude of items to capture the interest of your audience.

For instance, you can design your own custom silicone wristbands, which seems to be a favorite of many people. They’re lightweight, easy to wear, and they make those who wear them feel like a united front.

The same goes for clothes with your logo on them. You can choose from:

●  T-shirts

●  Caps

●  Hoodies

With some creativity, you’ll find that the options are endless when it comes to personalized products. Besides the two examples we’ve mentioned, you can include:

●  Office supplies: pens, notebooks, albums, etc.

●  Cups

●  Flash drives

●  Calendars

Event Program Leaflets

Leaflets of your event program should be handed to visitors so that they’ll know what to expect. Even better, they should include information related to your business’s activity as well.

This way, when your attendees save these leaflets, they’ll be reminded of your event and your brand’s identity. In the future, this connection can give you an advantage by building trust and customer loyalty.

Flyers

Flyers usually come in the simplest and most straightforward designs. These will help deliver your message to your audience without containing too much content.

Also, flyers are the most budget-friendly of all your options since they come in the shape of a paper. Of course, glazing them might cost you more, but it’ll definitely make your flyers more appealing.

Now that you have a general idea of what you might offer to your guests as merchandise, it’s time for fun!

How to Create the Best Event Merchandise?

In this section, we’ll be your step-by-step guide into designing the perfect event merchandise to impress your audience.

Step 1: Gather All the Data You Need

As we’ve mentioned before, a lot of your merchandise choices will rely on your visitors.

Namely, your guests will consist of:

●  Non-target audience

●  General-type target audience

●  A target group of experts

●  VIP personnel that you’ve invited personally

Of course, your attendees can be limited to one of the previous factions, a mix of two or more, or a blend of them all. No matter the case, you should have a vivid idea of what your audience will be like to offer them suitable merchandise.

Besides your audience, you should understand all the data related to your budget, event type, and the purpose of your merch. Figuring out all these points will allow you to create a surefire strategy, which should lead to the success of your event.

Step 2: Choose Your Merch Type Wisely

Each type of merchandise appeals to a certain group of your audience. Using the product examples we’ve discussed earlier, it’s time that you put each item in the right direction.

Of course, your merch type also relies on the event itself and its topic. For instance, if you’re about to approach the subject of global warming and green living, you can offer products to highlight your idea.

By including eco-friendly bags, notebooks, or other items within your merch, you’ll be making profound connections.

Also, you can include specific products in relation to your company’s activity. For instance, if you run a cosmetics business, you can offer samples of your makeup or beauty products.

Besides the products we’ve mentioned, don’t forget to include business cards, brochures, flyers, or catalogs if necessary. Plus, personalized items will always draw the attention of your attendees. You can get these made up on websites like Printivity so they are ready to hand out when needed.

Step 3: Pay Attention to Design

The design of your flyers, business cards, and personalized products should be your number one priority. It should be functional, impressive, and expressive.

To design attractive merchandise, you could always use the following tips:

●  Go for simple rather than complicated designs

●  Your design should be business-oriented and free from too much decoration

●  Speak to your target audience’s needs

●  Don’t include too much information in brochures or leaflets

●  Make your statements and data precise and clear

●  Printed infomercials should always be shorter than 10 pages with a table of contents at the beginning

●  Stick to functionality at all times

Step 4: Offer Several Options

It’s always a great idea to create more than one version of your merchandise. Other options shouldn’t be completely different in design, but only slightly so.

For instance, you can experiment with colors, forms, and shades.

Your audience will likely love that they get to choose what they prefer.

Step 5: Get Your Users Involved in Creating Your Merch

User-generated content usually finds its way to popularity pretty fast. Prior to your event, you can ask your community to help with your merchandise design and options.

You can easily work this out by requesting feedback for your products or encouraging your users to send out their suggestions. Of course, there’s no better way to do this than using the charms of social media platforms.

After gathering all the necessary data, you can create merchandise that the majority of your guests should relate to.

Step 6: Promote Your Merchandise

Another effective strategy that you can use is to inform your guests that there will be merchandise at your event. This way, they should all come prepared.

Also, you can include offers and bundles on your merch, which might encourage more people to attend your presentation.

Step 7: Time Your Merch Sales Perfectly

The timing in which you start selling your company’s merchandise needs to be well-planned. You should go for periods when you’re almost positive that people will approach your sales booth.

The safest option here is to wait until the presentation or event is over. This way, people will have all the information about your brand, and they’ll likely be eager to get a related souvenir.

To Wrap It Up

Knowing how to create the best event merchandise can be highly beneficial to your company on many levels. It’s a cost-efficient way of marketing your products, helps you get potential customers, and makes your event unforgettable.

While this process requires some serious planning, you may find it a bit easier after following your step-by-step guide.