Promotional products are an ideal way to promote your brand.
So you have chosen a few promotional products which you feel will represent your brand in a positive way. Now it is time to get to work giving them to your target customers and employees so that they can do their stuff. But don’t stop there!
It is important to look at the use of promotional merchandise as an ongoing commitment to building your brand. Anyone who has advertised their business in magazines, newspapers or with TV and radio commercials will know that one hit advertising will almost certainly not be enough. Research has shown that a person needs to see a logo at least eight times on average before they really begin to take it in.
You need to target your customers with useful, good quality promotional items so that they see your logo and hopefully use your promotional gift regularly. You then need to continue sending or handing out gifts often to achieve maximum impact.
Think about the last time you received a promotional product in the post. Chances are, it was sent with an introduction or sales letter. If you were busy at the time, you might have taken the promotional item out of the envelop, scanned the letter and then put everything to the side so that you could continue doing what you were doing.
If the information in the letter looked interesting, you may have even made a mental note to come back to the letter when you had more time.
Now let’s say that the gift you received was a promotional plastic pen. You may have looked at it and put it in your shirt pocket or desk drawer. You may even have forgotten about the pen and letter all together.
This is normal.
Now back to your promotional products campaign. You most likely will not see amazing returns just because you put a promotional plastic pen in with your sales letter! It takes time and a lot of effort.
But if you work out a budget for your promotional products and spread your campaign out over a year – team your campaign with your excellent products and/or service the results will come.
One of my own suppliers does this very well. They are a manufacturer of promotional gift pens and often their gifts are – you guessed it – pens. But they also mix it all up from time to time.
Every invoice we receive includes an assortment of chocolates branded with their logo. They are gobbled up in accounts as quickly as they can get the envelop open. They actually look forward to opening their bills and let everyone else know it.
When my supplier sends letters or new catalogues they never forget to include a new pen or a few coasters, mouse mats or even a desk clock. All of these products are branded with their logo and my desktop often looks like an advertisement for their brand.
I know the brand much better than I would if they did not constantly sending useful – useful being the key word here – gifts. A few years ago I hardly knew who they were. I would send them the odd order but now they are one of my biggest and best suppliers. I know their brand. I see their logo daily. I use products printed with their logo daily.
They have of course backed their promotional products campaign up with exception products and service.
You can do the same with your target audience!
What do you think your first useful promotional gifts should be? Get them out there working for you. What, then should your second and third promotional gifts be? Keep it up and you are bound to reap the rewards. You will be increasing brand recognition. It isn’t difficult.
It’s just good marketing!
By Dan Toombs
