Promotional items are an effective way to market your brand, provided that you know how to use them appropriately. A promotional item is any product that carries a brand’s name or logo and is given for free to promote corporate identity, brand, or event. Almost all clients and customers love receiving a free gift, but you don’t want to just give stuff away without any benefit now, would you? The key here is knowing how to use promotional items effectively and take full advantage of your marketing dollars.
If you’re looking to make a big impact on promotional items, then you came to the right place. Today we’ll be discussing these 10 principles on how to make the most out of promotional merchandise.
1. Think about your target audience
Before giving away promotional items, take a step back and assess who your target audience is. What are the things they’re interested in? Will your chosen promotional item attract their attention? You want to give items that add value to the client’s life. That way, they’ll be reminded of your brand every single time they use it.
You can create a simple poll on social media and ask your target audience about their interests. From there you can choose a promotional item based on their answers. You can also do a bit of research on your existing customers and see what garners their attention most. The more they like the products, the higher the chances of them advocating your brand.
2. Make sure your message is in line with the product
There’s more to a promotional item than just slapping your logo and calling it a day. You want to add eye-catching designs and consistent messaging that will resonate across your target audience. Hiring a good copywriter for this task will go a long way towards increasing the effectiveness of your promotional items.
Adding a short slogan or tagline is more than enough to catch the attention of your clients. Just make sure the message is in line with the product so people can easily understand who you are and what you have to offer.
3. Your promotional items have to stand out
Pens, t-shirts, and drinkware are some of the most commonly used promotional items. While they’re not bad on their own, these items don’t really excite the recipient per se. Instead of using these bland and lackluster items, you can switch things up and give away things like printed USB sticks, leather ID holders with your brand’s logo, and other unique items that stand out amidst a sea of boring products.
Be creative and think beyond the box. The recipients will appreciate the extra effort you took and will most likely use the items as part of their daily routines, thus strengthening the effectiveness of the products themselves.
4. Do the maths before ordering the items
The last thing you want is to come up short on your promotional items the moment people flock to your stand. That’s why it’s crucial to get a rough estimate of how much of the product you’ll need before attending a trade show. The goal is to take advantage of the opportunity by handing out promotional items as much as possible.
5. Work from the inside out
Good marketing starts from the inside. This means before you hand over promotional items to your target audience, start focusing on the people within your company like Value Added Promotions. Treat your employees with branded bags, pens, t-shirts, and mugs. This small gesture lets your employees know you appreciate them and they’ll most likely turn into huge brand ambassadors for your company.
Their insights can also prove invaluable in helping you determine the right promotional items to give away. Call it beta testing or whatever you like, but the first step to success is building healthy relationships inside your company.
6. Don’t neglect your existing customers
Customer retention is essential to the growth of your brand. You don’t want to just focus on attracting new clients, but you have to nurture your existing ones as well. You can choose to reward loyal customers by giving away a promotional item after successive purchases. This gives the impression that you value your clients and help transform them into loyal brand ambassadors.
7. Add a call to action
Most marketers make a crucial mistake by not adding a call-to-action on the promotional items. You’ve already acquired the recipients’ interest, so why not follow it up and generate a further response? Adding a phone number, email, or website is all it takes to keep the ball rolling and encourage an immediate sale.
We live in an age that’s dominated by social media and it would be foolish enough to not take advantage of them as a marketing platform. You can create contests where people will like, share, and comment on your post in order to receive a promotional item. You can also reward a customer with promotional items who post pictures of themselves holding your product. There are a ton of ways to integrate social media when using promotional merchandise so make sure to engage with your followers to bring in new customers.
9. Maximize your brand visibility
When aligned with the right marketing strategy, promotional items can take your brand’s awareness to new heights. To maximize brand visibility, consider implementing promotional merchandise on the majority of your campaigns whether it be on social media, trade shows, or event campaigns. This will help draw in attention from potential clients as much as possible and utilize promotional items to its fullest.
10. Evaluate the results
After successfully applying these principles, it’s time to assess the overall result of your efforts. Did your social media presence expand after using promotional items? Was there an increase in sales after handing over promotional products at trade shows? Tracking down your progress allows you to see how much impact promotional items have made to your brand while also giving you ideas on which adjustments to make.
Finding success on promotional items
As you can see, finding success in promotional items requires more than just implementing one principle. You have to execute all of these if you want to experience positive results. Make sure to apply these principles to get the most out of your promotional merchandise.
