Edge out the competition with a branded promotion strategy
What is a branded promotion strategy?
Next time you?re wondering about the best way to generate brand awareness, why not consider thinking inside the box? Let your competitors scramble for high-tech solutions in the increasingly digital world of marketing. You?ll be the one reaping huge returns on an investment so traditional it dates to George Washington. And it all starts with a gift.
Branded promotion strategy has become a fail-safe way for marketers to simultaneously improve their brand?s image and garner referrals, sometimes more referrals than they can handle. Whether you?re a dentist hoping to retain patients or a start-up business prospecting for buyers, handing out promotional products that showcase your logo puts your brand in your customer?s face?..and keeps it there.
An endless stream of choices
Not sure which products to choose? Market research shows the most popular categories for branded products include clothing, writing instruments, calendars, drinkware, office accessories, carrying bags, trophies, games, towels, and umbrellas. Many suppliers offer more than 100 different kinds of products.
You can play it safe with known bestsellers, such as mugs, pens, aprons, or stuffed animals. Or you can customize a product to a certain demographic. For example, if your target audience is men between the ages of 20 and 30, you might consider a product they can keep in their car, such as a cell phone charger.
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When carefully chosen, branded products can even communicate the values your company shares with consumers. Want people to believe you care about the environment? Send them notepads made of recycled paper or tableware that?s biodegradable.
Your brand?s ambassadors
The idea behind using logoed products to advertise your brand isn?t complex. It?s an outgrowth of marketing?s most fundamental concept: the more contact consumers have with your product, the more likely they are to want it. It?s this concept that makes companies run TV, radio or newspaper ads more than once. Repetition fuels brand awareness.
When that repetition comes from everyday use of a promotional product, you?ve increased consumer contact exponentially. You can achieve repetition with a TV ad that consumers might see every night for several weeks. But when you hand them a mug with your company?s logo, your contact with them can last for years.
And it isn?t just the guy sipping coffee from that mug who?s noticing your brand. So are all the coworkers, clients, and other people he sees every day. By giving him your logoed cup, you?ve made him your brand?s ambassador.
Marketing that?s personal
Consumers today are more distrustful of brands than ever before. They aren?t easily swayed by a 30-second ad intended to grab their money. Instead, they expect to be nurtured, and they prefer that nurturing come from a brand they esteem.
?You need to humanize your brand,? says Jason DeMers, CEO of the content marketing firm AudienceBloom. DeMers suggests that brands find unique ways to show they care more about consumers than what?s in their pockets.
Investing in promotional products allows a company to do just that. For example, you can meet consumers on their turf. Show up at a rock concert with free t-shirts advertising your restaurant. Or erect a booth at a neighborhood walk-a-thon and give away reusable water bottles embossed with your logo. In either case, you?re doing more than simply putting a face on your brand. You?re giving consumers a product that might become part of their lives.
An off-the-charts advertising reach
When it comes to effective marketing efforts, branded products consistently outperform. Statistics back this up. Consider the results of a 2016 Consumer Study prepared by Promotional Products Association International:
- 5 in 10 consumers said they see promotional products regularly.
- Almost 9 in 10 of those who received a promotional product said they remembered the brand. 8 in 10 of those same consumers remembered the branded message.
- 8 in 10 consumers admitted that receiving a promotional product made them view the brand more favorably.
- Of the consumers who were given promotional products, 83% said they later researched the brand and were more likely to conduct business with the company.
