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Promotional products are one of the oldest – and most effective – ways of advertising a business. Every year, American businesses spend an average of $20 billion on promotional products, giving away anything with logos such as wearables, writing instruments, bags, desk items, calendars, glassware, and many more items.
The success of promotional products hinges on the idea of the time-honored concept of reciprocity: if you give something, you will be honor-bound to return the favor by giving something back. As such, big and small businesses have used promotional materials as part of their marketing strategies. Even non-profits and research institutions typically send potential donors with personalized address labels or tote bags to increase response rates.
Some of the types of promotional products popularly used today include:
- Items that recipients can wear such as t-shirts, caps, jackets
- Items that help recipients collect or convey things such as bags, notebooks, briefcases
- Items that help recipients schedule their time such as calendars, desk planners, watches
- Items that facilitate written communication, such as pens, pencils, markers
- Items recipients can consume such as food gifts
- Items associated with digital communications such as computer mouse pads and flash drives
- Items that enhance the health and comfort of recipients such as first aid kits
However, successful promotion campaigns don’t happen by chance. To realize goals, promotional product programs must be carefully planned, taking into consideration the audience, budget and, of course, the ultimate result to be gained.
Why Use Promotional Products
Promotional products can be an effective tool to market your business. They can be used as advertising material, a business gift, and incentive (or all of the above). Specifically, promotional products can be used to:
- To thank customers for their business
- To make prospects aware of the company, product or service
- To provide a token of recognition for their loyalty or service to the company
- To motivate customers, prospects and even partners to do a particular task
- To acknowledge membership in a group (e.g. appreciated contributor)
- To communicate a non-marketing message such as announcement of a get-together
Numerous case studies document the effectiveness of promotional products. A study by the Promotional Products Association International entitled “High End, Low End: Which Promotional Products Work Best” find that for promotional products costing $25 or more:
“More than a fourth of respondents (27 percent) felt significantly more receptive to the company and its objective and 44 percent felt somewhat more receptive to the company and its objective.”
Studies often find that promotional products can increase the direct mail response up to 75%. One fast-food restaurant’s investment of $181 in promotional products resulted in a more than $1,200 increase in food sales. If your small business needs funding to afford the upfront costs of these promotions, see if a bank loan, car title loans, or even quick loans online could help you.
How to Use Promotional Products
The most effective promotional products are used in a cohesive, well-planned campaign. To make sure that your promotional products are effective, here are keys to consider:
Define a specific objective.
Whether the goal is to increase traffic at a trade show exhibit or to boost sales with current clients, the first step in any campaign is to clarify the purpose of the program.
Determine a workable distribution plan for a targeted audience.
The distribution of a promotional product is as important as the item itself. Research shows that a carefully executed distribution plan significantly increases the effectiveness of promotional products. For example, a pre-show mailing to a select audience delivers more trade show traffic and qualified leads than simply distributing items to passerby at the show.
Create a central theme.
Linking a recognizable logo and color to all aspects of a campaign, from promotional products to sales sheets to product packaging, helps create an instantly recognizable image. Choose products that help underscore your marketing message and differentiate your company.
Develop a message to support the theme.
Supporting a campaign’s theme with a message helps to solidify a company’s name, service or products in the target audience’s mind. For instance, to promote its services to small businesses, a bank created the theme “Are you tired of being treated like a small fish?” and sent fish-related products to its prospects along with promotional literature.
Select a promotional product that bears a natural relationship to your profession or communications theme.
A good example is a company that developed a magic motif for its conference at Disney World. Attendees received magic-related products to tie in with the theme “Experience the magic at DisneyR.”
Choose products that your recipients will use.
Avoid trends or fads; as well as products that have a shorter shelf life. You’d want the recipients to keep the products you send, not toss them aside. According to a PPAI study, the factors that likely make promotional products desirable enough to be kept and used by the recipients are as follows:
- The usefulness of the item
- Quality of the item
- The attractiveness of the item
- The uniqueness of the item
- Knowledge or impression of the company or person who gave the item
Personalize the item. More than your company logo, recipients prefer seeing their name on the products. To the extent possible, make it the best of both worlds – print your logo on the product as well as the recipients’ names.
Use a qualified promotional products consultant.
A good promotional product consultant will help you answer all of these questions as well as offer a variety of value-added services, including unique product ideas, creative distribution solutions and insight on the different imprinting methods just to name a few.
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Thanks for investing in this research. While we are honored that the efforts of FreePromoTips.com are being recognized, I think a great benefit is that our industry understands the value of online engagement. In today’s marketplace, this is critical. Those on this list, many whom I know personally, are passionate about our industry. We see the value of sharing relevant content and interacting through the online tools we have available. Our industry will be well served to move past posting the latest “special” and offer information that has value. My hope is that this survey will encourage others to get involved and offer meaningful content that is beneficial to our industry.