Want to promote your brand with an exciting, cost-effective product that will give your brand a high recall value?

Custom Tote bags fit the bill! Not only that, custom Tote bags have high utility, are reusable, environmentally friendly, and convenient, making them a valuable promotional product.

As per a 2020 study by Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), 73% of consumers held promotional bags. Also,

Given this impressive data, how do you make custom tote bags to become brand ambassadors for your business?

Read on to get some cool ideas on how you can turn custom tote bags into walking billboards for your brand.

1. Make sure your custom totes reflect your brand identity:

Get your design team into action, and create artwork that strongly represents your brand or the message you want to convey through the totes. Incorporate your brand logo, colors, design elements into your tote bag design. Anyone who sees the tote bags should be able to connect the totes to your brand.

Include your social media handles and website address on your tote bag, for potential customers to engage with your brand.

Custom Tote Bag for sustainable, organic retail brand Mate the Label
Image via Pinterest

Custom Tote Bag for Wallpaper* Magazine, which focuses on design and architecture, fashion, travel, art, and lifestyle.
Image via Pinterest

Promotional Tote Bag for Yellow Chalk, a design studio

2. Make your custom totes irresistible!

If you want people to carry your bags around, make them super attractive. Use humor, attractive colors, creative messages, social awareness messages to increase the appeal of carrying custom totes.

Millennials love quirky items that make them stand out-create totes that they would love to flaunt.

Quirky Wine Tote Bag
Image via Pinterest

Attract attention to your custom Tote bag with a funny message
Image via Pinterest

3. Invest in good quality bags that will leave an impact, without burning a hole in your advertising pocket:

You want your customers to use the promotional totes over and over again, so that people see your totes and are curious about your brand, products/services.

A good quality tote bag will be reused and carried around more, so it makes great sense to invest in quality bags that won’t wear out easily.

You can get custom canvas tote bags that come in a range of thicknesses from 5 oz to 12 oz. Bags made from 5 to 6 oz are thin and are used for economy buys. These are not very durable and will fail to make a favorable impact on your audience.

8 oz canvas cotton is perfect for custom promotional tote bags- they are lightweight, strong, have medium durability, and are budget-friendly.

If you have a higher budget and want premium, high-quality totes, pick 10 to 12 oz canvas cotton.

4. Market your custom tote bags as collectibles

Design, issue and promote your custom tote bag collection as a limited-edition collectible for fans of your brand, services, or merchandise.

For example, if you are a gaming company, you could launch a limited-edition tote bag series for fans of your games, before releasing a new game.

Annmarie Skin Care released this limited edition tote bag. The images on the bag were clicked by videographer AmaYah Harrison.

Limited Edition Tote Bag released by Annmarie Skin Care
Image via Kiwla

If you are an apparel brand launching a new collection, you could use motifs and colors from the collection in your custom tote bags, and retail them as accessories.

Limited Edition Summer Tote Bag for retail brand Family Nation
Image via Family Nation

Halloween-themed and Christmas-themed-totes are also great ideas for collectibles.

Spooky Halloween Themed Tote Bag
Image via Ecoright

5. Highlight the sustainability and environment-friendliness of your custom totes

As per the ASI study, 46% of consumers in the US have a favorable opinion of an advertiser if the promo product they received was environmentally friendly.

Tote bags are made from natural fabric and are reusable, making them an environmentally friendly product
Image via Redbubble

Canvas cotton tote bags are made from a natural fabric material woven out of cotton or linen. These are environmental-friendly and reusable.

Environmentally-friendly custom tote bags
Image via Pinterest

When you give your custom totes out as swag, include a note about why you chose an environmental-friendly product as a giveaway, and encourage your audience to use products that are good for our planet.

6. Give out your custom totes as swag, or along with in-store purchases, or sell them as merchandize on your e-store:

Custom tote bags for grocery store in London, Harvest N16
Image via 99designs

The more totes you give out (of course, within your budget!), the more your brand/product/service will be seen out there. Use creative and high-impact opportunities such as marathons, fundraisers, university open days, adventure camps, yoga retreats, etc to give away your totes as an individual swag item or as goodie bags filled with event-appropriate gifts.

If you’re launching a new store or product line, you can have a limited number of tote bags filled with goodies up for grabs for the first 50 customers. Promote the event on social media, so that people are excited about getting exclusive freebies and about your new store/product line.

Custom Tote Bag for Niddle Noddle children’s boutique store opening
Image via Pinterest

7. Promote user-generated content with tote bags on your social media

Promote your totes through social media influencers
Image via Instagram

Include a note in your swag totes and ask your followers on social media to click images with your totes and post them on their social media handles, tagging your brand. Create and use hashtags that people can use while posting. Feature the best images on your social media.

You could also have social media influencers pose with your branded tote bags and reach out to their followers. This will create curiosity and excitement about your brand.

8. Use your custom totes in employee welcome kits and care packages

Employee Recognition Tote Bag
Image via Pinterest

Get your employees to act as your best brand ambassadors when you gift them your totes loaded with goodies in new hire welcome kits and training programs. You can also send care packages with custom masks, sanitizers, and other custom products to employees in tote bags.

With the above ideas, you are sure to create cracker custom tote bags that people will love to use and carry. And as we like to say at Gumtoo, these toteally trendy custom promotional tote bags will take your brand places!

Yes, I want Custom Tote Bags!

8 Sure-fire Ways to Make Custom Tote Bags Your Best Brand Ambassadors