The first commemorative objects were used by George Washington in his 1789 bid to become the president of the United States. Since then, promotional products have become a standard part of the marketer’s toolkit.
When used properly, promotional products can radically increase the number of people who know about your brand. This is an opportunity to get a better marketing ROI than you will ever get with digital advertising.
In spite of this, many marketers focus exclusively on the internet. They become so distracted by the many social media platforms, they forget about the real world. You don’t want to make that mistake. Take the time to learn how you can build your brand with promotional products.
Promotional Product Facts
Promotional products are everywhere. You’ve probably been given a branded hat, frisbee, or pen at some point in your life. Most people use these items for a while, eventually losing them or giving them away to a friend.
As a matter of fact, 8 out of every 10 consumers own at least one promotional product. Of those, 48 percent would like to receive promotional goods more often.
Gender matters when it comes to picking your product. Bags, writing instruments, and calendars are most popular with women. Men tend to prefer shirts and caps. Regardless of gender, consumers hang on to promotional products for an average of six months.
This is a huge opportunity for your brand. Your fans want more promotional products. All you have to do is give it to them. Once you do give away your products, you will be a part of fans’ households for half a year or more.
Which Promotional Products Should You Use?
There are many different kinds of promotional products. How do you pick the right ones for your business? The exact method will vary from brand to brand. Here are a few things to consider:
Bags generate more impressions than any other product
Mugs and pens have the best cost per impression
USB sticks have a high CPI
Pens, guitar picks, phone cases, T-shirts, notebooks, wallets, or earbuds are just a few items on an endless list of products that potentially can be branded. You are mainly deciding on the trade-off between quality and quantity. The nicer items tend to be more expensive. Premium brands may have to spend substantially more money to maintain their image while using promotional products.
Brands with a more casual image can get away with much cheaper goods. Pens won’t impress people, but they still get the job done. Not all marketing needs to be impressive, after all. If you can get an affordable CPI in a way that benefits your brand, you are winning.
Learn Through Experience
The best way to benefit from promotional products is to execute a campaign. You’ll never know whether the results will be worth the effort until you give it a try.
You should start with simple, affordable campaigns. It takes trial and error to get good at using promotional products; you want to make sure you can afford the “error” part of that equation. If you know mistakes will happen, you can budget accordingly.
Of course, there’s also the potential for a big win. You may experiment with a small promotional product campaign and find your brand’s popularity suddenly soaring. There is little downside to trying this out in an affordable way.
Pens, patches, and stickers are all good, inexpensive items. Start with one of those if you don’t have any other ideas. Over time, you can work your way up to frisbees, socks, tote bags, or anything else that makes sense for you.
Distribution
After you select your product, it’s time to work out distribution. How will you give away these items?
This is easy in a city. Figure out where your target market hangs out, and go there. All you have to do is set up a booth in that area, following the local laws, and give away your merchandise.
Try to find local events where people will congregate. There are usually conventions, concerts, and community gatherings within a reasonable distance of your business. You can give away your products at these gatherings.
When in doubt, add food to the equation. If people aren’t walking up to your booth, a clearly visible jar of candy will change everything. You can give away hundreds of items in an hour if you include candy. This is a simple trick that has been proven effective.
Promotional Products are for Everybody
No matter what industry you are a part of, there’s a way to make promotional products work for your brand. They can improve the core of your business, and by increasing the number of people who know you, they amplify all of your other efforts. When there’s an assortment of your pens, patches, and other branded knickknacks floating around your city, people will start to ask who you are.
If your competition isn’t using promotional products, that’s a good thing. You can get the competitive edge by taking advantage of this classic marketing technique.
