Custom merchandise is an incredibly essential and affordable investment for your business. From driving home recognition for your brand to inspiring a team mentality, a custom product or piece of apparel more than pays for itself. Here are our top 3 (of many!) ways custom merch can boost your business.

1. Affordable promotion + brand awareness

The average social media ad floating around an already heavily saturated market may go unseen. The average radio placement, tv spot or billboard is in the thousands. One pen, on the other hand, can be around a dollar and will earn an average of 3,100 impressions in its lifetime. Studies suggest that the average promotional product will be kept for around 7 months and over 50% of people have favorable impressions of brands that give out products. Apparel is more likely to be kept around. Every time someone sees your name or logo on a t-shirt, whether it's on an employee, a customer or a random person that got it in a giveaway (another potential customer), that's propelling your brand forward and creating a memory. Investing in promotional products and/or apparel for your business is a no-brainer when you consider the sheer number of impressions per incredibly affordable piece versus hundreds or thousands on a paid ad placement that doesn't stick around.

2. Creating a team mentality

Having a happy and loyal team is essential to boosting business. Company morale is often established by creating a team mentality - giving people a sense of belonging. Believe it or not, simply wearing something that matches the person next to you can have an incredible psychological impact. Whether you're thinking of tanks for your bar staff or polos for your corporate crew, getting matching team merchandise is a must.

Photo credit: Roslyn Roadhouse

3. Profit

You can purchase custom apparel for your business and turn around and resell it to your loyal customers. Breweries, bars, restaurants, boutique hotels, coffee shops - you can all make money selling shirts, glasses, mugs and more creative, inventive items that are entirely unique to your industry. Not only will you be getting free promotion, people will actually be paying you to promote your business on your behalf.