With the increase competition on the Internet, it can be hard to find ways to make your company seem different from everyone else. One thing I believe Internet marketers are failing to utilize correctly is promotional products.

Promotion products are every day items that are printed with your company logo, slogan, web site address, or any other message you want to promote. The first thing that comes to most people’s minds are printed t-shirts… but there are many other items you can use to make your company stand out from the crowd.

The following are eight simple ways you can use promotional products on the Internet.

Promote Your Company's Website

This is the first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think of how they should use promotional products. But some people over look this. Every item you choose to promote your business should include your web site address on it.

Find Promotional Items That Fit Your Niche

You can always find certain items that will compliment your type of business - items that you know your customers will use often! For Example: If you sell bicycles, it would be a good idea to include a free water bottle that has your logo on it every time someone purchases a bicycle. If you have an online drug store, you could give away pill organizers with your sites name and web address printed on them.

Free Contests and Drawings

A great way to get more people to sign up for your newsletter is to hold monthly, weekly, or daily contest drawings. The winner of the drawing would receive a promotional product with your URL on it. Since everyone loves to win stuff, more people would be willing to give you their email address. And if you make the product something that relates to your business, the people who sign up are more likely to be targeted.

Motivate Customer to Buy More

You can use promotional products to entice your customers to buy more products than they normally would have. How? By bundling multiple products a long with a promotional item. For example, instead of your customer buying 1 ebook, you also offer them a package deal of two ebooks and a free promotional item.

The promotional product can even be something related to the products you’re bundling it with. If you’re selling weight loss information, why not use a “step counter as a bonus? If you’re selling cookbooks,

Reward Your Best Affiliates

Consider thanking your top affiliates by giving them a promotional product. This shows them that you truly appreciate the fact that they promote your products. You can send gifts to your affiliate partners when they reach a certain goal, or you can give gifts to your top affiliates during the holidays. By rewarding your affiliates, you build a stronger relationship with them. They will thank you by continuing to promote your business.

Thank Your Loyal Customers

Just like thanking your top affiliates, you should also consider thanking loyal customers. You can express gratitude to customers that repeatedly by your products, customers who buy your high-ticket items, or both! Promotional items remind your clients that the relationship you share with them is important to you.

Create a Competitive Advantage

Because of increased competition, it's getting tougher than ever to compete online. You can use promotional items as a way to show your customers that you are different than your competitors. Instead of appearing as “just another company”, you can demonstrate that you are unique. When someone receives a promotional item from you they are more likely to remember you over your competition.

Promote a New Product

If you are launching a new product, you can capture your audience attention and publicize it by using promotional items. At the very least, you should send a promotional item to your top customers when a new product comes out. You might also want to consider sending items to your top affiliates too if you have a new product they can promote for you.

My goal is to get you to think of new ways to use promotional products. I hope you will implement some of the ideas I have laid out here and also brain storm different ways to use them. If used correctly, these little trinkets can help you say ahead of your competitors!

Nathan Allen is the creator of www.AvonPrinting.com - which is a huge resource for the printing industry. You can find a list of companies that sell promotional products at: http://www.AvonPrinting.com/promotional_products