Sometimes I wonder how we ever managed without Blackberry phones, Twitter and facebook. Gone are the days of personalized snail mail – now when I want to say hi to a friend or colleague I either tweet them or write on there wall. With the technology we have available today, making smart marketing choices is even more important. One of the things we have to remember is that people are being constantly bombarded by advertising through television, radio, internet, billboards and the list goes on and on.
So the question becomes how do you set yourself apart from your competitors? The answer is by building brand loyalty and one effective way to do that is through the use of promotional products. Studies show that 84% of people who receive promotional products can recall what company they came from and 62% of people have done business with that company after receiving the product. Those are powerful numbers!!
When I meet with clients most people ask me “what’s new?” but the real question you want to know is “what works?” 81% of people keep a promotional product because it’s useful, so if you purchase 1,000 imprinted widgets that nobody knows how to use or what to do with and they end up getting sold in a garage sale…well, you get the picture! On the other hand if you pick an item that people like and use (i.e. tote bags, tee-shirts, hats and flash drives…just to name a few) your brand will get a lot of mileage from that one item.
Right now what’s working is quality over quantity. In a good promotional campaign you know what results you want to net, before you start and that sets the tone. A great example is a tennis club that was struggling to get new members. Previously they had been mailing postcards monthly to thousands of homes within a 200+ mile radius and there conversion rate was almost negative. They were very unhappy and about to give up when a new campaign was launched. Instead of mailing to 1,000+ homes monthly the criteria was redefined and the list was culled down to 300 people that lived within a 50 mile radius and had an income of at least $100,000. (Side note- you can buy these types of list from marketing companies) They decided to stop the postcard mailings all together and built a custom promotional product which consisted of a small box that has the tennis club imprint on the outside, when you opened the box on the top flap it listed the features of the tennis club and why you should become a member –w/contact information- and then sitting down in the box was a set a imprinted tennis balls, that said “The balls in your court!” The results were amazing…3 weeks after the mailing when out they had 11 new members. Bottom line: promotional product campaigns build brands, increase revenue and inspire loyalty in customers!
Right now you’re probably considering how to leverage your marketing dollars effectively. I can tell you, based on experience, to keep marketing – it takes 12-18 months, of consistent marketing, for a potential customer to instantly recognize you and only one month of doing nothing for them to forget you.
If you need more ideas, you can search here or email us atPromoteYourself@360promos.com and we will be happy to search for you.
I love companies that combine fun, creativity and branding into one amazing marketing concept! So, two thumbs-up to Chick-Fil-A for celebrating Cow Appreciation Day on July 10th (see blog post from June 15th)! How are they celebrating you ask??? 
