Maximize The Effectiveness Of Promotional Custom Products

Offering custom corporate gifts & promotional imprinted products are great ways to build a relationship with your existing customers while also spreading word of your business to potential clients. After all everyone, everywhere loves getting something for free, so it's guaranteed to help your company grow, right? Well, not so fast. People may like customized promotional tote bags & custom coffee mugs, but those don't necessarily translate into instant sales. While these items are great selling & marketing tools, they need to stand out from the rest to be noticed & for you to be remembered when your services or products are needed.

Not surprisingly, your business isn't the first one to realize the marketing potential of advertising specialties, so you can bet that for every stress ball you hand out, there are a half dozen similar ones crowding that person's desk drawer. You need to show creativity to make sure that your products stand out from your competitors. To help you along the way, here are a few tips to maximize the effectiveness of your promotional custom products.

Bigger Is Better
While it might not be true in all cases, bigger is certainly better when it comes to marketing gifts. Why is this? Let's use personalized pens as an example. Sure, your logo & company name is right there on the side, but chances are that pen is surrounded by many more like it in a desk top coffee mug. You need to encourage that person to reach for YOUR pen. It will be easier to that if it's the fatter & taller one poking out of the group. Believe it or not, these 8" pens are as easy & comfortable to write with as their smaller cousins.

Eliminate The Ordinary
The most useful & popular promotional products are ones that everyone gives out because they've been proven over time that they work. So if you can't make it bigger, how can you make it stand out & not blend in with the others? Wow them with bright colors, change the shape......do whatever it takes to be different than your competition. A good example is a sports bottle. You see them everywhere now. People carry them wherever they go. But you see round ones--look at this six-sided bottle in bright jewel tones. Ask yourself what you'd rather receive as a token of appreciation.

Keep It Practical

Promotional gifts like mini rubber basketballs & hand-clappers are fun......for about 10 minutes until the person forgets about them forever. The most effective advertising is going to come items that people need & use on a regular basis--ones that are useful to them, so stick with the practical products. Custom & colorful note pads, ceramic coffee mugs & even letter openers come into play almost everyday. These, along with pens, are some of the best products to imprint your logo. Reusable shopping bags are the number one marketing item right now & they not only keep your name in front of your client but it's in public for potential customers to see......day after day all year long.

Do It For The Kids

There is one instance when you should consider ditching the practical route for a more fun option--children's toys. After all, if there's one group that loves free stuff more than any other, it's kids.  And the parents in your target audience will appreciate that you thought of their children. In fact, it's a good way to win them over. Stuffed animals, beach balls, coloring books, crayons, sidewalk chalk, hacky sacks, yo-yos, slinkies (remember those?), banks & the list goes on. These are all great & inexpensive gifts that the little ones are sure to love & that's bound to get the message to their parents also.

Don't Be A Dinosaur

There are many marketing products that used be extremely effective in the promotional field, like key tags & magnets. They have outlived their use & if you continue to give these out, you can be sure that they will most likely end up in the waste paper basket. Keep up with the times & make sure what you hand out is useful & will be used on a regular basis. Just because it worked in the past doesn't mean it will work now. The whole point is for your company name & logo to be seen so you will be remembered. Mouse pads, cubicle pins, sticky note pads & cell phone holders are some items that keep up with the times.

So the next time you hand out your promotional custom products, think how yours can make an impact & stand out from the others. What can you do so your customers will want to use what they get from you over what they get elsewhere? Good luck!

IT'S YOUR COMPANY........SHOW IT OFF!!!
Ronni Sherman