Despite the fact that digital advertising dominates the marketing world, there is still a good deal of evidence to support the use of promotional products. You also find that many companies who offer digital marketing services, such as Wensum print, still offer promotional products that can absolutely form part of a successful business marketing strategy, when done right.
What are promotional products?
Branded merchandise that is given away for free to members of a target audience, can be a highly effective way of generating a bit of a buzz about a brand, or specific product or service. By encouraging audience members to favour their brand, goods and/or services over others offering something similar, promotional products that are useful and memorable, such as pens and mugs to t-shirts and coasters, typically have the greatest impact.
In what ways can promotional products help your brand and business?
With the ease of digital marketing, businesses are finding themselves having to fight harder than ever before not just to attract customers, but to retain them. Fortunately, offering high quality printed promotional products from a reputable source, can offer just as high a ROI as their digital counterparts; in fact, there is research to prove that customers are more than twice as likely to have a positive opinion about a branded, promotional product, than they are about a high-tech advert.
What is it about promotional products that makes your audience want them?
If the high quality printed merchandise you’re offering your audience for free, fits a shared desire, opinion and function, then there’s no reason why they won’t live it, and love your brand all the more for giving it to them for free. There are psychological effects attached to freebies, as well, and despite the product being given away for nothing, people feel as if they’ve earned them by remaining loyal to your brand, and such positivity can only ever spell success for your business and brand.
Additionally, reciprocity as a principle, plays a critical role in the process, too. Once a person has received something for nothing (and something that they actually want, too), they automatically feel as if they should return the favour by giving something back. And how do they do this? By becoming your most loyal, paying customer, of course!
Promotional product considerations
If you decide that like so many other successful businesses, you want to use promotional products to give your brand a boost, you’ll need to think carefully not just about what product you choose to give away, but how many you’re going to give away.
Once you’ve decided on a product that you think your target audience will appreciate, you can use events like trade shows and local fairs to give them away and create a buzz about whatever it is you’re offering. Competitions and giveaways are also great opportunities for giving away freebies and gaining new supporters and customers, and when combined with social media, can prove a great way to get everyone talking about your business.
To conclude:
Printed promotional products can be just as effective in a digital marketplace, if not more in some instances, and provided you choose an experienced printing company to make them for you, your business name could soon be the latest word on the street!
