How to properly use promotional products

February 11, 2008

Promotional products are something that many businesses use, but few use effectively. I get bags full of pens at conferences, but rarely do these ever incline me to deal with that company ever again. Chances are most promotional product use, ends with similar results.

There are a few key factors in making promotional products work.

  1. Give people something they want!
  2. Don't skimp out!
  3. Design them properly!
  4. Quality targeting is more important than quantity!

1.) Give people something that they want and need!

When I go to trade-shows, I all to often come away with fifteen lanyards, hundreds of stickers, folders, and other stuff I don't need and will never use. Not only is the ineffective marketing, but it's a waste of material.

The best promotional products are going to be ones that people use every day. Sticky pads, note pads, and pens are the most effective promotional products for most businesses. People need them, use them daily, and they are relatively cheap. Unless you have something very unique that people will use very often, or you have a budget that allows you to purchase really cool promo products like USB memory cards, go with pens, notepads, and sticky pads.

Common sense plays a role in promo product selection. If you sell something that requires upkeep or supplies, make sure you send out a sticker or magnet that has your information on it and that supplies can easily be reordered from you.

2.) Don't skimp out!

When you purchase 20,000 crappy no-name pens that work once before running out of ink or clogging, it doesn't project your business in a positive manner. Like employees, promotional products are a direct representation of you. Make sure that people associate you with quality and value and not cheapness.

You don't need to go out and buy $20 Cross pens for every customer (If you sell very high-end products, this may not be a bad idea though), but make sure you get something that your customer wants to use. If someone was to give you a pen and they wanted you to remember them for it, would a plain white bic pen do the trick, or maybe a super smooth gel pen that helps prevent fraud.

Using pens as an example, you should buy and distribute the kind of pens that people will get upset about if they loose them. The kind that write well on most surfaces, that don't smear, and that feel good in your hand. You want to provide the type of products that are better than what your customer is used to using. This way, when they look for their pen, they look for your pen first.

3.) Design your promotional products properly!

Like a good website, your brand and information on your promotional products should be organized and usable. You can't possibly fit your entire address on a pen. Sometimes you can't even fit your logo on them. Make sure your business name or logo is on them clearly, and make even more sure that your website is on there. Chop-up your logo if you need to, but try to get a distinguishing business mark and your website on even the smallest product. On sticky pads and notepads, your information and logo should be on every page, but should still allow the product to be used. An effective way of doing it, is to place your logo in the center of each page, and your website and phone number at the bottom of each page. The logo should be about 80% transparent, and the text about 60%.

You need to be absolutely sure that your information is very clear and professional. Use vector based logos for print. Jpeg and other pixel based images are for the web and computers, and should never be used for print. If you need to, hire a graphic designer to convert your logo to a vector format. Make sure that you choose clean fonts that are easily readable.

4.) Quality targeting is more important than quantity!

There are two groups that you should be giving promotional products to. The first is your current customers who are likely to make repeat visits. The second is non-customers who may make a purchase from you in the future. Not everyone is going to shop with you, and you need to minimize your potential loses by not sending your promo material to the wrong people. Unless you brand is very strong, non-targeted promotional product spam is only going to loose money for you.

Actually figuring out who you need to target can be difficult. For repeat customers, you can use web analytics programs to find who your repeat customers are. You can find trends like purchased products, title, location, etc. You can mail out promo and light marketing material to customers who make similar purchases, or send your promo material with orders when they meet certain criteria. Also, just use some common sense. If someone makes a purchase for a product that requires continuing upkeep or additional supplies, make sure you are getting them promo material. If someone makes even a single repeat order make sure you include them as well. If they made a second order, they are even more likely to make a third.

Trade-shows are going to be tricky, because it would be rude to deny people products and targeting would be nearly impossible. In this case, you need to target only selective trade-shows. Something that many business owners don't consider is the size of the trade-show. The larger the event, the less likely it will be that someone remembers you. Small trade-shows can be significantly more valuable than large ones.

The important thing to remember is that getting promo products to everyone is going to loose money. But, getting the promo material to the right people will increase your sales and hopefully for a lot cheaper than any existing marketing.

Posted by jestep | Filed Under General 

Comments

6 Responses to “How to properly use promotional products”

  1. Sue on February 12th, 2008 12:12 pm

    I couldn't agree more with your post, jestep. Wanted to let your readers know about a great place to get promotional products - http://www.bestpromotions.com

  2. Pamela on February 14th, 2008 8:57 am

    Great article. It is also important to find someone who has a lot of product knowledge. There are over 100,000 items to choose from. When choosing a promo company to work with make sure that the rep is someone who has a lot of knowledge about product as well as the creativity to find the best fit for your company.

  3. Tucson Web Design on February 17th, 2008 5:39 pm

    Great article and great blog, I will share this information with my clients. I often see companies using promotional products that are simply horrid. Thanks for the advice.

  4. Joanne on April 3rd, 2008 4:59 pm

    Every marketing and trade show manager should read this very insightful article! It is DEAD ON! If anyone is looking for an outstanding promotional products vendor I have worked with a company called Branders.com(http://www.branders.com) for the past 4 years. Specifically my account manager, Sabrina, has always provided exceptional personalized service from idea sourcing, competitive quotes, and free samples. She always takes the time, no matter how long, to find the perfect promo item for my specific need and target market.

  5. Trish on April 6th, 2008 7:13 pm

    I also have a vendor that I just love for promotional products! They also do our online store. I deal with Rocki Stillson at Sullivan's. http://www.sullivangroupusa.com . She comes up with unique ideas that always save me money. I have customers calling to ask me where we got our last trade show gadget give away.

  6. Mark on May 13th, 2008 3:55 pm

    Very nice. There's another good article about using promotional products properly here: Smart Schwag. And if you want to see a bunch of great examples of promotions that worked, check out The Promo Know-how Zone, a blog of real-life case studies showing how promos and logo gifts can help achieve goals from branding to employee retention.

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