How Promotional Products Can Be Used
* Motivation/Incentives
* Recognition/Service Awards
* Traffic Building
* Event Marketing
* Safety Programs
* Product Rollouts
* Point-of-Purchase
* Direct-Mail Marketing
* Employee/Community/Customer Relations
* Clubs/Fraternal Identification
* Cause-Related Marketing
* Brand Awareness
* Fund Raising
* Souvenirs/Remembrances
Motivation/Incentives
Imprinted products are often used to motivate sales teams toward more sales, production workers toward
greater efficiency, credit departments toward more collections, etc. But they can also be used as incentives
to get store managers to give you better shelf space for your products, dealers to load up on your product so
they actually have to push it, consumers to purchase more of your product, delinquent library-card holders to
return books and so on.
Recognition/Service Awards
Employees, customers and vendors are recognized for years of service, performance, volume or frequency of
business, etc.
Traffic Building
Be it retail, business-to-business, associations ... everyone has a need to draw customers. This may be to your
store in general, for a specific promotion, to your tradeshow booth or to your special event.
Event Marketing
This might be a client golf outing, industry awards banquet, grand opening, building dedication, open house or
anniversary, or you may be sponsoring or co-sponsoring a sporting event, concert, etc. Promotional products serve
as thank-you gifts, media attention-getting devices and so on.
Safety Programs
Whether it's getting production workers to reduce their number of accidents, drivers to improve their on-the-road
record or foremen to ensure that safety procedures are being followed, imprinted products promote the theme and
message of safety programs, which can reduce insurance premiums.
Product Rollouts
Promotional products can be used to garner attention for your new products within the trade and to consumers, by
helping to gain media exposure and/or providing replicas that your salesforce can use to demonstrate your new
products.
Point-Of-Purchase
Promotional products can be used as advertising materials, used as displays or as parts of displays in retail
stores to draw attention to your product.
Direct-Mail Marketing
Using promotional products with sales letters can decrease the cost of securing a sales appointment by 65 percent,
according to a 1992 study by the Silver Marketing Group for the Promotional Products Association International. The
same study found that the inclusion of a promotional product with a sales letter yielded nearly twice the response
of a letter with only a business reply card, and offering an "expensive" clock increased the percent response four
times.
Employee/Community/Customer Relations
From building goodwill in the community to calming the waters after a crisis, companies, municipalities and
organizations have used promotional products to inform, educate, thank, remind and apologize.
Clubs/Fraternal Identification
People are usually proud of their affiliations and enjoy wearing, carrying and displaying products bearing their
club or organization's logo, colors, slogan, etc.
Cause-Related Marketing
From the "fur is not a fabric" movement to promoting breast cancer awareness, cause-oriented groups, organizations
and charities use promotional products to promote their messages, and many companies will support those causes or
market their own products and services through them.
Brand Awareness
In an ever-cluttered marketplace with too many consumer choices, brand marketers are relying more and more on
promotional products to garner brand loyalty.
Fund Raising
From libraries to charitable organizations, fund raising is often a huge undertaking that can last anywhere from
a few months to an entire year or be ongoing, encompassing multiple requests for donations. Promotional products
are sometimes used in those requests or used as incentives/rewards for donations, often on a scale.
Souvenirs/Remembrances
You might be commemorating your company's 100th anniversary by giving employees a gold-toned hammer-shaped keytag,
representative of your company's number one product, or you might give community volunteers brass railroad spikes
to thank them for their backbreaking work on refurbishing the town's railroad station. Souvenirs and remembrances
are used to mark myriad occasions.
|