Business Success With Promotional Marketing
Last week I discussed the pros and cons of direct mail marketing. In the course of my discussion, I touched on the use of promotional products as gifts outright and as incentives. Today I’d like to focus exclusively on these promotional products and discuss their use in greater detail.
Last week I mentioned the Silver Marketing Group study that found a 50 percent increase in direct mail response rates when a promotional product was included in a mailing and a fourfold increase when a promotional product was used as an incentive. In addition, consider the following statistics: 60 percent of respondents in a recent survey reported having done business with the product’s advertiser after receiving a promotional product. Nearly half (47 percent) indicated a more favourable opinion of the advertiser after receiving a promotional product. Moreover, of those who received such a product, 37 percent of those who had not previously done business with the advertiser said it was likely that they would.
In short, promotional product advertising is good for business. With a relatively modest investment, a small- to medium-sized business can generate the same level of exposure typically associated with that of a much larger company with a significant advertising budget. A promotional product can be as small as a pen with the name of your business on it or as elaborate as an electronic gadget with some kind of catchy branding message. It all depends on your budget, your target audience, and the needs of your business.
So why are promotional products so valuable to marketers? Well, because they’re valuable to the people who receive them. In the aforementioned survey, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they kept promotional products they received because they were useful. And when people receive something of value—or the promise of something of value, in the case of incentives—they respond out of a sense of obligation to the giver. This isn’t some crass “I’ve given you something so now you owe me” thing. Rather, it’s a way to establish a relationship with your target audience, a way to open the door.
What kind of things should you consider when shopping for promotional products to send out? That can be almost anything, but certain things are kept more than others. Writing instruments are very popular and people tend to keep them around for long periods of time, especially women, who make many of families’ purchasing decisions. Calendars are also popular and have the added benefit of staying in use for an entire year, continually offering up reminders of your business. Also popular is clothing, such as T-shirts, and caps or headwear. Men, especially, like caps.
Promotional product advertising is a great way to promote your business, and with higher response rates that some other forms of advertising, it can be very cost-effective. Do you have a success story with promotional products? Share it with readers in the comments section below.
Happy Marketing!
Sean
Sean McPheat
(Image by Digital Art)
Sean McPheat left the corporate world when he was 30 and risked it all to “See if he could cut it as an entrepreneur”. He’s been a serial entrepreneur ever since! Sean now owns several online and offline businesses in addition to one of the most successful management and sales development organisations within the UK. Sean is a bestselling author and founder and MD of international training firm MTD Training. Sean has been referred to in the media as a thought leader within the sales, maketing and busines improvement industry, and has been featured on CNN International, the BBC, ITV, The Guardian and in big name magazines such as Arena Magazine, Marketing Weekly and Business Zone.
Category: 
Tags: 
No comments on this post so far.