Well, you are not the only one with a notion that promotional merchandises are not equal contributors of any business' success; promotional merchandises play a vital role.
Branding is undoubtedly the only thing a business is based upon and involvement of promotional merchandises is just an added flavor. To make your business a matter of gossip and milestone for the starters, indulgence of merchandise management is somewhat necessary. It can be accepted as a token of appreciation, which further helps your brand be remembered for a long time.
Some organizations, while dissecting the marketing investment, keep one part of investment intact and that is of course to have promotional products, branded with your business' logo or name, made. For a business to invest in marketing is an inevitable phase but where and how much to invest can be self-managed. Quite good number of businesses fails due to attempting bad and incomprehensible branding ideas whereas, some rise up with just a little investment. Distributing promotional gifts is believed to be the most economical and effective branding ideas. It helps the business receive improved and positive opinions from clients as well as employees' ends.
For instance,

•  A gift, such as goody bag right after an important meeting gets over is enough to create impact on clients and employees. Such endeavor will help your name be remembered for good. In most cases, distribution of branded promotional merchandises has evidently helped in organization's sales rate too.
• Receiving gifts make people inclined towards your products and service. In fact, surveys have shown that most of the people keep the branded promotional products with them for nearly a year or even longer. This certainly helps the brand awareness go seamless. Possession of a promotional gift not only helps the holder be benefitted, it also brings in more from different circles too and in the process, your business keeps on receiving wider acknowledgment. 
• Gifting surely does not relate to any expenditure. It is a token of love, respect and care. Hence, when you give away a gift, it makes people happy as they get something beautiful and useful at free of cost. Receiving something branded with logo or a business name does not make the recipients lash out at them. It is rather a matter of deep concern for each other. The continued utilization of your branded gift makes the relation stronger.