What is it about promotional items that fascinates us so much these days? Could it be that we’re all so caught up in consumerism that we just need another knick-knack to call our own? Is branded merchandise a fun distraction that somehow also impresses people enough to trick them into buying something?
Though some naysayers may believe all this, promotional products are actually crucial to businesses eager to:
- Build their brand’s visibility and customer loyalty
- Generate powerful leads
- Strengthen the bond they share with their target audience
- Keep their marketing budgets in check.
The idea that simple objects, like pens, customised mugs, and umbrellas, could produce these results is often the thing that confuses most sceptics. And yet, promotional products work incredibly for marketing campaigns — if you know how to implement them correctly!
Top 5 Reasons to Invest in Branded Merchandise
As you learn more about promotional products, you will also recognise their many benefits and feel even more eager to use them in your campaigns. For now, though, let’s look at the key advantages that branded merchandise all but guarantees:
Affordability
A small business, especially a startup, has a limited marketing budget and has to be careful as to which campaigns it invests in. It’s not only about deciding what’s effective for your business and going for that option. You also must consider what is affordable, i.e., what won’t reduce your marketing budget to mere dust.
Most businesses believe that running ads is the only reasonable way to gain brand exposure. But when you consider how much time, effort and money that requires, you soon see that it’s not the most efficient way to spread the word about your startup.
One of the greatest benefits of promotional merchandise is that it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Even a simple personalised gel pen could work wonders for brand exposure, as it can easily exchange multiple hands every day and generate just as many impressions.
A more useful product, such as a water bottle, could provide even better results — and actually keep the promotion alive for months or even years. The more practical and long-lasting the product, the better both short- and long-term results!
Better Brand Visibility
This brings us to another benefit that promo items are known for. With frequent (and rather satisfying) use comes better brand visibility. As a result, your logo, brand name, and even your business details can easily stay on people’s minds for longer, causing them to inevitably build some form of loyalty or love towards you.
The best part, though, is that this affects everyone else around them too. Just giving your branded T-shirt to one person could help generate dozens of new impressions. And the more that T-shirt is worn, the greater the chance of your company’s logo becoming engraved in others’ minds.
Higher Level of Customer Retention
Branded merchandise also plays a key role in keeping your customers loyal. Though it would be ideal, your audience cannot just keep on giving, i.e., buying your products or services. At some point, they will need to get something in return — some form of tokens that show that their loyalty hasn’t gone unnoticed.
The return, in this case, can be some useful products that help the audience develop a deeper sense of connection with the brand. By giving away these products for free, you’re showing them your gratitude and how special they are to your business.
Those products then inspire even more loyalty in them and keep them aware of your brand at all times. Your business becomes their go-to company; it matures into their number one option for a particular set of products or services.
Stronger Business-Customer Relationships
When in need of guidance, your branded merchandise is there to offer more insight into your customers’ minds. The better you are at noticing their needs and wants, the higher the chance that your relationship will continue to blossom for years.
A good relationship with your clients and customers is never to be underestimated. You can have amazing products and services, but a lack of a solid link with your audience could easily be your demise.
These are the people that will refer others to your business and thus expand your pool of customers. In the end, they keep your business afloat, and giving away branded products is one of the ways to cement their loyalty.
Greater Lead Generation
Finally, promotional items can also contribute to greater lead generation — and one that lasts for far longer than what some other marketing strategies can offer.
By attracting potential leads with practical (and free!) products, you get a chance to gauge how many of them would become customers with more effort or patience. And just by giving them the products, you already have one foot in the door. Your business has already made a positive impression at the very beginning!
How to Use Promotional Products in Your Business Marketing Campaigns
Promotional merchandise can undoubtedly help transform your marketing campaign from a good one into a crowd-pleasing experience. Here are just some of the ways you could use promo products to impress your audience:
Choose Audience-Approved Products
You will learn more about your audience in time and know just which products would please them. For now, though, it’s a good idea to focus on audience-approved merchandise that almost always amazes everyone, such as:
This is by no means an exhaustive list, so consider researching your target audience on your own and figuring out what kinds of products would work best.
Go for Products That’ll Stay With Your Audience for Longer
Yes, many people would love to have a personalised notepad or a set of uniquely shaped sticky notes. The problem with such giveaways, however, is that they don’t last long, which doesn’t make them as cost-efficient as you want your promos to be.
Instead, go for not only durable but also products that will stay in use for longer, such as reusable bags, travel mugs, lanyards, and similar. These should stick around for a while and thus continue generating new impressions for much longer than those sticky notes or small notepads. They simply will have more time to be seen and noticed by others!
Make Sure Your Promos Are Related to Your Industry
There’s rarely a point in offering products that are far removed from your industry. You want your audience to be able to associate your brand with your products and services, not be confused by your merchandise.
Because of that, aim to distribute products that resolve a problem or need while simultaneously reminding the audience of what your business can offer. For hotels, these products can be beach balls and personalised sunglasses. Tech businesses, however, would be better off focusing on tech gadgets or computer accessories, such as flash drives and business mouse pads.
Give Your Audience a Chance to Take Their Pick
Finally, you can also sometimes allow your audience to choose the products themselves. If they pick their favourites, they are more likely to use them, thus allowing your brand exposure to really surge.
Better yet, this also gives you a better insight into their interests and needs. Later on, you can use that insight to offer more tailored giveaways that excite your audience right from the get-go.
Should You Include Your Logo on Every Promo?
Though many would recommend adding your logo to every promo, every business should decide on this on its own.
Sometimes, it makes more sense to personalise products with the customers’ names, e.g., water bottles, towels, and similar. The recipients would show their gratitude by talking about these special products to friends and family members. Because the giveaway was personalised, they may also have an easier time remembering who gave the freebies to them.
Alternatively, if the logo isn’t too prominent or you don’t want it to overwhelm the design, you can get away with including a smaller version on every product so as to keep the item’s appeal high.
Related content:
Trade Show Giveaways – The Most Effective Way to Market Your Brand
What Campaigns Would Benefit from Promotional Products?
It all depends on your line of business, but practically any campaign could incorporate some promotional products in an effort to attract and impress a bigger audience. Here are just some examples for inspiration:
Grocery Store Campaigns
Let’s say that you have just opened a grocery store and are looking to attract more customers. Since the eco-friendly movement is so strong nowadays, you could use that to your advantage by giving away personalised shopping bags. Opt for high-quality bags that should stay in use for quite a while, and personalise them by branding them with your logo.
You could also offer your most loyal customers their own personalised bags (with their names on them). Such a token of care displayed by a business ought to earn you some extra referrals!
Restaurant and Similar Food Industry Campaigns
On the other hand, if you have a restaurant, you may want to go for more food industry-related items. The idea is to provide your customers with something that’s easy to use, practical, and able to draw attention wherever it ends up.
Therefore, consider giving away lunch boxes, can coolers, or salt and pepper grinders, depending on each customer. Some freebies are better given to new guests, while others should only be reserved for high-value (loyal and frequent) customers.
Sports-Based Campaigns
Finally, you can offer promotional products at various sports events, such as football games. Agree to give some valuable products, like personalised footballs and embroidered caps, to the winners of the game. Otherwise, you can give these freebies away to all the attendees and leave a fantastic lasting impression.
Top Tips for Ensuring Your Campaign Is a Roaring Success
Decide on Your Goals — and Be Specific!
“I want my business to be successful” may seem like a fine goal at first, but it’s not specific enough to ensure your campaign actually works. Instead, you must build a solid foundation of set goals that would cover everything you’re trying to achieve with a single campaign.
Depending on your business, this may include:
- Boosting your sales
- Increasing brand awareness
- Bringing brand exposure to a whole new level
- Promoting a new business angle, venture, etc.
Everything you include in your campaign should serve your goals and ensure you achieve them. So, if your ideas don’t line up with your goals right now, change one or the other. Better to do it now than when the campaign is already in full swing!
Set a Clear Budget
Naturally, one of the key factors in any marketing campaign is the budget. Considering how much you can spend is vital as you could definitely overspend and drive your business to debt. On the other hand, you could spend too little and accidentally the success of your campaign!
The balance is somewhere in the middle, of course. A good rule of thumb is to figure out how much money you can allocate to the campaign and then compare that to your goals. Take into account the audience’s purchasing power as well to get a figure that should last you from the start of the campaign right until the end.
Create Unique Marketing Campaigns
Yes, you could run a campaign most of your competitors are doing, but your audience may find it quite dull. No matter what kind of line of business you’re in, being unique or at least just a bit different definitely pays off.
Customers are bored with businesses using the same old catchphrases and triggers to try to persuade them to trust them. Luckily, there is a solution for this — do your research.
Research your audience in detail and find out what makes them tick. Base your campaign on their wants and needs, looking for different ways to push their pain points. Above all, make sure the campaign is not something they’ve already seen hundreds of times. It should be pretty extraordinary for them to completely devote their attention to it!
Don’t Forget About Actually Advertising Your Brand
It’s easy to lose your way while creating a marketing campaign by focusing on the extra features and not the products or services. While it’s admirable how much effort you may put into the campaign, you should always make sure it’s not too overwhelming or able to overshadow the very thing you’re trying to promote.
Bells and whistles will only take you so far. As soon as the customers realise they aren’t really sure what the campaign is for, they may lose interest.
Therefore, remember to keep reminding them of your products or services. Use compelling elements throughout your campaign to ensure you showcase what the audience can buy. Don’t let them just be witnesses to your incredible creativity and persuasive marketing know-how!
Keep Your Eye on the Prize (or Rather, the Results!)
Finally, don’t forget that the main goal of any marketing campaign boils down to the results. If you don’t get the results you’re after, all your time, effort and money will have been spent in vain, causing you to potentially jeopardise your business.
But as bleak as this sounds, it’s not that challenging to overcome. As always, you have to keep your eye on the prize in business, so study the results often and make improvements along the way.
Don’t make too many digressions into non-related issues. Instead, try to meet your goals by focusing on the right topics and the connections that link your promos to your best products or services.
After all, another one of your goals is to make a profit — and that certainly won’t happen if you keep getting distracted and forget what the campaign is all about!
You may also like:
Creating a Promo Campaign: 7 Crucial Steps to Success
Contact us at 0800 0148 970 or simply email us today for more info, and browse through our vast collection of promotional items. Some of them might nudge your imagination in the right direction and help you create promotional materials that your clients and customers will love at first glance. We are waiting for your call!
