Our favourite promotional product statistics.
Why the choices you make will determine if your logo goes home, or into the bin
How much money goes into your annual conference, or benefit or consumer appreciation gifts? Do you know what happens to them afterwards? Are they still working for you?
Think about the last time you went to a conference. How long did it take before you ditched the gift bag, broke the lid on the water bottle or spent more time trying to get the pen working than you did using it? The truth is if you did this at any time during the day of the conference, the marketing campaign for that organisation has essentially failed.
If you think about your product marketing as ambassadors for your brand, what kind of ambassadors fit your brand? Questions we often ask are ‘where do you position yourself in the market?’ ‘How would you describe your brand? Bold & market leading or more reserved and understated quality?’ The products themselves have to match your brand message because people will align a brand with a simple promotional item – “where’s that pen I got from Point 7?”
So here are 3 ways you can keep your brand ambassador out of the bin
The product needs to fit.
Product marketing is more than putting your logo on a fridge magnet. It’s about creating a campaign around your brand, your event or a specific point of value. Think about what this product is designed to do. If it’s to deliver your brand message, and you’re a high quality professional organisation, you need to select a marketing product that invokes the same feelings. If you are dedicated to sustainable environmental solutions, your product needs to be ethically sourced and more importantly, shouldn’t come in excessive packaging.
The product needs to work.
Whatever the purpose of the product it needs to be able to be able to perform that function. If you’ve chosen a product with wow factor, there’s no wow if 5 minutes after it’s used, it breaks. And of course the pen. The pen needs to work. There’s little in the world more frustrating than something that doesn’t work – pens are no exception. Broken or poorly made marketing products only tell one story: Unreliable, cheap and misleading.
The product should meet or speak of your business or event’s 5 P’s of marketing: Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People.
Make a list of all the ideas you have for marketing products that suit. Then take a step back. Look at your overall brand, look at your culture, the culture of who you are and what you’re trying to get across. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Think on the 5 P’s and ask who are we, as a business, on a basic level? What are we trying to do? Realign your ideas with your brand using this technique and you’re on your way to selecting a brand ambassador that will go home, instead of in the bin.
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