You can choose from a wide array of options for promotional merchandise. You need to consider how much you’re willing to spend and if your target audience will love what you’re going to offer.
Apart from these conditions, you also need to check if the items that you’re giving out are true to your brand; otherwise, you’re wasting a precious opportunity to advertise. You’ll also be confusing people about what your brand stands for.
For instance, if you’re selling organic products or health-related items, you can’t give out beer tumblers or blank caps. It’s inappropriate for what your business stands for.
Another example is when you’re selling items for kids, but the promotional merchandise you use is suitable only for adults. Although the parents spend money to buy what their kids want, you need to appeal to the children first since they will be the ones to persuade their parents to buy what they want.
Gather your marketing team
The distribution of promotional merchandise is an extension of your marketing strategies. It’s an indirect way of telling people to buy your products. Therefore, your marketing team needs to lead this endeavour. Make sure that they understand your goal and help you come up with an exciting promotional item.
Make it clear to them why you’re handing out the free items. The products you distribute and the design of them will help boost your brand. Don’t rush the process since you need various inputs before deciding which items to give.
Ask other employees too
Apart from your marketing team, it also helps if you decide to ask your other employees, especially those who have been with you for a long time. They understand what the company’s vision is, and they can contribute to the discussion. You might run out of ideas if your marketing team also has to deal with several other advertising tasks. Consider these inputs and modify the design of the promotional item before distribution.
Conduct a survey
It also helps if you ask your target audience what they want. For instance, if you’re going to hand out the promotional items during the holiday season, it will be effective. People love receiving gifts during this time of the year. They will be honest with you about what they want to receive. As long as the requests are reasonable and affordable, you might want to consider them.
Choose the right recipients
Once you decide which items to give away and you finalise the design, the next step is to determine which people you will prioritise as the recipients. You can’t give away the items to random people, especially if you’re confident that they won’t buy your products. It’s a waste of money. You allocate a portion of your company’s budget to promotional merchandise in the hope that you will eventually win people over.
Get feedback from the recipients to determine if the items you gave are true to your brand, or if they didn’t help your cause at all.
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