In the digital age where everyone receives thousands of advertising messages every day, it’s time to cut through the noise with physical products instead.
Unlike unwelcome marketing messages, a huge 83% of people actually welcome free promotional products. We’re all the same at heart: we just can’t resist a freebie.
Whether you need to stand out at a trade show or encourage existing customers to stay loyal, promotional gifts are a savvy way to boost your return on investment in your marketing strategy.
Why Branded Gifts Must Be Part of Your Marketing Strategy
You may think you simply don’t have the budget to buy promotional products for your company, but wait!
Branded items build awareness of your company, logo, and contact details so your business becomes front-of-mind on a regular basis. People keep branded items for an average of 8 months: just think about how many others see your company branding whenever your item is used over this period.
8 Easy Tips to Maximize the Impact of Promotional Gifts
Everyone has a bunch of promotional pens, notepads, and mugs in their office arsenal – so how do you make sure your item is the one they reach for?
Follow these top tips to generate the biggest return on investment from your branded giveaways!
1. Cheap Isn’t Always Best
Quality is always going to win over quantity when it comes to choosing your promotional items. You don’t have to spend a fortune – but do consider going one level up from the cheapest possible item.
Customers will remember how the item feels, and whether it lasts, and associate this with your business. If they think you’ll cheap out on marketing your business they’ll wonder what else you skimp on!
2. Useful Items Boost Brand Awareness
Nobody needs another weird fuzzy animal with a ribbon tag on it (you know exactly what we mean). Even Sharon in Accounts has used up all her desk space with cuddly promo toys and stress balls.
Opt for something useful like a reusable water bottle, a promotional mug, or even a branded USB stick. Your item will then be used regularly and your brand awareness increases tenfold!
3. Be Creative (Do They REALLY Need Yet Another Free Pen?)
On the same line of useful versus useless items, think creatively about what you can offer.
Fashionable branded wristbands, for example, are a great way to promote your brand and work particularly well for events. Why? You can easily track who has already visited your stand as they wear their wristband afterward! Corner them in the networking lounge and have that sales conversation you’ve trained so hard for.
4. Cater to Your Audience
If you’re a fitness brand maybe don’t offer free branded chocolate or sweets at every opportunity. Decide who your target customer is and develop branded gifts that they’ll like and use.
For example, busy clients always on-the-go can join the plastic-free revolution with a branded bamboo travel mug. Or sports lovers will make the most of a promotional towel, t-shirt, or even branded headphones.
5. Encourage Swag Swiping at Events
You might feel a little pained if you see someone swiping lots of your paid-for-from-a-tight-marketing-budget swag – but let them!
The more swag someone takes from your stall, the more likely they are to pass it to other people. They’ll get back to the office and hand out your promotional items to a wealth of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ at their freebie haul.
These colleagues then use your promotional products – meaning even more people are now aware of your brand.
6. Offer a Selection of Gift Options
It’s tempting to just opt for one promotional gift in bulk to save on unit and shipping costs.
However, if you want to capture the attention of a wider audience, you must offer a selection of items to choose from. Some people might actually want and need a free pen, while others are truly focused on the organic cotton tote bag to stash their swag.
Choose at least three promotional gift types to offer at events and launches to cater to a wide audience and increase the likelihood of your brand being spread far and wide.
7. Trade a Better Giveaway for Data
Small branded items like tins of mints or sticky notes are great to capture the sort-of-interested-but-not-sure type of potential customer.
To get the really good, hot leads from the I-want-your-product-but-am-playing-hard-to-get clients, have something better up your sleeve to offer. Trade a business card or a questionnaire, even a one-to-one sales meeting, in return for your high-value promotional gift.
This also creates the feeling of the client already completing a transaction with you. That builds a relationship without you having to do anything, and creates a sense of trust and loyalty that helps turn them into must-buy-now customers.
8. Use Promo Gifts for Existing Clients, Too
Promotional giveaways aren’t solely for trade events and product launches (although they are very useful for them). Consider making your existing clients feel valued with a personalized branded gift from time to time, too.
You don’t even need to wait for the holiday season to roll around to send gifts. When a customer reaches a special milestone, such as their tenth order with your business, send them something they’ll love. Personalize a laptop case, for example, and they’ll use it with pride.
Start Small to Win Big
The best promotional gifts are those that people can use or wear. You don’t have to spend a fortune to create must-have giveaways that’ll bring all the clients to your yard (milkshake not required).
Small items such as custom rubber wristbands help establish the first steps of brand awareness and client relationship building – and won’t cost your entire annual marketing budget, either.
Contact us today to find out more about using promotional products to boost your brand!
