Whether it’s a keychain, water bottle, pen, t-shirt, or all of the above, the average household contains at least a few items scored during business promotions. Statistics tell us that 50% of people who receive a promotional item, use it on a daily basis. These items become part of consumer’s households and daily routines, and are an important part of getting your business’s name out there, recognized and remembered.
Did you know that one of the first ever recorded uses of promotional materials dates back to 1789 during George Washington’s election campaign? He used commemorative buttons to spread awareness of his values. Not all promotional items are created equal, and depending on the one you pick, it can have a positive or negative effect on consumers. For George Washington, the buttons worked in his favour, as he was elected the first ever president of America.
In this post, we’ll discuss the importance of choosing the right product for your business, and how our services at Addictive Design can help you to make a choice that will positively affect your business sales. We’ll also include information on the added benefits of using promotional items, as well as some of the best ways to use them.
Choosing Promotional Items For Your Business
Choosing the right promotional item for your business is a smart way of ensuring that a potential customer will make associations between a certain activity, and your services. There’s a reason tax professionals hand out pens, instead of towels – although, the latter may be a more effective tool to help you wipe the sweat from your brow when tax stress ensues. All jokes aside, pens are the most obvious and fitting choice for any company that deals with a ton of forms. The customer takes the pen and uses it year round, and guess who they will call when tax time comes knocking? Most likely whoever’s name is on the pen they use daily.
That brings us to the importance of the quality of your promotional materials. Why waste money on an item potential customers are most likely to throw away? A cheap pen, or scratchy towel isn’t going to go far with your audience. You want to choose something that a person is going to appreciate, and want to use often. The more you invest in the quality of your materials, the more points you score, and the more trust you gain with a potential customer who truly enjoys using an item that you gave them – for free. This doesn’t mean you need to go handing out $100 pens, the difference between a $1 and $2 pen is more surprising than you may think. Weight, ink flow and design all make a difference in a person’s opinion of your brand, with just the simple click of a pen.
Examples of Popular Promotional Items
Benefits of Using Promotional Items
- Low Cost, High Payoff
Promotional items, though traditionally inexpensive, can make a huge impact. In comparison to other forms of advertising, such as TV commercials, the right promotional product makes a recurring impact on potential customers for a very low cost. That good-looking hat with your logo on it that you handed out during a trade show? They wear it to the gym every day, they look at themselves in the mirror in that hat, and they make associations between your brand, their favorite hat, and themselves. Now that’s effective advertising.There is a stark difference between this, and a 30 second TV commercial that a person is most likely to mute, or look away from to something more entertaining. Branded merchandise is proven to be 66% more cost effective than TV ads. - Stand Out
Another benefit includes helping brands to stand out amongst their competitors. Remember the example of the tax professional? The more a customer sees your logo, the more likely they are to give you a call. 60% of people say they will keep a promotional item for up to two years if it has use to them. Take a fridge magnet, for example. The fridge is a place where households display photos and important notes and numbers. It’s a common focal point throughout a person’s day, and is thus an effective choice for the right kind of service. By giving consumers something that they can use for years, you create a useful tool that serves a purpose, as well as a daily reminder of your brand. Bonus if your business is food-related. Guess who’s not on their mind? Your competitor who chose not to use promotional items as a part of their marketing strategy.
Using Promotional Items in Your Marketing Strategy
Some locations and situations are more effective than others for distributing promotional items. There is no denying that certain items are better suited for different seasons, events, and timelines. For example, handing out an ice cold beer along with a branded keychain bottle opener on a hot summer day at an outdoor event, has a much greater effect than if you did the same inside a mall in the middle of winter. Below, we’ve included 3 situations where promotional products serve as effective marketing tools.
- Trade Shows & Events: Promotional materials make a huge impact at trade shows and events. Branding an item tailored to a specific trade show is a brilliant way to help consumers connect your business with a specific theme. For example, handing out branded USBs at a tech show.
- Loyalty Gifts: Rewarding your customers for their recurring business brings them joy, and helps to retain them. Loyalty gifts show the customer how much you appreciate their business. When a customer feels appreciated, they are more likely to come back.
- New Product, Service or Branding: Want to let customers know your brand is changing? Have something new you want the world to know about? Handing out an item that relates to your business’s change is an effective way to let consumers know what you have going on.
Used for over two centuries, promotional products have helped businesses grow. Choosing the right promotional product can greatly affect the way consumers see your brand, ultimately leading to a greater reputation, and an increase in sales.
How We Can Help With Your Promotional Items
At Addictive Design, we focus on helping our clients choose the right promotional items for every event, providing them with a number of options (including trending, and classic items) and making recommendations based on what our experience has taught us works. In comparison to ordering from an online service, we give accurate information that promotional websites can’t, providing our clients with the right advice to help them get the exposure they need. Need help selecting the right promotional items for your business? Contact us today.
