Promotional Products: The Key to Raising Your Business’ Performance in 2018.
When exploring my options for university, I was gifted a reusable coffee cup at the open day of the university where I ended up doing my bachelor’s degree. Now, I’m not saying the decision about where to spend the next 3 years of my life was made on the basis of a coffee cup, but the gift did show me the university really understood what it is to be a student; relying on that first coffee of the day, (potentially followed by many more) to survive exams, assignments and all the other challenging facets of uni-life. In addition, the reusability of the cup spoke to my need to be environmentally responsible and reduce my waste. The cup showed me the faculty cared about these things too.
The point is, the seemingly trivial item actually worked to spark a relationship between me and the university. It showed me the people who would be handling my education, understood who I was as a person and what i wanted for university. Branded items such as pens, mugs and water bottles may not be the first thing you consider to expand your business’ output to society, but in fact, they’re a highly effective tool that can positively influence many areas of your business.
Here's 7 Reasons You Should Invest Before Your Competition
1. They Promote Your Business. Simply having your logo in front of people during their everyday lives can turn them into paying customers. Promotional products can sit in offices and homes where potential consumers walk past every day seeing your logo. Like spies for your business, they can infiltrate the spaces normally lost amongst other marketing noise and reach harder to access consumers, reminding people you exist or establishing a base for other communications between you and them in the future.
2. They Reinforce Your Brand. Putting your logo on products that support your company’s ethos and morals can help maintain a strong and responsible brand image. The reusable coffee cup example I talked about earlier is a perfect example of this, the university shows their dedication to reusing products by gifting a product that helps consumers do these things. Today, having a business that is dedicated to more than just profits is vital and branded products can be a key tool to communicate that your business has goals and aspirations for its community, just like its clients.
3. They Show Customers You Value Them. Maintaining your relationship with a customer is a much more effective way to gain sales than go after new ones. Sometimes, the only difference between a customer making a reorder is a little extra something that shows you value their purchases. A gift can do exactly that and what better gift than one that has your logo on it and constantly reminds them that you exist and better yet, gave them a gift.
4. They Make Customers Feel Unique. Often, customers can begin to feel like they are part of a massive unit helping to feed the business owner’s family. A personalised gift can make them realise that you know them as an individual and think about their personal lives. Maybe you heard them discuss a certain thing they need, or a problem they’re struggling with. By giving them a branded product that helps their life you show them you are paying attention to the areas of their lives outside of business.
5. They Create Ambassadors of Your Brand. By giving out promotional products to people you have done business with, you create free promoters of your brand that have actual experience with you and your company. As the people who see your product through your consumers, (hopefully) trust them, you have created an ambassador that vouches for your services quality. Having people who have interacted with your brand promote and vouch for your company is a hugely influential force in attracting new customers.
6. They’re Cost Effective! While advertising can cost many tens of thousands of dollars, effective use of promotional products can mean investing a small amount can end up yielding a huge reward. The products themselves can cost as little as a dollar each for items such as pens. Where skilled marketers succeed, is where they place these small items to yield the largest results. The best way to see these products work is to tailor them to the needs of your customers and see what they want from these items, just handing them out at random can work, but careful and applied attention to the target market is always more effective.
7. They Engage Employees. Promotional products can help to create a motivated and dedicated team of employees that are fully invested in your business. As well as customers, employees want to feel valued and connected to your business. They put their time and effort into your business too and enjoy feeling like you appreciate their efforts. By giving them gifts every now and again you develop a relationship that motivates them to go the extra mile while working for you, and to really care about their duties as employees. Having a team that cares about what they do comes through to customers equates to higher revenues and customer satisfaction.
