Have you attended a corporate event, trade show, or business conference and received a product with a company’s logo on it? If you did, then the company was trying something called “promotional advertising”.
One of the ways of doing promotional advertising is by distributing promotional items to increase brand awareness and connect with the customers. There are several types of products that a business can use as freebies. In some instances, even customized items are used to appeal to a target audience.
If this marketing strategy sounds interesting, here are some things to know about promotional products:
For how long do people keep promotional items?
Research states that a significant section of the population keeps a promotional product for around eight months on average. However, the specific time depends on the type of product, its quality, and its durability.
According to rough estimates, customers keep caps for almost six months, shirts for seven months, USB drives for nine months, drinkware for eight months, and personal protection items for seven months.
Marketing experts have also observed that customers who receive these items pass them along to others who use them. This cycle of usability ensures that your advertisement message attracts newer potential customers.
What are the popular promotional products?
Although many items are used for promotional purposes, some engage the customers deeper than others. It is essential to have your company’s logo on those selected items for maximum business promotion. After all, a customer must use a product for a long time rather than discard it after a few days or weeks.
- Wellness and health – Distributing products related to health and wellness send an important message that your brand cares for your customer. The wellness and health products are like face masks, gel packs, toiletry, sunscreen, hand sanitizers, and lip balm. Face masks and hand sanitizers are indispensable for health and safety purposes.
- Stationery items – The next is stationery items like pens, pencils, sticky notes, and rulers since everybody uses them. Despite computers, tablets, and other electronic devices, stationery items will always be relevant because they are convenient and easy to carry.
- Mobile accessories – In the age of smartphones, mobile accessories like power banks, audio, cables, and phone chairs are big hits with the audience. Smartphone users continue to grow each year, and receiving something that enhances its user experience will be loved by the people.
- Clothing items – Clothing items including hoodies, tee shirts, and beanies are stylish and used by people throughout the year. They offer a fantastic opportunity to exhibit your brand.
- Drinkware – Your customers will also thank you for receiving any drinkware, from coffee mugs to water bottles since both are considered indispensable by a large section of the population around the world. From the gym to cafes, your brand will be noticed by a varied segment of people.
Mistakes to avoid in promotional products
Distributing freebies ensures customer loyalty, offers instant brand recognition, attracts new customers, increases leads, and generates sales. But all of those will only happen when you use the right items. You should know what type of product is most likely to appeal to your target audience.
- If you want to appeal to children, office supplies are not going to do much for them.
- Promotional products should not be stuffed with too much information or contain anything besides a logo.
- There should be some way the customer can connect with you later.
- It is a bad idea not to plan your distribution campaign well in advance, since that will be more expensive and might not give you the results you want.
- It would be best to have an engaging and attractive logo that appeals to the eyes. It should not be dull or generic in any way.
Thus, distributing promotional products is a highly effective way to expand your business presence and reach out to your customers with some personal touch. Avoiding the mistakes mentioned above and using the most popular items will give you the highest return on investment.