Who doesn’t love receiving a personalized gift? Promotional products are used in a vast variety of ways by businesses. They are used to attract attention at trade show booths, promote a new product, breed brand loyalty amongst customers, and increase brand awareness. As a business, knowing which promotional products are going to further your business, and which ones are going to end up in the garbage, is key to promo product success. We’re here to break down a few tips when selecting your next promotional product endeavor.
Tip #1: Know Your Audience
While knowing your customer is key when it comes to managing any business, it hits differently when we’re talking about promotional items. While you can personalize unique one-off items for your best customers, you often purchase promotional gifts in bulk. This means you have to find items that appeal to the greatest number of people. Your customers can likely be broken down many different ways, but when it comes to choosing promotional gifts, try to think in terms of the largest categories. Are your customers mainly C-Level executives? Are they mainly working mothers? Or are they perhaps mainly a retired crowd? From here, you can consider promotional items that fit best into these categories.
For example, a company that caters to college students may find that laptop bags or bottle openers yield the best results. A company that focuses its efforts on retired adults might consider golf balls a worthwhile investment. If you know your audience, you’ll find that your gifts are not only more appreciated but that they go further in creating brand awareness because they are actually being used.
Tip #2: Durability and Usability are Very Important
Have you ever received a promotional item from a company, only to have it break the first time you use it? If you buy promotional products that are cheaply made, your customers and potential customers will tie that back to your business’ reputation. If that company gave you a promotional water bottle that leaks, how much time, energy and money do they put into making sure their products are of the highest standard? Durability and usability are key.
The other reason that durability and usability are important is that you actually want people out in the world promoting your brand by using their promotional items! How many times have you seen a branded backpack on city transit, or a branded mug, t-shirt, or hat? Some people are wearing or using these because they’re brand ambassadors, but most people are wearing and using them because they just work! These walking advertisements are great for brand awareness and recognition.
Tip #3: Relate Products to your Business
If you have a wide pool of customers or are attending a trade show where you’re having a hard time deciding who your audience will be, tie your promotional products back to your business. As long as the product is usable and durable as mentioned above, people will likely use it or will give it to someone who will.
If you are a design company, a stylus pen may be a nice product or service tie-in. If you are a technology company, you may choose to brand USB sticks. You can even go wider into company values that make sense with promotional items. If your company is all about going green, you may choose to brand water bottles or coffee tumblers. The possibilities are endless so get creative. Select a budget and do your research into custom promotional products within it. You’ll be amazed at what you can come up with!
At Print Three, we’re more than just a printer. Whatever your budget or customer segment, we’ve got a promotional product for you. Contact us to discuss your next promotional gift endeavor!