Marketing swag, aka branded merchandise like T-shirts, pens, and mugs, has long been a staple in marketing. And it’s not going away soon. Everyone loves a freebie. In the early days of my career as a reporter, one of my favorite parts of covering events was all the free swag, from fridge magnets to flash drives and even small purses, some of which I still use today.
But more than that, every time I use these items (or even just find them in my drawer), they remind me of those positive experiences, which I now associate with those brands. That’s how powerful simple things like swag can be. They’re effective as giveaways during events, gifts for loyal customers, or even as tokens of employee appreciation. So we’ve rounded up our top picks for the best places to get marketing swag for your business.
- VistaPrint: Best for small businesses overall
- PrintShop by DesignHill: Best for custom, professional swag designs
- Canva: Best for creating multiple products with one design
- MOO: Best for stationery swag
- GotPrint: Best for apparel swag
- Swag.com: Best for swag gift boxes
- SwagUp: Best for uncommon swag
- Tailor Brands: Best for building a brand kit
Best Places to Get Marketing Swag at a Glance
Best Features | Design Tools or Services | Minimum Order Quantity | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 100+ swag products, drag-and-drop design platform | ✓ | 0-250; depends on the product |
 | Professional graphic designers for branded merchandise | ✓ | None |
 | 100+ swag design templates | ✓ | None |
 | Premium stationery swag | ✕ | 10 |
 | Wide range of customizable apparel | ✕ | None |
 | Swag gift box delivery service | ✕ | 50-100; depends on the product |
 | 200+ customizable products, including uncommon items | ✕ | 25 |
 | Full brand kit design generator | ✓ | 0-100; depends on the product |
What is marketing swag? Swag in marketing is any branded merchandise given to customers, employees, or event attendees for free. They’re often branded T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, or other stationery ware like pens or notebooks. Some good examples are Glossier’s pink pouch and Starbucks planners. As a marketing strategy, swag can turn your customers into brand ambassadors and strengthen customer loyalty.
Swag is slightly different from merch, which is any branded product you pay for and isn’t just given away for free. Examples of merch are Disney-branded products you can buy at a Disney store, or official products associated with an artist, like concert T-shirts. However, they do sometimes overlap.
VistaPrint: Best for Small Businesses Overall
Pros
- Wide variety of swag, from apparel to drinkware to tech accessories (and also everyday marketing materials like brochures and posters)
- Easy to use online design platform with live mockups of your product
- Also has a QR code generator, logo maker, and design services
- Some products have no minimum quantities
Cons
- Some merch templates can be generic and not suit your brand or taste
- Minimum quantities vary for each product
Product | Starting Cost (per Piece) |
|---|---|
Mugs | $8.80 |
Ballpoint Pens | 99 cents |
Notepads | $6.50 |
Mousepads | $5.95 |
T-shirts | $7.49 |
Baseball Caps | $8.95 |
Keychains | 79 cents |
Tote Bags | 89 cents |
For prices of other VistaPrint products, including stickers, packaging, and stationery, visit its website.
If you’re a small business looking for a place to get marketing swag or any branded merchandise, our number one recommendation is always VistaPrint. VistaPrint has long been a reliable source for any type of custom-printed merchandise. And, it’s affordable and always delivers on quality.
Another reason we recommend VistaPrint for small businesses is the variety of branded merchandise it offers—from simple stickers to drinkware sets to powerbanks, it supports nearly any type of swag you need.
The design editor is also very easy to use. I’ve used it myself many times, and it’s a simple drag-and-drop platform where you can see a real-time view of your mockup as you design. You can easily add your logo, change colors, and preview your design.
Key Features
- 100-plus customizable swag and merch products
- Drag-and-drop design editor
- Logo maker
- QR code generator
- Design services
- Printing services
- Wix integration for websites
- VistaConnect: landing pages for digital business cards
VistaPrint also has a nifty set of tools to enhance your designs, which I love and are useful for any business. These include a QR code generator to add QR codes to your designs, an NFC business card technology that connects your business card with landing pages, and even a logo maker. There aren’t many drawbacks with the platform, except that some templates may not always suit your liking.
However, for its many features and advantages, it’s hard to top VistaPrint for all things swag and custom merchandise. If this is your first time venturing into branded products, you won’t go wrong with it.
PrintShop by DesignHill: Best for Custom, Professional Swag Designs
Pros
- Upload or create a design for printing, or work with a professional designer
- Best way to get 100% custom and unique designs from professional designers
- Designs have unlimited revisions
- No minimum order quantities
Cons
- Separate pricing for design and printing projects
- Swag catalog is not as comprehensive—no pens or flash drives
- Need to have a clear idea of the design you want for your project
Product | Starting Cost (per Piece) |
|---|---|
T-shirts | $12.95 |
Baseball Caps | $20.93 |
Mugs | $11.13 |
Mousepads | $13.12 |
Notebooks | $16.73 |
Tote Bags | $21.35 |
Meanwhile, these are the prices for DesignHill’s design contests:
Design Contest | Starting Cost |
|---|---|
Custom T-shirts | $149 |
Company Merch | $199 |
Mugs and Cups | $149 |
Bags | $149 |
Stickers | $149 |
Designing swag for marketing can be tricky if you want them to truly stand out. Or perhaps you don’t want your swag to just be your generic logo pasted in front of your T-shirt or coffee mug, but something with a little more artistic flair. PrintShop by DesignHill is the best platform for exactly that. PrintShop is the printing platform extension of DesignHill, a design platform where professional designers create projects for clients.
Key Features:
- Design and printing platform for apparel, accessories, and other swag
- Drag-and-drop design platform for swag designs
- Ability to hold design contests among professional designers for your project via DesignHill
- Designers also available for hire one-on-one
If you have a merch design in mind, you can have designers on DesignHill create it (you can hold a contest or work one-on-one with a designer), and then apply your final design to your preferred merch in the PrintShop, be it apparel or drinkware. The main disadvantage is you’ll need to pay a separate fee for your designs and for your merch to be printed. There are no two-in-one design and printing packages.
But on the other hand, it’s the easiest way to get a completely custom and unique design created by a real professional and not a platform. If you want your marketing swag more unique and a cut above the standard logo-on-a-white background, this is your best candidate.
Canva: Best for Creating Multiple Products With One Design
Pros
- Beginner-friendly design platform with hundreds of designs and templates
- Easily transfer your designs to multiple merch products, from stickers to mugs and more
- No minimum orders
Cons
- Higher cost per product than average for customers purchasing marketing swag in bulk
- Design templates and elements may not fit your brand
- Limited product range (no baseball caps, pens, or keychains)
Canva’s design platform is 100% free to use. Here are the prices for some of its products.
Product | Starting Cost (per Piece) |
|---|---|
Mugs | $17.50 |
Wall Calendars | $24.50 |
Notepads | $16 |
Mousepads | $22 |
T-shirts | $20 |
Water Bottles | $23 |
Tote Bags | $25.75 |
If you’re looking to create more than one type of branded product with the same design, for instance, tote bags, T-shirts, and mugs with the same artwork, the best platform is Canva. You may have used Canva before as a design platform, but it’s since expanded its services to include merchandise printing. You can design and print tote bags, water bottles, T-shirts, and other office accessories and apparel.
What I particularly like about Canva is how simple it makes the entire process. Easy user experience has long been one of Canva’s pillars as a platform, and this holds for its printing services. You can simply create your design on one product, then instantly apply it to dozens of other products and have them printed and delivered to your door.
Key Features
- Drag-and-drop design platform for just about any design need
- Over 1,000 design elements and templates
- Printing services for over 30 customizable merch products, from apparel to accessories
- Instant design transfer to multiple products
- QR code generator
If you know Canva, you’ll also know it has hundreds of professionally designed templates and design elements that allow even complete beginners to create eye-catching designs. Like Vistaprint, it also has a QR code generator. However, Canva’s printing service totals a higher cost per product, so it’s not the most cost-effective for large orders. On the flip side, there are no minimum orders, so if you only need a few orders, it could be ideal.
I find the most value with Canva if you’re venturing into creating branded product lines for your business. The platform allows you to create multiple products with the same design easily. Or if you’re an artist or creative looking to sell your artwork on different products, Canva can help you there. Either way, if an easy-to-use design platform and low minimum printing orders are what you’re after, Canva is your best option.
MOO: Best for Stationery Swag
Pros
- Premium branded notebooks, planners, and journals with embossed finishing
- Also prints pens, water bottles, stickers
- Low minimum orders (10)
Cons
- No apparel or drinkware merch
- No design platform or services specifically for branded merch
Product | Starting Cost (per Piece) |
|---|---|
Softcover Notebooks | $28.80 |
Tapebound Notebooks | $9 |
Pens | $22.50 |
Softcover Journals | $10 |
Water Bottles | $37 |
Hardcover Notebooks | $23.50 |
Planners | $41 |
Swag in marketing comes in many forms, but if you’re looking specifically for stationery like notebooks and pens, our best recommendation is MOO. This is especially true if you’re looking for something with a more premium look and feel—MOO’s biggest point of distinction is its premium, above-average quality that’ll help you stand out even among other branded merch.
It’s a good option if you really want to make an impression, or you’re offering your products as an incentive for a rewards program, like Starbucks’s planners. MOO’s marketing swag line includes softcover and tape-bound notebooks, journals, planners featuring embossed finishes, pens, and water bottles. However, it doesn’t offer any other products beyond those, so it’s quite a limited range.
Key Features
- Premium printing for branded notebooks, pens, and water bottles
- Special finishes for notebooks, journals, and planners
- Can also print premium business cards, postcards, flyers, and stickers
- Design services (on Business Plans)
Another drawback is MOO doesn’t have any design tools, so you’ll need to have your designs for your products prepared. However, it does offer general design services in-house with its annual Business Plans, which also give you discounted pricing on all MOO’s products. However, they’re only valuable if you plan to make repeat purchases from the platform. If you’re only doing a one-time order, you’ll need to have your final designs ready.
But if premium quality marketing swag is what you’re after, there’s no better place than MOO to order them. While the price point is slightly above average, the product you get matches that.
GotPrint: Best for Apparel Swag
Pros
- Custom apparel line includes T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, polo shirts, and baseball caps
- Has a drag-and-drop editor with live mockups
- Cost per product decreases when buying in bulk
- No minimum orders
Cons
- Design elements in the editor are very basic
- Design editor isn’t very user-friendly
Product | Starting Cost (per Piece) |
|---|---|
T-shirts | $12.66 |
Sweatshirts | $16.69 |
Hoodies | $28.04 |
Embroidered Polo Shirts | $25.58 |
Baseball Caps | $22.28 |
*Pricing per unit decreases for bulk orders | |
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for apparel swag specifically, GotPrint is a good option. It’s an all-around custom design and printing company, and it has one of the widest product lines for apparel, which spans regular T-shirts to premium hoodies, sweatshirts, polo shirts, and embroidered baseball caps, all customized with your own design.
It even has an online drag-and-drop design platform to create your own designs, although I recommend coming prepared with your finished artwork as it’s not the most user-friendly and its design elements aren’t the most modern. At most, you can add a few extra details to your finished artwork or logo before applying it to your apparel. However, it also has a QR code generator, which can turn your apparel into marketing materials.
Key Features
- Customizable apparel (T-shirts, sweatshirts, polo shirts, baseball caps)
- Multiple material types for apparel (pre-shrunk, side-seamed, etc.)
- Drag-and-drop design platform with design elements
- QR code generator
- Customizable office accessories and stationery
When you’re done with your design, preview how it looks before having it printed and delivered. There’s also an option for rush printing at a small extra cost. The cost per product decreases for bulk orders, so it’s ideal for large orders like employee swag for giveaways during an event. GotPrint has one of the widest custom apparel catalogs, so it’s a good go-to if you’re looking specifically for bulk-branded clothing.
Swag.com: Best for Swag Gift Boxes
Pros
- Build your own branded gift box with branded merch
- Can ship your branded gift box to any location
- Wide swag catalog, from apparel to accessories to consumable goods
Cons
- Minimum orders vary for each product
- No design platform or services for merch—you need to have your designs prepared
- Gift boxes have additional setup and kitting fees
Gift Box Type | Cost per Box* |
|---|---|
Brown Box with Custom Tape | $3 |
Solid Color Box | $6 |
Custom Box with 1 Color and 1 Logo | $9 |
Fully Custom and Branded Box | $13 |
*Plus the kitting fee | |
Meanwhile, here are the starting costs for branded products from Swag.com:
Product | Starting Cost (per Piece)* |
|---|---|
T-shirt | $6.96 |
Baseball Caps | $11.22 |
Mugs | $5.48 |
Mousepads | $2.46 |
Notebooks | $3.57 |
Tote Bags | $1.65 |
*Minimum order quantities vary | |
Branded swag gift boxes can be one of the best ways to show customer or employee appreciation while growing your brand presence. And for gift boxes, you’ll need something a little more polished and above standard.
The best service that can do that for you—and handle all the packing and delivery—is Swag.com. Swag.com specializes in branded gift boxes. You’ll only need to choose and design your gift box products, and their team will handle all the rest.
The biggest downside with Swag.com is it has no in-house design platform or designers for hire, meaning you’ll need to have your designs ready for printing. The minimum order quantities also vary with each product, although some start at just six orders.
However, for swag boxes, there are discounts for buying in bulk, and the platform can be distributed to multiple locations, so it’s ideal if you have a remote setup or are distributing to people across the world.
Key Features
- Build-your-own branded gift box
- Printing services for branded merch
- Delivery service for gift boxes
- Automation API for marketing swag
I found Swag.com a very easy platform to use overall, and very valuable for any business—especially remote businesses—that want to create branded gift boxes but don’t know where to start. With Swag.com, it’s easy. You just have to pick and choose your products and upload your designs. Then the team will do all the packing and distribution for you.
SwagUp: Best for Uncommon Swag
Pros
- Has over 200 customizable products, from apparel to tech accessories
- Multiple variations of each product (i.e., drawstring, backpack, and tote bags)
- Delivers products locally and internationally
- Order products individually or in branded gift packs
Cons
- Only accepts bulk orders, minimum of 25
- No in-house design platform
- No live product mockups with your designs
- Prices increase for more colors on your product
Product | Starting Cost (per Unit)* |
|---|---|
Water Bottles | $7.25 |
Mugs | $5.11 |
T-shirts | $10.07 |
Baseball Caps | $14.50 |
Notebooks | $1.69 |
Journals | $4.79 |
Pens | 97 cents |
Tote Bags | $3.27 |
Drawstring Bags | $2.65 |
Bluetooth Speaker | $10.59 |
Power Banks | $21.37 |
*Pricing per unit decreases for bulk orders | |
For more prices of SwagUp’s over 300 products, visit its website.
One of the best places to get unique swag in marketing is SwagUp. It specializes in building gift packs for event giveaways, but you can also order individual branded products in bulk. What makes it different is that it offers multiple types of each product that aren’t just your generic, run-of-the-mill marketing swag.
For example, you can have mini pocket notebooks, hardcover journals, or leather foldovers for notebooks. For bags, you can have regular tote bags, backpacks, crossbody bags, or drawstrings. It also offers apparel, drinkware, and even tech accessories like chargers and speakers—a much wider variety than most platforms.
So it’s your best bet if you want a more unique product to give away that other brands aren’t doing. Or if you want more premium swag to give to specific customers, like for a loyalty program, instead of just general giveaways.
Key Features
- Over 200 customizable products, including drinkware, apparel, bags, and home and tech accessories
- Custom packaging for branded gift boxes
- Local and international delivery
- Professional design services
- Swag delivery automations
- Integrations with 50-plus apps and software
The biggest disadvantage of SwagUp is it only lets you order items in bulk, with a minimum of 25 items per order. The bigger your order, the cheaper the cost per item, so conversely, it’s also ideal if you’re looking to buy in bulk. Another drawback is it doesn’t have a drag-and-drop design platform. However, it does have in-house designers who can create designs and mockups for your approval at an additional cost.
Otherwise, the SwagUp platform is very easy to use. You’ll only need to choose your products and packaging, upload your design, and fill in your details to finalize your order. It has the widest variety of customizable products, so if you want your brand to truly stand out—or to create products people will actually use—SwagUp is your best bet.
Tailor Brands: Best for Building a Brand Kit
Pros
- AI-powered brand logo generator ideal for beginners
- One-stop shop for building a full brand identity
- Integrates with Zazzle for hundreds more merch products
Cons
- Very limited design freedom for merch
- Only offers T-shirts, business cards, and stickers in-house
- Logo designs are mostly basic
Product | Starting Cost (Shipping Not Included) |
|---|---|
T-Shirts | $13 per piece |
Stickers | $3.60 for 6 pieces |
Business Cards | $29 for 100 pieces |
Finally, if you don’t have a brand identity yet and want a one-stop shop to design your logo, website, and some branded merch all in one go, Tailor Brands is the platform for just that. It’s especially useful if you’re a complete beginner because the platform is an AI-powered design generator. It generates logo designs based on your answers to its prompts, like your preferred colors, styles, and typefaces.
Key Features
- Brand logo generator
- Printing services for T-shirts, stickers, and business cards
- Integration with Zazzle for 100-plus more print products
- Design generators for posters and other marketing materials and social media templates
The downside here is the logo you generate won’t be very advanced or sophisticated. At most, you will get only a very basic logo design with a wordmark or an initial, for which you’ll need to pay for the full rights and high-resolution files. However, you can also use your logo to create branded T-shirts, business cards, and stickers, and Tailor Brands integrates with Zazzle for hundreds more products.
Another significant drawback: There are very few templates for its three available swag marketing products, and you can’t edit any of them. So there’s very limited design freedom for your merch (compared to VistaPrint or Canva, which have drag-and-drop design platforms). Overall, I find the most value with Tailor Brands if you have absolutely no design experience or skill and want to build your brand identity as quickly as possible.
How We Evaluated the Best Marketing Swag Providers
No two marketing swag providers are the same. Some specialize in apparel, some in stationery. Some allow you to design online, while others need your designs fully prepared for printing. However, all providers should allow you to create fully customized products that help you market your brand. Here are the other things we evaluated in rounding up the providers above.
- Swag variety: The top consideration was the variety of products available for branding and customization. All the platforms above can print standard marketing swag like stationery, basic apparel, and office accessories. However, some offer even more products, like drinkware and tech accessories. Others have more varieties of each product (for example, tote bags, drawstring bags, and backpacks).
- Design options: We gave higher preference to platforms that allow you to design your merch, or to edit a premade design before printing it. This includes in-house design tools or services from professionals who can ensure your designs are applied properly to your products.
- Order quantities: We also made sure all the platforms above have low minimum orders that suit small businesses. The platforms above have minimums of no more than 25, and some even have no minimum orders at all. Additionally, we considered if the providers above offer discounts for bulk orders.
- Ease of use: Creating branded products shouldn’t need hours of learning how to navigate a platform. That’s why we also personally tested each platform to ensure they’re easy enough even for beginners. Many also have customer support teams you can contact.
- Extra features: Finally, while all the platforms above let you print branded products, we give extra credit to the ones with features beyond these basics. These differ with each platform. For example, VistaPrint has a QR code generator and landing page builder, while PrintShop by DesignHill allows you to hold design contests. These features can significantly improve your marketing swag.
How to Use Swag in Marketing Your Small Business
So you’ve decided on looking into swag to market your small business. Whether for giving away during events or as a loyalty program incentive, swag is a valuable strategy for any stage of the marketing journey. The only question is learning how to leverage it best for your small business’s growth.
- Make sure you have a clear objective for your swag. Don’t just give stuff away with no clear purpose or objective. Like anything else in marketing, giving away swag should have a strategic end goal. Is it to increase brand recall after an event or incentivize customers to make repeat purchases? Always ensure your swag is part of a well-thought-out strategy to maximize your ROI.
- Calculate how many people will receive your swag. While you can’t calculate an exact number, give a close enough estimate. This will depend on the objective of your swag. For instance, swag for event giveaways will likely have more recipients than swag for a loyalty program. That way, you can order just what you need and minimize waste.
- Decide how you’ll measure ROI. Again, this will depend on your primary objective. If your goal is to increase brand recall, maybe your success metric is the number of times your website is visited or your Facebook page is liked. If it’s to encourage customer loyalty, it might be increasing repeat purchases. Either way, decide on how you’ll measure the success of your swag.
- Use measurable tracking methods. Continuing from the point above, make sure your swag has methods to track its effectiveness. For example, add QR codes to your swag to track landing page visits or add calls to action to your social media pages.
- Give swag that benefits your customers. Good marketing is all about catering to your customers, including with your swag. For instance, if you’re giving away fridge magnets, what are the chances it’ll end up amongst 25 others on recipients’ fridges? Meanwhile, say you’re handing out branded pens at a corporate event—there’s a good chance they’ll be used.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Swag in marketing is any product given away by a company with the intent to grow brand awareness. These products are often handy items like apparel, drinkware, or tech accessories branded with the company’s logo or designs. They’re usually given away as freebies during events, or to repeat customers to increase brand loyalty. Companies can also give marketing swag to employees to increase retention.
The unofficial swag meaning in marketing is “stuff we all get,” aka stuff that every person in a certain event or organization will receive for free. The purpose of swag in marketing is to promote a brand to a wide audience by distributing free products people can take home with them and use in their day-to-day lives.
Some good examples of swag in marketing are Starbucks’s planners and Coca-Cola’s branded glasses, which the companies give away as part of customer loyalty programs. However, companies can also give swag to employees. Mousepads or drinkware branded with the company’s logo can increase employee identification and loyalty within the company.
Bottom Line
Marketing swag or branded merch is an old-but-gold marketing strategy that can hold plenty of value for your small business. This is especially true if you plan to join or host events as part of your marketing strategy. Branded products give your attendees a piece of your company they can take home and use every day to boost brand recall. The providers above are some of the best places to start making swag.
