Developing a successful promotional product campaign requires a little bit of forethought and strategic planning. Long gone are the days of having your company logo printed up on a few hundred golf balls or ballpoint pens and then expecting a flood of new business to come walking through your front door.
Companies that run successful promotional product marketing campaigns nowadays look to identify a target market, find the best ways to reach them, and then send out swag that not only allows them to connect but provides a touchpoint for further communication in the future.
Here are our five favorite things that Seattle businesses can do to develop a more effective promotional product campaign:
Define Your Goals
What is the purpose of your campaign?
Before you start to browse the product catalog, think about the goals that you seek to accomplish.
For example, are you trying to reactivate old customers, or increase brand awareness at a trade show? Both of these require slightly different messaging and approaches.
Set some benchmarks that will define your goals, timeline, and success metrics.
By defining the purpose, you’ll have a much clearer idea of precisely what kind of campaign to create, and this will help narrow down the product choice. It can also help prevent the campaign from going over budget and needlessly wasting money.
Product Selection
Golf balls, pens, and other trinkets usually find themselves living a life of solitude in the drawer of a desk. If you’re really looking to make an impact, invest some money into the quality and design of the product that you select.
If you just want to get your brand name out there at a trade show, by all means, have some pens printed up and throw them into a glass fishbowl. But if you’re looking to send out a mailer to a segmented audience, you’re going to need to bring your “A” game.
Nowadays, there are plenty of promo products that work hand-in-hand with mobile apps. For example, a smart Bluetooth device that can keep track of car keys is a great way not only to get your audience to use your product daily but can allow for future communication via a custom mobile app the Bluetooth device can connect to.
The big idea here is to find promo products that will allow you to continue the conversation long after the person has received your promo product.
Congruency
You can further reinforce your brand in the minds of people by keeping your promotional products congruent with your company colors, logos, and branding.
This includes not only the promo product itself but any accompanying packaging and marketing materials as well.
These small details add up to create a highly effective promotional campaign in the minds of your target audience.
Trade Shows
While trade shows are a great way to distribute your promotional products, you’re also up against some heavy competition. If you go with tried-and-true swag like pens or pads of paper, there’s a good chance that several of your competitors will also be giving away similar promo items.
An excellent way to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack is to choose a promo item that people can immediately begin to use. For example, if the convention is hosted in Las Vegas, then perhaps a branded tube of sunscreen might come in handy. Or, if the event is held in Chicago in the fall time, a light windbreaker with your logo on the back would be more appreciated.
Employee Swag
What about the hard-working employees of your company?
Employee morale and company pride are just as important as landing a new customer or client. It helps to give away swag to your employees from time to time as it lets them know that management cares and appreciates their efforts.
There many great opportunities to give away promo products to your employees:
• Company outings
• Birthdays
• Anniversaries
• Milestones (successful completion of a recent project)
• Internal contests
While there is a cost associated with giving away swag to the employees, it is returned ten-fold in the goodwill and high morale that it creates. This is one area you don’t want to cheap out and give away an inexpensive product.
For example, a company-branded desktop speaker (that connects to a cell phone) is a great promo product that the employee will most likely keep on their desk and use daily. Slightly more expensive items like this not only help improve company morale but will show others that upper management truly cares about their employees.
Promotional Products in Seattle
Are you stuck on what to get for your next promotional product campaign, or do you have any questions that weren’t answered in this blog post?
Give us a call at (206) 284-0809 or contact us on our website. At McNamara Signs, we’ve been helping local Seattle businesses and organizations develop and create the perfect promotional product campaign for well over 20 years. Call us today to learn how we can help you!