How To Use Promotional Items Better Than Your Competition
- Broadcast and Print Advertising
Objective: Create awareness Promotional Items’ Role: They can expand ad theme awareness at many levels. Products that tie into the overall campaign can create long-term residual exposure and build on consumers’ attention to thematic visuals when part of the ad. Compare this to print/radio ads that last 30 or 60 seconds. Promotional products can get low-cost exposure repeatedly over many years.
- Direct Response Advertising
Objective: Generate results that can be measured. Promotional Items’ Role: When used as a premium or incentive, they can bump response considerably. This can create new customers, provide up sells, and create greater frequency of buyers. Well-known and savvy marketers like Sports Illustrated use premiums and incentives to bolster subscription sales.
- Home-Based Business Advertising
Objective: Gain exposure beyond the home-based business Promotional Items’ Role: A home-based business can utilize the effectiveness of continual exposure from useful promotional merchandise
- Internet Advertising
Objective: Create awareness of a website and new web promotions Promotional Items’ Role: Products imprinted with a web address can serve as “instant messages” to a large group of recipients. T-shirts with a URL can provide repeated ‘walking billboard” exposure due to its mobile visibility. Consider a Post-it notepad; once a message is written down on a sheet, it’s often stuck around for a long time with multiple individuals being exposed to your logo. Other reminders can be desk-top items like pen holders, scratch pads, computer monitor calendars, mousepads, etc., which provide constant exposure to a website.
- Customer Service
Objective: Enhance and improve interaction with customers Promotional Items’ Role: They can be used as ethical bribes to encourage survey completion, to apologize for a service issue or problem, to thank clients and customers for the orders they provide, and to motivate staff to serve clients with a smile.
- Customer Acquisition/Retention
Objective: Gain, retain, or recover lost customers Promotional Products’ Role: Can provide lead generation and new product introduction strategies. Promotional products function as the perfect door-openers for sales and marketing. Cold-calling is immediately converted to warm-calling. Once contact is made, promotional products can support a sales presentation. Personalized gifts can say ‘thank you.’ Study after study proves clients leave due to vendor indifference after the sale has concluded. You can avoid this by recognizing birthdays, participating in promotions for the holidays, and monthly newsletters. Maintaining top-of-mind awareness in your clients’ minds can be assisted by the using promotional items.
- Employee Communication and Motivation
Objective: Inform and increase productivity Promotional Items’ Role: There is a direct correlation between employees’ commitment to firm goals and its internal communication. Use imprinted products to bring enhanced attention to a matter, whether it involves a corporate event, safety issues, rule changes, new prices, etc. Promotional items can also enhance training programs by coordinating and housing materials, reinforcing key points and maintaining focus on objectives. When promotions are used as gifts and incentive rewards, promotional items can create a sense of appreciation and teamwork.
- Consumer and Trade Promotions
Objective: Stimulate sales activity and create brand awareness Promotional Items’ Role: People respond to free promotions. From prizes and rewards, to free giveaways, imprinted and unimprinted promotional items serve as powerful motivators. You can generate traffic through sweepstakes and contests. Marketers can boost response through the smart use of premiums and incentives. Make sure you ask for something in return for giving away items. Request customer data in exchange for a free gift or freemium. Use promotions and premiums as a secondary strategy to maintain your position in their minds.
- Public Relations
Objective: Build credibility and awareness Promotional Products’ Role: The creative use of logo products can make for intriguing media kits and can hype special events and bolster presentations. The personalization aspect of the medium can improve press relations.
- Trade shows
Objective: Create qualified leads Promotional Items’ Role: Pre-show promotions account for 80% better response than the non-use of a pre-show promotion. 76% of trade show attendees have an agenda of which exhibitors they plan on visiting. Using a promotional item in advance of the show will allow you to compete with fewer competitors. Smart marketers will use 2-part promotions as a way of scheduling an appointment with key prospects. Let’s say you want to give away a Swiss Army Knife, couldn’t you send the case in advance and invite the prospect for a visit to pick up his gift for spending a few minutes at the show?
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