With all of this flexibility, what is a lanyard used for anyways? We know the list of lanyard uses like the back of our hands, so we’ve created a guide to help you figure out how to make the most of these handy tools.

Our guide will cover all of our favorite uses for a lanyard, along with a few additional tips, like where to get custom lanyards that can live up to the hype. You won’t want to miss this, so let’s kick off our conversation by exploring why people use lanyards in the first place.

Why Do People Carry Lanyards?

So, what is a lanyard used for in the first place, and why are they a common everyday item?

Lanyards are incredibly flexible, as the number of uses for a lanyard is higher than you may think. Most lanyards can also be personalized with unique designs to help businesses and individuals express their brands and highlight important causes.

From function to style, lanyards are versatile and can be tweaked to help brands and causes get their message out effortlessly.

They’re Functional

What is a lanyard used for, anyways? There are several ways to adopt these nifty tools into your daily routine. Lanyards can be worn around your neck, provide quicker access to important items in your pocket or bag, and even offer extra support to critical electronic devices.

Lanyards can also easily swap between use cases, carrying multiple items simultaneously, from house keys and ID badges to fitness trackers and medical devices.

They’re Stylish

Lanyards are a fashion accessory in their own right, especially when they are crafted with high-quality materials and eye-catching colors. Since lanyards are usually worn around the neck or as part of a bag, they can accessorize with most outfits and help wearers express themselves.

You can also customize lanyards with personal messages or brand logos, adding extra flair to your daily routines. We’re about to dive into some of the many uses for lanyards below, but remember that you can easily swap out lanyards for any of those uses based on how you want to accessorize on any given day!

What is a Lanyard Used For? 11 Reasons Your Company or Event Can Benefit From Offering These!

Lanyards aren’t just fancy ribbons that add extra flair to your daily items. Thanks to their utility and the ability to switch attachments on a whim, you can use lanyards for a multitude of use cases.

While our list of lanyard uses is comprehensive, you can even go beyond these 11 options to incorporate lanyards in a way that fits your habits. To start, let’s discuss how lanyards can revolutionize workplace security.

Identification

Whether you’re in an office, a hospital, a school, or just an event, instantly identifying other people in the area with an ID card is a huge boon for security best practices. Lanyards can be attached with ID badge holders, allowing everyone to display their ID in an accessible manner. 

This can help spark conversation with quick facts about an individual, like their name, position, and location of origin, while also allowing security personnel to help ensure limited-access areas are only accessed by credentialed individuals.

We’ve also created an in-depth guide to help you answer the question - why use photo ID employee badges in the first place? Check it out and pass it along to your security team if you need help making the switch.

Keys

When you ask the question - what is a lanyard used for? One of the first answers that springs to mind for many people is house keys or car keys.

Keys are an excellent pairing with lanyards, as they are an everyday item that can often get misplaced due to their small size. Lanyards add an extra layer to your key chain, allowing you to find them quickly amidst a messy desk or drawer.

Lanyards also let you keep important keys immediately at hand for situations where rapid access is necessary, like doorways, cash registers, or automobiles, without needing to fumble through your pockets.

Electronic Devices

In this modern day and age, we spend more time with our phones in our hands or on our desks than in our pockets. Lanyards can be outfitted with smartphone attachments providing you with instant access to your phone, allowing you to tackle important emails and vital phone calls at a moment’s notice.

You can also pair a durable lanyard with electronic equipment, like camera gear for photographers, or keep important documents around your neck with a USB flash drive, making lanyards a versatile tool for several different industries.

Safety Devices

Emergency situations won’t wait for you to dig through your purse or pockets, so it’s critical that you have safety devices immediately available when needed. You can pair lanyards with common protective items like safety whistles and pepper spray that can alert bystanders in the event of an emergency.

Travel Documents

Traveling can be a fantastic experience, but it is critical to keep important documents readily accessible to ensure everything goes smoothly. 

Passports, hotel bookings, traveler’s checks, and event tickets can all be placed inside a wallet or similar container that can be attached to a lanyard. This allows you to carry these valuable documents around your neck without worrying about misplacing them or the risk of robbery.

Promotional Purposes

If you take a walk down the street, you may realize many people are acting as walking billboards, whether they realize it or not. Lanyards with unique designs and prominent logos can also serve as free advertising for your brand, as the utility of lanyards ensures they are used in everyday scenarios.

Whether you are distributing lanyards for an event or using them as employee ID badges, a well-designed lanyard can increase brand familiarity and also helps keep your business or cause in the background of the user’s mind, making lanyards an excellent promotional tool.

Hygiene Items

Attaching hygienic items to the end of your lanyard can provide peace of mind while you’re on the go. Hand sanitizer bottles are a prevalent choice, allowing you to guarantee a safe experience no matter where you are, but you can also carry self-care items like dental floss picks, sunblock, or hand wipes inside of pouches and wallets attached to your lanyard.

Medical Alerts

Lanyards are an excellent way to ensure you have access to the vital everyday items you need, and medical alerts are no different. Diabetics can keep their glucose trackers securely around their necks, asthmatics can carry around inhalers, and people with server allergies can carry epinephrine.

Additionally, medical tracking devices can also be attached to a lanyard, allowing for quicker medical responses in the event of emergencies. This includes devices that can help elderly patients alert caregivers and loved ones in the event of a fall.

Fitness Trackers

With fitness trackers surging in popularity, lanyards off an alternative beyond a simple wristwatch. You can easily attach the fitness trackers you use in your exercise routines to a lanyard, helping you ensure you can monitor your progress without a bulky device getting in the way.

Fundraising

Thanks to a large amount of space on lanyards, displaying a message for a charitable cause is simple. Whether you opt to place a full message or just line a lanyard with the logos for your causes, distributing lanyards as part of a charitable drive can help raise brand awareness and drive future donations.

Like corporate branding, fundraising with the help of lanyards is effortless, as lanyards are used in everyday contexts and also serve as incentive gifts for donators to strive for.

Souvenirs

Lanyards are amazing souvenirs, as they can be designed with event logos or messages commemorating experiences to help make them unforgettable. Concerts, conferences, and vacation destinations are just some of the many places that can distribute or sell lanyards to visitors and attendees, as the lanyards can serve as fun reminders of memorable times.

This list of 11 lanyard uses covers just some of the many excellent choices, so feel free to get creative for your business. With that in the books, let’s take a look at where you can find personalized lanyards for your business.

Now That You Know All the Uses For a Lanyard, Create Your Own Here Today!

We’ve covered lanyard uses in our guide, so you’re probably wondering how to make a custom lanyard that can live up to the challenge.

Thankfully, creating eye-catching lanyards that can adapt to fit all of the uses of a lanyard is simple. Here at CustomLanyard.net, we’ve been specializing in just that for over a decade, working with massive brands like Nike, Dropbox, and Twitter to craft lanyards for any occasion.

Why CustomLanyard.net?

There’s a lot to consider when ordering personalized lanyards, and most vendors fail to meet all the requirements to produce premium quality lanyards. At CustomLanyard.net, you can start your order off with a design tool that is effortless to use, letting you tweak every aspect of your order to your heart’s desire.

We pair our easy-to-use design tool with a dedicated customer support team that will assist you along every step of the process, from the moment you begin browsing our store through the arrival of your order. 

Our track record speaks for itself, as we’ve helped major corporations like Microsoft, Yelp, and Netflix create personalized products. We’re the best in the business, and we’ve even worked to offer our customers the lowest possible prices on the market thanks to a streamlined manufacturing process.

We Have All the Different Types of Lanyards You Need for Any Use Case

Our inventory here at CustomLanyard.net covers all the bases, from lanyards focused on flashy design to those made with durable materials that can help transport valuable electronics and medical devices.

Some of the different types of lanyards we offer include custom lanyards with ID cards that are perfect for increasing workplace security, along with custom woven lanyards and custom polyester lanyards that blend a woven-in design with a strong material base.

If unique designs are more of your speed, our custom nylon lanyards and custom tubular lanyards are an amazing way to help a brand logo pop while maintaining comfort for the wearer.

You can also opt for our custom dye sublimation lanyards, which offer vibrant colors without the use of toxic dyes and are perfect for everyday wear.

Tips for Getting Started Creating Your Own Custom Lanyards

Designing your own personalized lanyard is simple, but there are a few tricks to making the most out of the process. 

You’ll start things off by gathering any messages, logos, or graphic design elements before you hop on our design tool. We recommend choosing a logo or message that is pleasing to the eye and simple to understand with a glance for the most optimal branding potential.

From there, consider which of the uses for a lanyard you are seeking. For example, lanyards that are intended for workplace ID badges require badge reels and ID holders, so you’ll want to make sure to select those options on our online interface.

Once you know what you want your lanyard to look like and what it will be used for, select a base material from our inventory and then input your design preference with our simple interface.

It should be smooth sailing from there, but remember that you can always reach out to our support team at any time during the process, whether you want some design tips or you need to double-check that your order fits the lanyard uses we’ve talked about in this article.

Bringing Our Conversation on the Various Lanyard Uses Close

Let’s recap - what is a lanyard used for? 

Lanyards are extraordinarily flexible, providing utility across many use cases while helping show off brand logos or important causes with eye-catching designs. Some of the many lanyard uses include ID badges, providing hands-free access to electronic and safety devices, fundraising and branding, or even simply holding your house keys.

If you want to maximize the aesthetic style and functional utility of your order, personalized lanyards are the way to go. CustomLanyard.net has you covered with a vast inventory that can be tweaked to your exact preferences, thanks to our effortless design interface.

We also provide custom wristbands that are perfect for branding or event security, in case you’ve been debating wristbands vs lanyards for your business. Check out our shop today to create an iconic lanyard design perfect for every use case!