if anyone has had any success with promotional

I doubt you can point fingers saying this is what got me the deal or kept the customer. You do need to give them "something", so the cheap items are sufficient.

Hmm.. the idea I was turning over in my head was actually pre-loading a USB flash drive with some kind of promotional content... like maybe a video, ebook, or (desktop?) graphics pack

cheap items are sufficient

There's a fine line to walk here. "Cheap" is good, but "cheapskate" is not so good.

Good qualities to aim for are compact and useful.

My all-time favorite promotional gifts were both. One was a simple pencil eraser with the company name on it; another was a tiny flashlight that fits on my keychain. I've kept both items around for years.

I always like Flash Drives; Use loads of the things for stuff.

My favorite coffee cup is a promotional item -- from 20 years ago. Good quality, right size, comfortable, and with a catchy and colorful, but not gaudy, logo.

I'd still being doing business with them today, but I'm not in that business sector any more.

I'll second the warnings about 'cheap.' If all you can afford is a coffee cup, make it the best darn coffee cup available. I don't mean anything high-tech like stainless-steel with a computerized lid, I mean just the best-made plain-old coffee cup available.

(Not to go on about coffee cups, but it was a good example.)

I have received tons of promotional pens over the years. The ones I like are the ones that still work, and they are almost all 'name-brand' pens, not cheap no-name knock-offs.

USB flash drives are good. Just make sure that if you put software on it, you tell the client ahead of time, and make sure you've scanned it for malware. If you don't tell them, then the first thing many of them will do will be to format the drive -- A good idea for security, but terrible for your intended software promotion...

My four cents (too much coffee today) :)

Jim

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Jim. I love the image you put in my head of a travel mug with a computerized lid :D
Good point about the malware scan too.

mouse pads are cheaper than usb but i recommend mugs. we all love coffee!

one of my favorite coffee cups is schwag from 10 years ago.
if your clients are likely to have children at home you might consider something your client can regift to the youngsters.
my favorite piece of pubcon schwag is a motion-sensitive LED dice (die) which one of my cats loves to bat around the floor.

oh, and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com], shirielainerice!

welcome to you as well, lumenbeing!

My favorite promotional item received to date is a comfortable neck strap with a small clip on the front that conceals a USB drive. Any time I'm somewhere that I need to have identification on display I use it to hold the id tag.

It has a company name written along the length of the strap but I like the company so it doesn't bother me. Since everyone in the room likely has a similar ID tag attached to their person mine stands out which could be considered promotional.

My promotional gimmes have been bill caps and insulated mugs depending on the clients. Major factors: how many to gimme v cost/return. Also factor product/return into that. It is advertising, so should be taken into budget consideration.

When does a promo item become regarded as a bribe? Big companies and public sector organisations can be very twitchy about this.

If your contact is an employee then stick to pens and coffee mugs.

My favourite promotional item is a t-shirt from my hosting company.

A great new promotional idea is the desktop coffee mug holder. It sits on your desk, has four sides for branding and will not break or get lost or need batteries.

The promotional item my company can never have enough of are wall-calendars. Despite the ubiquitous Outlook Calendar and myriad calendar functions of things like Facebook, there is no substitute for a good ole paper calendar that anyone can write on with the promotional pen they received from someone else. You have at least 12 pages to paste your logo on. As I work for a wholesaler, this is extra-promotional as we can advertise for our manufacturers, too...and charge them for co-oping the calendar to help keep costs down. Our logo on every month and a different manufacturer; 12 months, 13 companies advertised.

Besides, it sounds like everyone will already have a favorite coffee mug. Follow a simple marketing principle...go for the under-served niche.