Use Promotional Products to Stand Out from The Rest During Recession

Ask any entrepreneur or professional marketer and they will tell you promotional products are one of the most effective ways of getting the attention of potential buyers. Few of them see these gifts as an expense; they view them as a modest investment that yields exponential rewards to the patient.

Perhaps you are wondering what we’re on about. Well, we’re simply discussing the merits of those branded items handed out with every purchase by some companies at certain times, such as during the holiday season. They are also given to loyal customers at random intervals to express gratitude and encourage continued purchases. Stationery passed out to attendees of seminars and conferences arranged by a firm bearing their logo and their colours also fall into this category, as do branded knick-knacks distributed among staff as a pat on the back from the management.

Many a marketer has chosen to completely replace their conventional marketing strategy with the tactful use of branded giveaways. This is because these gifts have proven a more effective way of capturing the attention of potential clients. And the reason is simple; whereas people have become jaded with TV and radio commercials to the point of flipping channels when they come on, promotional products will remain in their view for as long as they are in use.

Telemarketers can be ignored and newsletters can be sent to trash without so much as a glance, but as long as your branded pen is working and is pretty enough to be carried around, they will keep it. The longer they keep that pen or USB drive or whatever other gifts it was you distributed, the higher the chances of your brand getting stuck in the back of their minds and the higher the chance of them picking your product rather than a competitor’s. This, of course, depends on how practical or fun you make your promotional merchandise. The degree to which you do this will determine how much they interact with it and view your brand and message in the process.

And this is not just mere theory, studies have shown that over half of corporate buyers go for products from the brands that are displayed somewhere on their desk. Indeed over 70% of the interviewees for this survey could remember at least one brand name from the ones they see daily in their office. This is the kind of impact well placed promotional merchandise can have on your sales volumes.

Apart from this direct injection to your margin, promotional products also give your company’s image a huge boost in the eyes of prospective clients and the wider public by presenting you as a generous outfit. People want to believe that companies are not just profit-making machines (especially now in the recession when people many companies are facing a backlash from the public), but that they also care and are willing to give back.

Branded gifts distributed, especially those served out during the holiday season, serve to create this image. You could even go further by selecting items that are made from recycled materials in order to market yourself as an environmentally conscious enterprise.