When we think of the world of education, we rarely think of the business side involved. But even in academia, there has to be a business approach to keep people coming back. From sponsors and partners to students and donors, there are many reasons why schools, colleges, universities, and other learning institutions need to take their marketing and promotional capabilities seriously. While you can always rely on the quality of your learning, there is more to gaining interest and support. One of the best ways to do so is to invest in promotional products.

Having your education facilities logo emblazoned on bottles, hoodies, and more can give you a leg up when it comes to gaining recognition. The more students who apply, the more staff who see your facility as the place to be, the better. There is much more to gaining interest and building demand than simply having a good advertising approach. Sometimes, you need to get physical with your marketing.

That includes the development of promotional items. Whether you are looking to develop interest in an upcoming fundraising event or simply want to help create unity within the campus, here are some useful tips to consider. This will help you to understand why promotional products are such a valuable asset and how you can use them effectively to make sure you meet your potential as a learning institute.

Why should you invest in promotional products for education?

There are many reasons why this is a wise investment and worthy of committing some of your marketing budget towards. For one, it gives you a range of useful items to hand out to partners, sponsors, donors, students, and staff. They can then build brand awareness authentically simply by using or wearing the product(s) you provide as part of your promotional campaigns.

What kind of products could you offer? There are many types to consider. Generally, though, these products will make students feel welcome and help them sense a feeling of togetherness and unity. They can also provide people with personalised mementos of their time of learning and gifts that can boost awareness of your presence within the wider community.

Bespoke promotional products make great reminders of achievements and awards won by students and staff. They also help get the name and logo of your campus out there, using everything from water bottles to hoodies and stationary to show just how many people have been a part of your academic institute’s story. They create a lasting, positive impression that will help keep people loyal to your school and indirectly help them market your success in the future.

The best promotional products for the education sector

Of course, finding the best products to start promoting is not easy. To help you make the right decision, we recommend that you focus on products that are used for genuine purposes. While by no means an all-encompassing list, some of the most popular promotional products for education marketing include the following:

Student planners and diaries

The first place we recommend anyone start is with a student planner. These should be given to every student who successfully enrols with your academic institute. Your supplier can help to design a planner that feels adjacent to your theme and colour scheme, removing the feeling of a generic, boring student planner. Now, this feels like an official piece of academic merchandise!

Planners are great for getting your name out there to the public. They also make useful tools for students to mark their lessons, plan out their weeks of study, and keep track of important dates and events in the school calendar. When seen by others in public, these high-quality promotional products make others see your school in a positive light.

Stationary

To ensure your students can use those student planners, give them some branded pens and stationary. You can find various recycled pens available that you can bulk-buy and then have them designed with your school’s colour scheme or livery. These sleek, modern pens do not smudge and tend to be great options for students who want to keep physical notes rather than digital ones.

You can provide them with various kinds of pens, from highlighters and push-tip pens to pens that can be erased. These are great items to give to students and staff, who can then use them in their daily lives. You could even hand out this stationery to nearby businesses or those you partner with so they can help spread the name of your academic institute further through indirect promotional marketing.

You could also offer high-end promotional products, such as stylus pens. Students highly value stylus pens as they provide a multi-functional, high-quality writing aide that they can use at any time. Stylus pens are also more tech-styled, so they tend to be more in vogue with students who would usually stick to digital products. 

Notebooks

One of the best options you can include in your promotional products list is notebooks. Handing out notebooks that contain the school insignia and name can be a striking way to draw attention to your facility. When people see more and more students using these promotional products out and about in public, they wonder about what they could learn and achieve if they attended.

These can be great for students, too, because they are practical. Students can use these for taking notes in class, important reminders, jotting down breakthrough ideas, and even just giving them a space for personal thoughts or sketches. Staff can benefit from these, too, giving them an easy place to note down their lesson plans and topics they want to address with students or other staff. We recommend going down the eco-friendly route, too, using sustainable materials like bamboo as the basis of your promotional notebooks. 

Storage binders

Giving your students as many easy-to-use promotional products as possible is always a wise choice. While many of us are more digitally focused than ever before, many students still love having ‘hard’ copies of learning materials, study guides, and lesson plans on them at all times. By handing out branded binders, you can make sure that students always have a place for safe physical storage.

Binders are great for organising important information for various classes and lessons in one place. Students can store learning materials, important documents, and even daily essentials like timetables in them. Binders also make it easy to get your logo out there in public; when your students are in local cafes studying, people will see the branded binder and know your school cares about keeping students organised. 

Student supplies

Depending on the kind of academic institute and classes you operate, these supply kits will differ from class to class and student to student. But they make great promotional products that show your commitment to your students. By giving them various tools they will need in the future, you make it much easier for students to be 100% prepared to start their academic journey. Providing students with the tools they need to get the basics down and contribute to their class helps them feel involved. 

This could include stationary like rulers and pencil cases, useful tools like calculators, and access to useful apps that students can use. These help to tick off many must-have items that students might fail to invest in alone while at the same time giving them peace of mind that you genuinely care about their progress. Brand these supply kits with your emblem and name to further brand awareness. 

Privacy covers

While not so common in the UK, many promotional products today include useful tools like webcams and other camera covers. These can be placed over a camera slot on a laptop, for example, meaning that people can work without any worries that someone could see what they are doing. In this digital era, teaching students about the importance of being vigilant in the face of security threats is so important. These covers make it easy to make sure that students feel like they are being watched.

Webcam covers are a valuable security add-on that should help foster a sense of protection among students and staff. At the same time, you can provide valuable educational resources with these covers, which provide yet another learning tool for students to learn about the importance of digital safety. With your logo emblazoned on the cover, students will remember who helped them stay safe online!

Lanyards and badge holders

Badge holders and lanyards are another useful little add-on to include in your promotional campaigns. Staff should be given one as part of their first day arrival so they can always have their ID on show. Students might also have IDs like this, so you can give them an easy way to flash their ID and show off their presence. Badge holders help to identify students but also give them a chance to show where they study as they go about their lives; staff, too, can wear these in public to show where they work.

Bracelets and bangles

Silicone bracelets and bangles make great promotional products because they are easy to mass-produce. They can be handed out to students to help show what class/unit they are part of and to raise awareness for causes that are dear to your school or your wider community. These can be great for fostering a sense of togetherness and unity within students and staff alike.

Bracelets allow you to promote causes, give valuable insights to students, and create a visual reminder about the importance of certain causes. Students can then connect and form friendships over shared causes that are dear to them, all the while creating a school environment that feels friendly and welcoming. These make great promotional products to hand out to students and staff, who can then wear the bracelets they feel most connected to and thus promote the causes they care about.

Umbrellas

In the UK, we are sadly ‘gifted’ with some pretty traditionally awful weather. Umbrellas make useful add-ons that you could include as part of starter kits or even have on sale for students and staff to buy. Invest in quality umbrellas that are sturdy and long-lasting, and you get an extra way to get your logo and name out there into the community. 

Branded umbrellas provide practical coverage from rain and snow and long-term brand growth. The more eyes on your logo, the better. By showing that your school supplies students and staff with umbrellas, too, you show your commitment to wellness and keeping people safe. The umbrella ranks as one of the best branding products you can have as part of your promotional product arsenal. 

Water bottles

If you want to help students and staff practice sustainability and wellness simultaneously, provide them with reusable water bottles. These promotional products can then be taken with them to class, between lessons, and even out and about in public. Staff might even use these in the gym, while students might carry their water bottles with them when they are exercising, out shopping, or doing whatever they enjoy as hobbies. 

As we become more aware of the importance of hydration, help people out by giving them an easy way to have water on them at all times. At the same time, these water bottles provide a practical product that is sure to be used on a regular basis. Students and staff can also contribute to reducing the usage of single-use plastics, making your school more sustainably minded. 

School mugs

Lastly, why not go down the traditional route? Mugs are a universal product used by everyone. From your teaching staff to your students, everyone enjoys a nice warm drink or a simple glass of water. These mugs provide you with an easy way to get the school emblem dotted around local cafes and people’s households. Use them within the school premises, but also provide them as gifts to others.

If a local supply company helps your school with a project, provide them with some promotional mugs as a thank you – the more mugs out there, the better. These help build physical awareness of your brand. The mugs can be as simple or as outlandish as you like; you could even have multiple styles out there so you draw more attention to designs that are both simple and spectacular. 

Extend your reach with academic promotional products

As you can see, the education sector benefits greatly from an investment in academic promotional goods. These products are not only suitable for promoting your name and getting more people interested in attending/working for your institute, but they are genuinely useful. Handing out some or all of these products as part of your wider marketing can really pay dividends.

Attracting students through traditional marketing can be tough, so you need to get creative. Potential students in your area might see your high-flying students with their stylish gifts and cool essentials and wish they were part of your institute. These are invaluable methods of attracting interest from would-be students and gaining interest from sponsors, donors, and partners in your local area.

If you want to help students and staff settle into your academic institute, then the above tools make a great investment. From practical items that students can use every day to items they might never think to buy on their own, you can offer valuable products that make a tangible difference to the quality of learning enjoyed at your facility.

So, what promotional products do you think would be the best fit for your school, college, or university?

Julian Carter, a psychology graduate from the University of Hertfordshire, has a keen interest in the fields of mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.