Running a business requires a lot of important decisions. Whether you are a solopreneur or an executive at a larger corporation, you face a long list of responsibilities each day to keep the business moving forward.
One of the most important departments in a company is the marketing branch. If you are the only person in your company, this is just one of the tasks that fall on your plate. Marketing is all about communicating with audiences to inform them about your brand and convince them to purchase your product or service. There are limitless strategies that you can employ to improve your messaging.
One concept that you may have overlooked is promotional product marketing. This strategy uses branded merchandise to increase brand awareness and generate excitement around a business. Here are a few reasons why promotional product marketing should be a part of your overall strategy.
1. Cost-Effective Visibility
The main purpose of investing in promotional products is to increase the visibility of a business. When you purchase items that contain your branding information and give them away, other people can interact with your company for the first time when they notice these items and the associated image or text.
All it will cost you is a one-time purchase of the item. Let’s say you purchase 50 custom polo shirts with your company logo on them and give them all away in your community. Each one of those shirts could be noticed by five people whenever it is worn. That could mean that 250 notice the shirt if every single recipient wears them for one day. That is a lot of visibility, and it can only increase each time those shirts are worn. All it took was one up-front purchase of the shirts.
2. Multiple Stages of the Customer Journey
If you were to create a customer journey map for your business, then promotional products could impact multiple stages of this process. For example, noticing a promotional product could be the first introduction to the name of your business. The more times they see that company name or logo in public, the more they might become curious about what your brand does. This all happens in the awareness stage of the customer journey.
Promotional products can also be used to develop brand loyalty. You can reward repeat customers with free items like drawstring bags or cool coffee mugs. These gifts can make them feel more connected to the business, and therefore, more excited about purchasing your product or service.
3. Creating Brand Ambassadors
Speaking of excited customers, promotional products can harness your current customers, employees, and members of the public to turn them into brand ambassadors. Whether they are taking on this role intentionally or incidentally, every time they use the giveaway item, they are acting as an ambassador for the company.
You never know who might have noticed the stapler that was shared with them at the office and became curious about the logo that was imprinted on it. Promotional items turn people into brand ambassadors, raising awareness for the business and giving you an additional tool to advertise the business in the community.
4. Community Presence
When small businesses launch, they often have a long way to go before they have a reliable customer base to generate sales. Increasing brand awareness is a crucial early goal for these companies. A heavy reliance on the local community is perhaps the best way to start building your customer base when you are just opening a business. Promotional products are perfect for this strategy, as they can quickly spread throughout the local area and be seen by plenty of residents who might belong to your target audience.
5. Corporate Gifts
Increasing visibility for the brand is not the only reason to invest in promotional items. You can also use them to reward your employees for their hard work. Giving gifts to your team members is a great way to demonstrate that you value them as individuals and not just for their efforts. Plus, free swag is a great way to entice job candidates to your company. By investing in promotional corporate gifts, you can create a more positive work culture and give your employees more of a stake in the business.
6. Integrate Promotional Products with Other Marketing Initiatives
Promotional product marketing does not have to exist in isolation. There are plenty of ways to incorporate it with the rest of your marketing strategy. You could run a contest on Instagram or Facebook and give the winners some free swag. Head to a trade show or host a booth at a local community festival and give away branded merchandise at these events. Advertise your custom promotional products on your website or via email marketing to entice customers who want to support your business even more.
The most successful marketing departments are those that are willing to integrate all their initiatives to connect with audiences across multiple channels, so find ways to incorporate promotional products into your overall strategy.
