The Ultimate Guide to Kitted Swag
Everything you need to know about sending an experience.
Download the eBook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Crinkle. Rip. Unpack. Deliver a moment.
- Crinkle. Rip. Unpack. Deliver a moment.
- 1. Know your audience
- 2. Fine tune your message
- 3. Consider a theme
- 4. Budget for impact
- 5. Think inside the box
- 6. Now think outside the box
- 7. Simplify logistics with a reliable kitting partner
Crinkle. Rip. Unpack.
Deliver a moment.
With life turned virtual, people miss sensory experiences. Think of lifting a handwritten letter from the envelope, or popping bubble wrap as you open a care package. The ability to surprise, delight, and connect with your audience is deceptively simple — making a tangible gift a kind of superpower in today’s digital world.
But delivering a memorable moment goes far beyond putting your brand’s logo on a mug or magnet. Custom kits and swag should capture your brand’s unique messaging, highlight your values, and deliver a high-quality experience that will keep your audience engaged and connected long after the unboxing is over.
Here, we unpack seven swag secrets to help all businesses, from Fortune 500 companies to growing startups, deliver an experience that has lasting impact — whether you’re addressing a client, onboarding a new employee, or connecting with a prospect, influencer, or event attendee.
Here’s how you can put your brand in the best kind of box — hassle-free.
1. Know your audience
Ready to design the perfect kit with ease? First thing’s first: You need to be clear about who your custom kit or swag is going to — and why.
If you’re trying to encourage consumers to buy a new product, you may send a custom kit to a popular influencer who can help spread the word and drive more engagement among your target audience.
While custom kits and swag have the power to connect with many different audiences, you have to be certain about who yours is. Consider the following audiences and goals:
Clients
Build meaningful client relationships and expand your reach with kits that make your brand unforgettable in a sea of competitors.
Employees
Welcome new hires and engage employees with branded swag boxes that show you’re invested in their success.
Prospects
Deliver an experience that connects with prospective clients, creates a memorable first impression, and inspires them to do business with you.
Tastemakers
Launch new products with kits that pique curiosity and make a lasting impression — on your contacts, and their fans.
Influencers
Elevate your image with Instagram-worthy swag that captures the attention of your brand champions, and their followers.
Event Attendees
Drive registration and build excitement for attendees to go to your event.
2. Fine tune your message
Now that you’ve defined your audience, it’s time to think about what you want to tell them – and how you’re going to deliver messaging that addresses a pain point, resonates on a personal level, or inspires.
Ask yourself– and your business – the following questions:
What is our brand story?
Why is this important to our audience?
How will a custom kit or swag deliver value to our audience?
How do we want our audience to take action, whether that’s scheduling a meeting, posting their swag on Instagram or buying a product?
The answers to these questions will inform how you curate an experience that fits their unique needs. It will also help you reinforce your brand values, story, and goals for the future.
3. Consider a theme
A theme that’s unique to your band and tailored to your audience can amplify and reinforce your message. Your theme can be anything: fun trends from your favorite decade, a popular sporting event, a season or holiday, or the destination of your in-person event.
The key here? Make it meaningful. Your design, packaging, and products should all echo back to the same idea — telling a story that connects with your recipients:
Employees
First-day impressions are everything, so make sure you welcome new hires with a kit that reinforces their decision to join your company, aligns with your core values and provides them with products that set them up for success.
Clients and Prospects
Capture their attention and speak to their unique values — whatever they may be. If your theme is sustainability, an environmentally-friendly kit might include green, compostable packaging, a reusable water bottle, and a solar powebank inside.
Attendees
A carefully curated kit — specific to where an event will be held — can generate pre-event excitement. For an event in a tropical location, an eye-catching beach-themed package featuring custom sunglasses, sunscreen, and a pair of sandals achieves just that.
4. Budget for impact
You have an audience, message, and theme top of mind. Now it’s time to think about the costs associated with your project. Ask yourself:
- How many kits do you need?
- What’s the budget per kit?
- How much does standard shipping cost?
- What do I get out of a $10,000 budget, for example?
Understanding how to deliver the most value — in the most cost-effective way — requires strategy. With a creative collaborator and kitting partner by your side, strategic budgeting can be streamlined and simple.
HALO’s kitting experts can walk you through every step of the process, from product design and packaging to logistics and delivery. They can work with you on custom designs, unique fill options, marketing collateral, and more to deliver an experience at the right price.
5. Think inside the box
With all of these considerations in mind, you’re ready to start creating an experience. This is the fun part – taking every creative liberty you’d like, without feeling boxed in.
Start by asking, what will resonate most with your audience? Do you want something practical, or purely for fun?
Choose from tens of thousands of products that fit your brand, message, and budget. Then elevate your swag with personalized touches, including custom marketing collateral and cards.
6. Now think outside the box
Rest assured that your recipients are going to unbox unique, memorable products. But the moment the package arrives is your first opportunity to make a lasting impression.
Like any other part of the kitting process, this requires attention to detail.
- What do you want the box (or package – it doesn’t have to be a box) to look like?
- What kind of packaging is best suited for my budget?
- What design elements are important to deliver your experience?
This is your opportunity to create custom designs and fill options that fit your messaging. With support from your kitting partner, you can wrap your ideas up in a way that best suits your brand, messaging, or event-specific needs.
7. Simplify logistics with a reliable kitting partner
Your custom kit is almost ready to get out the door. But first, there are a few logistics to consider. From streamlined data collection tools to meeting shipping deadlines, we’ve got it covered.
With wrap-around support from HALO, logistics don’t have to weigh you down. Instead, the logistics process is simplified with:
Data Collection
With HALO’s proprietary data collection tools, you can collect sensitive address information, sizing preferences, participant data, and more in a streamlined way.
Shipping & Fullfillment
Equipped with a comprehensive suite of fulfillment capabilities, and 8 fulfillment centers of our own, we’ll handle shipping so you can focus on designing the perfect kit.
Reporting
Know the status of your kits from point A to point B, with access to tracking information once the project is out the door.
Send more than swag — deliver an experience.
Our team understands the importance of telling the right brand story through design, copy, and curation for businesses of all sizes. We’ve got stories to tell and all the right stuff to inspire and engage your audience — plus a top-notch team to ensure we fulfill your needs and highlight your brand values.
Download the eBook Now
Delivering a memorable moment goes far beyond putting your brand’s logo on a mug or magnet. Custom kits and swag should capture your brand’s unique messaging, highlight your values, and deliver a high-quality experience that will keep your audience engaged and connected long after the unboxing is over. This ebook unpacks everything you need to know about sending an experience.