Promotional products are everywhere, from pens and tote bags to branded apparel, corporate gifts, trade show displays, and fully customized merchandise. However, the difference between a product people keep and one they immediately forget often comes down to strategy.
In this episode of Behind the Brand, Taylor and Kelly sit down with Betsy Mauer, owner of On-Brand Promo, to discuss how promotional marketing helps businesses build recognition, strengthen relationships, and stay top of mind. Betsy also shares her journey into entrepreneurship, the lessons she has learned as a solopreneur, and why the best promotional products are never one-size-fits-all.
Turning Industry Experience Into a Business
Betsy did not always plan to own a promotional products company. She entered the industry after working in retail and searching for a career with better hours. Although she originally applied for a customer service position, the company recognized her sales experience and hired her into sales instead.
That opportunity introduced Betsy to the enormous world of promotional products. Over time, she developed a passion for the industry and became the person who notices the quality of an imprint, checks the label on a shirt, and wonders how a particular item was decorated.
After years with one company, the work environment began to change. Betsy found herself dreading Mondays and knew it was time to move on. She joined another company, quickly realized it was not the right fit, and briefly considered moving into real estate.
Then former clients began reaching out.
They wanted to know whether they could still order promotional products from her. Those conversations eventually became her own business, first called Betsy Branding and later renamed On-Brand Promo.
The new name better reflected Betsy’s long-term vision: helping businesses find promotional products that genuinely fit their brands.
Why Promotional Products Still Work
Promotional products create a physical connection between a business and its audience. A useful item can remain in someone’s home, office, vehicle, or daily routine long after a meeting, event, or campaign ends.
However, simply placing a logo on a product does not guarantee that it will make an impact.
Effective promotional marketing begins with a few important questions:
- Who will receive the product?
- What is the available budget?
- Where and how will the item be used?
- What should the recipient remember?
- Is the goal brand awareness, appreciation, employee engagement, fundraising, or event promotion?
Betsy explains that every recommendation should be individualized. An affordable parade giveaway serves a different purpose than a high-end client gift. Employee apparel requires different considerations than merchandise being distributed at a trade show.
The best product is not necessarily the trendiest or most expensive option. It is the one that supports the business’s specific goal.
Choosing Quality Over Quantity
One of the biggest changes in promotional marketing is the move toward higher-quality products in smaller quantities.
Businesses are becoming less interested in ordering hundreds of inexpensive items that may never be used. Instead, many are investing in useful, functional products that feel more valuable and better represent their brands.
That does not mean every promotional item needs to be expensive. A pen, sticker, chip clip, tote bag, or can cooler can still be effective when it works well and makes sense for the audience.
The key is choosing the right version.
A product that breaks, fades, or fails to do its job can create the wrong impression. A well-made everyday item, on the other hand, can earn a permanent place in someone’s routine. Every time that person uses it, the brand receives another impression.
Making Branded Merchandise Feel More Retail
Businesses often assume their logo needs to be the largest element on every promotional product. Betsy encourages clients to think beyond the traditional logo placement.
People are more likely to wear something that feels like a retail product rather than a walking billboard. That might mean using a mascot, recognizable icon, branded phrase, custom pattern, or smaller logo.
For Moxie Creative, featuring the company’s Sasquatch can create a more wearable product than covering an item with a large company logo. People still associate the character with Moxie, but the merchandise feels more creative and intentional.
Small details can also elevate the final product. Custom colors, branded packaging, printed tags, or unexpected design elements can transform an ordinary giveaway into something memorable.
When Moxie ordered custom socks, the packaging provided another opportunity to extend the design and create a polished, retail-inspired experience.
How Print-on-Demand Stores Reduce Waste
Print-on-demand is another major shift in the promotional products industry.
In the past, companies often had to order large quantities of apparel and estimate how many small, medium, large, and extra-large items they would need. That regularly resulted in leftover inventory or employees receiving styles and sizes they did not really want.
Print-on-demand stores give employees, customers, and supporters more flexibility. They can select their preferred product, size, color, and design. The product is then decorated individually instead of being pulled from a large preordered inventory.
Betsy uses this model for clients across the country, including construction companies, businesses, and nonprofit organizations.
She also manages an always-open online store for the Tri-County Humane Society. The store functions as a fundraiser while allowing supporters to choose the apparel they actually want to wear. Designs can be added or removed throughout the year, making it easy to offer seasonal or campaign-specific merchandise without maintaining excess inventory.
Why Professional Guidance Matters
Ordering promotional products online may look simple until a business begins comparing thousands of products, brands, quantities, imprint methods, colors, production timelines, and price points.
A promotional products professional helps narrow those choices.
Betsy’s process includes conversations, mockups, quotes, recommendations, and good-better-best options. She explains the differences between products that may look nearly identical online but vary considerably in quality.
Whenever time allows, she also recommends requesting samples. A product can look perfect in a photo and feel completely different when it arrives. Reviewing a sample allows the business to evaluate the product before committing to a larger order.
Professional support becomes even more valuable when something goes wrong. Products can be misprinted, improperly produced, or shipped to the wrong customer. What matters is having someone who responds quickly, communicates clearly, and corrects the issue.
Growing Through Relationships and Community
On-Brand Promo has grown entirely through relationships, referrals, and Betsy’s involvement in the business community.
She believes in showing up because she genuinely wants to support Central Minnesota, not because every conversation needs to become a sale. Over time, that consistency builds familiarity and trust.
Betsy also believes there is room for collaboration within the promotional products industry. She works with suppliers, decorators, local businesses, and other professionals to help clients find the right solution.
Although many of her largest clients are located outside Minnesota, the local community remains an important part of her business. When possible, she sources products from Minnesota suppliers and looks for opportunities to support organizations close to home.
Building a Business While Raising a Family
As a solopreneur and mother of five, Betsy relies on flexibility.
Working for herself allows her to attend appointments, baseball games, and family activities without asking for time off. It also means she may return to her computer after the kids go to bed and finish emails late at night.
Business ownership does not necessarily mean working fewer hours. It means having more control over when those hours happen.
Betsy credits her children, friends, neighbors, co-parent, and local community for helping her manage the demands of work and family. Her experience is a reminder that entrepreneurship may be independent, but it is rarely accomplished alone.
Tune In and Get Inspired
Betsy’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is simple: do it afraid.
Waiting until every detail is perfect often means never starting. Business ownership requires the willingness to begin, learn, adjust, and figure things out along the way.
It also means becoming comfortable saying, “I don’t know.” Betsy does not feel pressured to produce an immediate answer to every question. She would rather research the possibilities and return with thoughtful, useful recommendations.
That approach has helped her build a business centered on service, relationships, and trust.
Promotional products can be powerful when they are chosen with intention. Whether a company needs branded apparel, employee gifts, event materials, fundraising merchandise, or a completely custom product, the goal should remain the same: create something people will actually use, wear, and remember.
Tune in to the full episode of Behind the Brand to hear more from Betsy Mauer and get inspired to make your next promotional product more on-brand.
