If you've dabbled in the marketing world at some point, you may be rolling your eyes at the idea of the free trash and trinkets that have flooded trade shows and customer pitch meetings for decades. But what if I told you two things:
A. You can buy more than just lanyards and pens
B. Selecting meaningful giveaways can boost not only your brand identity but your sales as well!
Sounds pretty good, right? Let's dive into it.
85% of people do business with the advertiser after receiving a promotional item.
5 Reasons to Buy Promotional Products
1. Low Cost
Giveaways can be cheap and can spread your message to thousands of people for only a few cents per person.
2. Continued Brand Recognition
Your items are just another way your logo is being burned into the brains of everyone who sees it. If you get a giveaway that's unique enough, it may even be recognized as YOUR business's product.
3. Lasting Exposure
People keep a lot of free items that are given to them. The longer they deem your promotional product useful, the longer your advertisement will be up for everyone who walks past to see.
4. Constant Call to Action
Imagine, if you will, not only is your logo visible but there's your website or your phone number, saying "call me," every day! If that's not subliminal messaging, I don't know what is!
5. Stand Out
Like I said above, this is your opportunity to shine. Everyone has pens, notebooks, Post Its, so pick something that makes people want another to show their friends.
*Personal Anecdote: I used to work for a defense contractor and sure we had pens and notebooks and flashlights, the standard items. But what people kept coming back for were our stress balls that looked like grenades and our shot glasses with a new design every year. Create a customer experience without having to shell out a lot of money.
89% of people said they could remember the advertiser's business 24 months after receiving a promotional item... 24 months!
5 Things to Think About When Purchasing Giveaways
1. Tiers of Customers
You can't give everyone a $7 baseball hat, that's not fiscally responsible. You know in your head who your decision makers are and who your "looky loos" are. So create tiers. I usually have three tiers of product.
A. Mass Tier: This is the pens, sunglasses, bottle openers, things that you'll give out in mass quantities at trade shows or in a bowl on your welcome desk.
B. Head Turners: These are the people that may not make the final decision but they have a lot of pull. These items are a bit nicer: hats, travel mugs, etc.
C. Executive/Repeat Customers: These are the people who make the decisions and who ultimately put the money in your hand. Stay honest with yourself and what you're willing to spend but also make these people feel special. Their business is important to you.
2. Would You Want It?
This seems so simple but rarely do people think about it. Would you use the product you're handing out? If people find it useful, aesthetically pleasing, cool, what have you, they will keep it on their desks or in their homes for years. If it's there for years, that means you have a marketing campaign for years.
3. Target Market
If your target market is senior citizens, then bright colored sunglasses are most likely not a relevant item for you. Just because it's affordable or you think it's cool may not mean that your target market will. Keep them in mind when making your decisions and decide what your customer would want.
4. How Will You Ship It?
This is a great question. When are you giving out your items? Is it at client meeting or trade show? Or are you relying on shipping these items out to people? If the answer is that you're going to ship them out than keep in mind that shipping a coffee mug is 100x different and more expensive than shipping a pen.
5. Does It Set You Apart?
Again it comes back to being unique. Is this the same pen that every booth has or is this a flash drive shaped like a house key because you're in real estate? Think about customizing your products even more than just your logo. Some of my clients get their best results from creating a badass poster that's so cool, no one cares that it's clearly advertising their product, they just want it up in their rooms. Keep it personal.
Unique. Relevant. Cost Effective.
Keep these things in mind and you'll be sure to not only purchase what makes sense for your business but what will continue to build your brand and audience.
Shameless Self Promotion: We do giveaway design! Chat with us here and let us know what you're looking for. And of course, you can always send a message if you're just looking for opinions or someone to bounce your ideas off of!
In a couple days we'll be listing our ideas for giveaways broken down by the tier system. Check back for that!