According to David Hudson in a recent post I read, this can be important if you plan to market your small business for growth and success.
He’s given some guidelines to go by when planning your promotional strategy that include thinking about how your promotional product will meet your client’s need as well as fit with your overall marketing strategy. Here is a sampling:
- DON’T PURCHASE THROW AWAYS If you’re going to spend money on something, it should be worthwhile. Make sure that your client will use the product. Don’t sacrifice quality. If you’re going to buy pens to give away, make sure that they are good pens that write well. If they aren’t, the client will throw them away and won’t see your name every time he needs to write down a phone number.
We can all relate to this one. How many “dud” pens have you tossed?
- DON’T BLEND INTO THE CROWD Be creative. Try to find a product that speaks to what your company is and that your clients will appreciate. If you think you can pull it off, try to make your promotional items funny without losing relevance. Nothing would be better for business than for Jim to show Bobby the hilarious promotional items that you gave him. Now Bobby has been exposed to your company and will be more likely to contact you.
Gotta be a little careful with this one! Remember the fine line between humor and poor taste!
- DON’T BUY ARBITRARY PROMOTIONAL BUSINESS PRODUCTS Make your promotional business products are relevant to your company and part of your overall marketing strategy. If you run a nature photography website, mail key chains with one of your nature photographs attached. All of your promotional business products should remind customers of what you do and the quality of your work. Don’t settle for a product with just your name on it. Make sure the product says something about you.
This one is probably the most important with regard to real marketing!
The final comment from this blogger on the subject is “if you’re not sure try a test market before you spend big bucks!“
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Man, I’m pleased to read this. A while back we found this company who makes environmentally friendly pens out of seaweed that can be branded for your company. What a talking point! Pity we didn’t need any, but anyone who is thinking of promotional giveaways, check it out
http://epenz.co.nz/our_products.htm