Branded Merchandise Ideas to Elevate Your Visibility

Want more success as a creator? Establish and maintain the visibility of your brand through cool custom merch! Branded merchandise is a powerful tool that leaves a lasting impact on both existing and potential customers. The right promotional products can significantly enhance your brand visibility and customer engagement, so you can stand out in today's competitive creator space.

4 Steps to Choosing the Perfect Products

Selecting an effective promotional product requires creativity, planning, and brand consideration. Check out these practical tips that will help guide you toward more informed merch decisions:

1. Know Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is fundamental. Tailor your branded merchandise to resonate with their preferences, ensuring that your promotional items are not only useful, but also fulfill your fans' interests. Make your merch colorful, interesting, and unique, so much so that people ask your fans and customers “where did you get that?”

2. Align Your Products with Your Brand Message

Your promotional products should seamlessly align with your brand message. Does your brand have a particular color scheme, art style, mascot, or chat/team name? Whether it's sustainability or innovation, serious conversations or humor, the merchandise should reflect the core values and identity of your brand, and include components your audience will recognize. These are items your fans will keep, use, and show off.

3. Choose an Appealing Mix of Merch

Opt for a good mix of merchandise selections, like the myriad of choices that are available for your Fourthwall shop! Choose some that are practical, classic, and relevant to your audience's daily life, plus some that are trendy, unusual, or luxury items. That way, your branded merchandise has the opportunity to both become a functional part of your customers' everyday routine, and something that they associate in a positive way with treating themselves.

4. Set a Realistic Budget

Establish a budget for your branded merchandise campaign, including what you're willing to invest into startup costs. On Fourthwall, for example, there are no startup costs at all; you can get started for free, and Fourthwall also offers opportunities to earn “sample credits,” so you can order samples of your own products! Consider the expenses for your promotional products, minimum order quantity required, and the potential returns on your investment. A realistic budget ensures that your promotional efforts are sustainable and effective over the long-term. Also be mindful of cost when you're setting prices, both so you can make a reasonable profit, and so your merch is within financial reach of your fans/customers.

16 Trendy Branded Merchandise Ideas 

Staying on the cutting edge of branded merchandise trends is essential if you're looking to elevate your brand. T-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, phone cases, and keychains will always be classic favorites. But adding in more trendy, innovative products can really capture the attention of your target audience and will help your merch stand out, making them must-have items for your fans and contributing significantly to your brand awareness.

1. Smart Mugs

Smart mugs take the traditional coffee cup to the next level by incorporating features like digital displays and temperature control to keep beverages warm. These promotional products not only cater to the tech-savvy audience, but along with a fresh cup of coffee or tea your mug can also provide a daily reminder of you and your brand. Or, if you want to opt for something simpler, check out Fourthwall’s selection of customizable mugs.

2. Reusable Water Bottles

Promote sustainability and environmental consciousness with reusable water bottles. Branded with your logo, these eco-friendly items send a message about your commitment to green, socially responsible initiatives; water bottles, alongside other types of drinkware, are another item that your fans can use every single day. You could even throw in a branded bottle opener with purchase, for double promotional value.

MrKrazyMic streams Just Chatting on Twitch, and sells these colorful branded stainless steel water bottles in his Fourthwall merch store.

3. Wireless Charging Pads

Convenient and practical, wireless charging pads are a must-have accessory for smartphone users. Branded with your logo, they not only showcase your commitment to functionality but also become a constant part of your audience's daily routine every time their phone needs a charge (which, as we all know, is often!) A non-tech option for this idea could be a customized mouse pad or desk mat, like those available from Fourthwall’s product catalog.  

4. Smart Notebooks

Combining the convenience of traditional note-taking with digital features that mimic the paper notebook experience, smart notebooks and pens can appeal to a broad audience. Put your brand on one, and provide your fans with a useful and seamless blend of the traditional and modern. Prefer a more classic, non-digital version? Customize your own spiral notebook at Fourthwall!

5. Plushies

Got a streaming or socials mascot? Bring them to life with a customized stuffed plushie version that you can design and sell to your audience. These adorable merch options, a cozy promotional product that's uniquely you/your brand, will appeal to collectors and can easily be displayed on a shelf or sofa.

6. Reusable Straws

Another companion to the water bottles above are reusable straws - swap out plastic for stylish and environmentally friendly bamboo, recycled material, or metal versions. This trendy choice not only aligns your brand with eco-conscious practices but also provides a unique and memorable promotional item for your audience. You can brand both the straws themselves, and the folio or case that they're kept in.

7. Umbrellas

Branded umbrellas are such a unique pick, and are especially appropriate if you live in a particularly rainy locale. You can easily match the colors to your brand (perhaps even choosing one color inside the umbrella and another on the outside), emblazon your umbrella with your logo, and you'll keep your customers out of the rain in style.

8. Branded Board Games

Combine entertainment with promotion by offering branded board games, ideally including references to your community members, in-jokes, or channel/socials memes. This unique and enjoyable merchandise idea ensures that your brand becomes a part of your audience's leisure time, fostering positive associations.

9. Subscription Boxe

Create a curated brand experience with fun subscription boxes. Include a variety of branded items that resonate with your audience, turning the arrival of your merch into a miniature surprise party. You can also provide a sense of exclusivity by limiting the drops of these and making them unique (for instance, only 50, but they're all curated personally by you), so you can up the demand.

10. Custom Accessories

Custom printed pens and keychains are classic promotional products, but you can elevate your brand even more with high-quality personalized versions. These items add an extra level of luxury and can become cherished possessions, creating a lasting connection between your brand and your audience. Fourthwall offers unique choices like custom acrylic cut-out keychains, metal lapel pins, and even sterling silver jewelry that you can order in a custom shape of your choosing.

11. Branded Socks

Add a touch of fun and functionality with branded socks. Whether it's quirky designs or sophisticated patterns, branded socks offer a unique way for your audience to showcase their allegiance to your brand. Got an eye-catching logo or a recognizable face? You can even put that face right on a pair of socks!

12. Embroidered Apparel

Printed t-shirts, hats, hoodies, and other apparel will always be popular, but you can upscale your brand's style quotient even more with embroidered apparel. These items not only serve as fashionable accessories, but also provide a canvas for your promotional product to leave a lasting and visually appealing mark that's a step above the typical. Fourthwall even has customizable knitwear that you can design - perfect for extra-cozy branded merch and especially great for Christmas “ugly sweaters”!

13. Seed Paper 

Seed paper, which degrades naturally over time, is not only environmentally friendly but also reinforces your brand's commitment to sustainability. Seed paper can be planted to grow wildflowers, herbs, or vegetables; you can use seed paper for product packaging, or, if your product doesn't require packaging, order seed paper postcards and print your logo on them to send to your fans for a unique surprise.

14. Portable Projectors

For the tech-savvy, portable projectors are a game-changer. Whether for business presentations or entertainment (envision your projected logo greeting your fans at a community meetup!), these compact devices featuring your logo ensure that your brand is front and center in visibility and innovation.

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15. USB Flash Drives

Take an otherwise utilitarian accessory, and make it into one of your best promotional offerings by customizing it with both your logo and what's on the drive itself. You can initially fill the USB drive with something your fans want - digital files like desktop wallpaper, music, or exclusive videos - and then they can reuse the branded drive itself indefinitely.

16. Candles

Custom candles, like this soy wax option from Fourthwall, are rapidly becoming another popular option for branded merch. Think about the vibe and ambiance that your streams, social posts, or videos might conjure up, and turn that into a fun scented candle that your fans can use in their homes, dorm rooms, or WFH offices; you can customize both the scent and the label.

Merch Made Easy: Fourthwall's All-in-One Platform

Looking for the best branded merchandise? Let Fourthwall's All-in-One Platform simplify the process. Offering dozens of promotional product options plus unique customization capabilities, it enables creators and businesses to resonate with their audience, leading to increased purchase intent.

Additionally, Fourthwall provides valuable data analytics for optimizing merchandise, enhancing brand visibility, and driving sales. With built-in e-commerce tools, it lets you streamline store setup, order management, and shipment fulfillment, contributing to increased efficiency and higher sales conversions. "All-in-One" really does mean all-in one; Fourthwall is a comprehensive solution that helps make the world of promotional products exciting, making your branded merchandise more visible for you, your brand, and your fans.