As 2025 approaches, it’s time to start thinking about how your brand will make an impression in the new year.
Promotional products remain a powerful way to boost brand recognition, connect with your customers and employees, and stand out in a competitive market. To maximize impact, you need a well-thought-out branded merchandise strategy that aligns with your goals and your company’s important dates throughout the year.
By creating a promotional product calendar, you can plan ahead for key holidays, trade shows, seasonal campaigns, and corporate gifting opportunities. This proactive approach helps you avoid last-minute rush orders, manage your budget, and ensure every product resonates with your audience.
From identifying key dates to selecting the right products, let’s walk through building a 2025 promotional product calendar.
Identify Key Dates and Events
The foundation of your calendar is knowing what events matter most to your business, team members, and customers. By mapping out key dates and events, you set the stage for a successful year of promotional product campaigns.
- Holidays & Observances: Plan for traditional holidays like Christmas, Employee Appreciation Day, and Independence Day. You may also want to include smaller, more niche observances like Earth Day or National Small Business Week if they align with your brand values.
- Industry-Specific Events: Note trade shows, expos, and conferences where you plan to participate — whether hosting or attending. This includes virtual events as well.
- Company Milestones: Highlight employee birthdays and anniversaries, grand openings, new product or service launches, and potential rebranding efforts that will be a high priority in the coming year.
- Awareness Campaigns: Note any themed months or weeks that resonate with your customers or align with your missions, such as Black History Month or Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
- Team-Building Activities and Retreats: If you plan to support team bonding and growth in 2025, be sure to note holiday parties, company picnics, retreats, and other team-focused events.
- Charitable Initiatives: Be sure to add any philanthropic initiatives and events to your calendar, such as charity runs or galas, fundraisers, sponsorships, and community outreach.
Get started now with our 2025 business calendar and planner — pre-filled with some of the top holidays and events. Just fill in your key promotional dates, the audience you’ll be targeting, and an estimated quantity of promotional products you’ll need.
Match Products to the Calendar
Once you’ve mapped out your key dates and events, you can start to pinpoint promotional products that complement each occasion and align with your goals. Otherwise, reach out to your Strategies rep for personalized solutions. Tailoring your branded merchandise and initiatives to the season, event, or theme ensures your items are memorable and practical.
- Winter (Q1): Kick off the new year by helping customers and employees stay organized and cozy. Custom planners or calendars, branded mugs, insulated tumblers, hats, jackets, and health-focused items are all great options this time of year.
- Spring (Q2): Spring brings a sense of renewal, making it a great time for eco-friendly and outdoor-focused items. Think reusable totes or produce bags, branded water bottles, gardening kits, or seed packets.
- Summer (Q3): As temperatures heat up, people are spending more time outdoors. Summer promotional products like sunglasses, beach balls, cooling towels, sunscreen, and portable fans are always appreciated.
- Fall/Holiday Season (Q4): As the year comes to a close, it’s all about thoughtful gifts and holiday preparations. Corporate holiday gifts, custom ornaments, branded fleece jackets or scarves, and tech accessories can help to show appreciation.
Allocate Your Budget Strategically
Effective budget allocation is a crucial part of planning your promotional product strategy. By finding a good balance of products and understanding the number of events and initiatives you’ll be participating in, you can maximize your impact without overspending.
Rather than investing thousands of dollars in smaller “trinkets” people will throw away, our team recommends calculating the number of people you can actually have a meaningful conversation with during an event and handing out a premium product after the conversation.
You’ll also want unique products designed for high-value clients, partners, or executives. These products are ideal for holiday gifting, employee anniversaries, client retention, and special one-time events like galas or fundraisers.
While these items are generally more expensive per unit, their impact on loyalty and brand perception makes them a worthwhile investment.
Order Branded Merchandise Early
Early preparation can save you from costly delays and inventory shortages, especially during peak seasons. To ensure that your branded merchandise arrives on time, aligns with your goals, and meets your quality standards, it’s best to plan 2-3 months before major events or campaigns.
This extended time frame accounts for design and sample approvals, production, and shipping times. These early orders help secure your products before inventory runs low during peak season.
By accounting for lead times, you’ll avoid the stress of last-minute ordering and ensure your items arrive when needed.
Get Ready for 2025 with Strategies
Our team of branded merchandise experts is here to help you plan for 2025 with the most popular promotional products for customers and employees. We’ll help you tailor products to your various campaigns and initiatives while keeping budget and company values in mind. We look forward to partnering with you in the new year!
