How to use Value-Adds to make your brand an occasion and drive sales

All good marketing is more about interaction and the consumer experience with the brand than it is about the brand itself. Think about all the great marketing campaigns and they’ve all been a conversation with their consumers, not a lecture on who the brand is.  I’ve talked about how Promotional Products can help drive your brand narrative in conventional marketing strategies, this is something more.

Another not as common marketing tactic is to use branded Value-Adds. When it comes to using Promotional Products as a Value-Add, we’re not talking about the branded pen or stress ball. Value-Adds are discreetly branded, carefully selected products specifically designed to meet your marketing demographic and drive sales by creating a conversation with your consumers.

Companies are always looking for a way to connect their brand’s point of difference with the consumer and I believe the best way to do that, is to be better at having that conversation than your competitor.  Using Value-Adds to create a conversation or an occasion around your brand is an incredibly powerful marketing tool to drive sales.  A carefully selected Value-Add  amplifies or highlights your brand story and its relevance to the consumer, all while your product is sitting on the shelf.

Consider this, 66% of people can’t recall the name of the wine they drink. Similarly, consumers indicate that their reasons for choosing a brand of wine doesn’t have much to do with the Winery itself, it’s more about the event, or occasion they’re attending. This means in the selection process, connection with consumer emotions is critical.  How can you get your product selected over the multitude of other options available? If things like a romantic evening or a BBQ are the driving factors for selection, what do you do?

Using the brand identity to select something that changes your product from one of millions, to a part of the consumer’s story is the most effective way to increase sales in these types of markets.  In the case of the wine industry, an appropriate wine paired with a branded candle, or box of chocolates, suddenly becomes the exact right fit for a romantic evening. Or, the robust red, with a branded sachet of steak rub, is now the best choice to take to the BBQ.

Using Value-Add products as purposeful brand ambassadors in this way can make the difference between someone choosing your brand over the brand of a competitor.  After all, consider this other statistic for the wine industry; 50% of wine drinkers get a friend or peer influence or to choose their wine for them.

Wouldn’t it be preferable if the ‘friend’, who’s helping the consumer choose the wine for the evening, was you?

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