Promotional Products: Your Essential Guide
Promotional products have been around for decades and are favoured, or not, depending on your type of business. However, maybe they are worth a second look with a modern marketing approach.
Now, there are many different promotional strategies and approaches you can use and promotional prodcuts can often be left out of the mix.
While we all recognize the importance of digital marketing approaches, it is imperative to balance this out with other marketing techniques.
One of the most effective options is to develop a promotional products marketing plan.
This is an approach that has long been successful in strengthening existing customer relationships and building new client connections.
However, if you are to achieve the success you hope to with promotional products, you need to devise a thorough strategy and choose promotional gifts with care.
With that in mind, read on to discover everything you need to know.
Why choose a promotional products strategy?
Before I provide you with some advice on implementing this sort of strategy, it is a good idea to look at the benefits that are associated with this approach. These are as follows:
- Strong customer retention rates are associated with promotional products. This is because by giving your existing customers a gift you are strengthening the bond. This will lead to repeat purchases, as well as customer referrals too.
- Invoke a sense of brand loyalty. This is the sort of strategy that will build a connection with customers whereby they do not feel like they can use a competing business because they are loyal to yours.
- Get the word out about your business to new customers. Another advantage of going down this route is that you will gain more exposure for your business. After all, every time someone sees one of your promotional items, they will see your branding and you will make an impression.
- This is a form of high-value marketing. This is because you can expect a large return in regards to your outlay because you can target your campaign effectively. You specifically direct who is going to receive promotional items so you know your money is well spent.
What should you consider when choosing promotional products?
There are five critical factors you need to consider when choosing a promotional product for your marketing campaign, and these are as follows:
- Uniqueness – You are going to need to stand out from the competition if your promotional product campaign is to be a success. It is hard to do this, of course. After all, there are only so many promotional products you can choose from, and many people have taken this sort of approach before. Nevertheless, if you do some digging online, you will see that promotional items today go beyond the standard selection of pens and mugs. There are so many different options available!
- Your consumer base – One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is diving right in without considering what their consumer base wants or need. You need to build up a profile of your typical customer. You need to figure out the average age range for your consumers, whether they are mainly male or female, what their occupation is, what their interests are, and so on and so forth. Only once you have done this will you be able to effectively choose the right sort of promotional item.
- Quality – This is something we will discuss in further detail in the next paragraph. Nevertheless, if you give someone a promotional gift and it is not of a good quality, it does not send out the right message about your business, does it?
- Usefulness – You need to make sure that the item is useful so that the person that you give it to actually uses it. After all, if they simply put the product into their drawer and it never comes out again, it is not going to advertise your business very well, is it?
- Longevity – The final ingredient when it comes to good promotional products is longevity. You need something that is going to be used again and again. Reusable shopping bags or coffee cups are a good example.
Working with a quality supplier
When it comes to implementing this sort of strategy, you are going to need to team up with a wholesaler that can provide you with the products you need.
When you are choosing a wholesaler, there are a number of different factors to consider. Of course, the cost is always going to be an important one, but you do need to balance this out with quality.
After all, it does not look very good if you give someone a promotional gift and it breaks, does it? This sends out the wrong sort of message about your business. It is also advisable to take the time to read reviews that have been left by previous clients.
Furthermore, you should make sure that the company has experience in branding so that they can effectively customize the items to suit your business. This will ensure you can reap maximum value and exposure.
As you can see, there is a lot that needs to be considered when it comes to promotional product strategies.
Nevertheless, if you take into account the advice that has been provided above and you choose products that are unique yet suitable for your target consumer base, you will give yourself the best chance of achieving success.
This is a great way to bond with your current customers while also getting your name out there and generating new leads. After all, who doesn’t love a free gift?
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