Feb
7
The whole point of a promotional product is to promote
It sounds obvious but is it?
Are you honestly getting the most out of your promotional products?
Used properly a good range of promotional products will cost you nothing in the long run by paying for themselves in terms of the revenue they generate. Independent research has proved that 52% of people who receive a promotional gift will buy from the company who gave it to them within 12 months in a study by L. J. Market Research.
So many people decide on a promotional product they like and then stick their company, charity or organisation name on it along with a phone number, e mail address and website address and goodness knows how much other detail and expect it to work as a promotional item!
Now be honest, when was the last time you referred to say a baseball cap when you needed a phone number or contact details for a company?
These days with the proliferation of promotional products around and the bombardment of promotional material many of us have become ‘blind’ to such advertising.
Now I know this makes it sound like I am anti promotional products which I most certainly am not! Nothing could be further from the truth, promotional products are brilliant, you just have to use them properly, know your market, decide what you are aiming to achieve from using them and often ‘play the long game’.
Going back to our baseball cap example. If you order these and try to cram all your contact details onto it people are going to regard the cap as not quite their style at best and at worst as “tat”.
The sort of product you want to end up with is one that people see in their workplace for example and have to almost stifle the urge to pinch it! I’m not advocating stealing but making your promotional items desirable!
To do this you need to start with a desirable item. It can be contemporary or classic in nature but it needs to be something people want to own. Don’t always go for the cheapest. If you have a limited budget (and who doesn’t these days?) go for fewer of a better product, in this example a baseball cap.
Once you have a really nice, in this example, cap that you and your family and friends would be happy wearing (ask advice from your nearest and dearest, most are more than happy to give their opinions) then keep the design you put on there simple. Use your correct logo colours and make sure the colour of the promotional product you put your logo on is in keeping with them.
Your logo alone will normally be quite sufficient. Website addresses, phone numbers etc are just overkill, the place for them is on printed matter, e mails and brochures.
You will then find that customers and workmates will be asking to have one on the items to use either in the workplace, or better still take home and use in their leisure time! If you are selling the products you can watch sales increase and the funds roll in!
Just think of the number of times your logo would be seen on someone attending a social or sporting event. Seen time and time again by people having a good time who will begin to subliminally associate your brand with that good feeling and start to feel familiar around it and recognise it in the future.
Far better to have those items out there working for you than gathering dust in the bottom of a cupboard at the back of the office!
A co-ordinated range of promotional products released over a period of time will work for you and any reputable promotional merchandise company should be able to help you by coming up with free ideas sheets, samples and suggestions.
Look for a company who offer as broad a range of products as possible and one that is long established.