Brand awareness is a must to grow your business, which is not unknown. Robust marketing practices ensure that you build your brand image and help your target audience notice your brand. While this may take some time initially, once you know which strategies work for you, your brand will grow in no time. Promotional products are a well-known marketing strategy that helps you build brand recognition.
However, it is hard to know whether promotional items are as important as they used to be in today’s digital world. Data suggests that companies spend over AUD 1.3 billion every year on these products because 76% of the recipients admit remembering the company’s name advertised on the promotional items. Hence, it seems that promotional items are here to stay and continue to be effective.
Understanding Promotional Products
Before delving into why promotional items are crucial for a business, it is important to understand what promotional products are. Most people consider promotional items to be free products or items. Sometimes brands may send across small samples or freebies of their product to help consumers learn more about their brand.
However, promotional items are not just freebies, though they are effective. Promotional items may include trinkets such as a t-shirt or a pen with the company’s logo on them, or they may even consist of extravagant items such as a designer vase that features the company’s logo.
Freebies distributed during corporate events, branded canopies, stalls, and stationeries used for internal branding are all promotional items.
Can Promotional Items Help Your Business?
Once you know what promotional items are, it becomes easier to spot them. Almost every business around you may be using promotional items, but can they help your business? What benefits do promotional items offer, and should you be incorporating them in your marketing strategy?
Increase Brand Recognition
Can promotional items help with your marketing strategy, or are they just an unnecessary expense? A study by the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) shows that 76.2% of people could recall the promotional items they received in the past two years. They were not only able to recognise the brand but the product and the message associated with the promotion as well.
Hence, evidence suggests that promotional items could be crucial in helping you grow your brand and increasing recognition among your target audience.
Effective Yet Low-cost
Generally, acquiring mass-produced branded products, especially items such as pens or mugs, is relatively cheap. Manufacturers keep their prices low for bulk orders, and hence, it does not cost companies much to provide gifts. However, the promotional item becomes quite effective in helping consumers recall the brand later on and increases the likelihood of them purchasing something from your brand.
Increased Exposure
Taking out newspaper or video advertisements is an evergreen and indispensable tool. However, it would be best if you increased their efficacy. With branded items, people are exposed to your brand for much longer than with newspaper or video ads. Individuals are likely to use a free promotional pen, mug, or t-shirt a few times before they throw it away, making it easier for them to recall these brands for a long time.
A Reputation for Quality
When deciding on your promotional product, it is essential to pay attention to quality. A quality promotional product helps in several ways; firstly, it lasts longer, and thus, individuals are less likely to throw it away. Secondly, a high-quality promotional item helps convey the quality of service that individuals can expect from your brand. With good grade promotional items, you can create an air of luxury around your brand and help potential customers recognise your high-quality service as well.
Building Relationships
Growing your brand is not only about increasing brand awareness but building lasting relationships as well. High-quality promotional items or exclusive promotional items help you retain your customers better and build a positive relationship. Using exclusive or limited promotional products, you can show your valued clients the importance they hold for your business and help them feel a personal connection with your brand.
Selecting a Promotional Item
Understanding the importance of promotional products is crucial, but selecting the right one is essential as well. When selecting a promotional item, there are a few things that you should keep in mind:
- Keep It Simple: While branding the item is important, ensure that it does not overtake the product completely. Minimal branding ensures that customers can use the item in public comfortably and remember the brand with a glance.
- Company Colours: Promotional items should be uniform in their colour and branding. To ensure increased brand recognition, keep the designs simple by using only your company’s colours.
- Quality: The product’s quality is crucial; a high-quality product will help you present your brand as luxurious.
Promotional items can help your business grow in many ways, from building relationships to increasing brand recall and recognition. When used the right way, they can help you create a strong brand image.
