Promotional Products - Some Work Better Than Others

Promotional products that are deemed useful are kept longer. Better yet, they are used. Some get used several times a day. At least by some people. Some are used in public, where other people can see them. And to make matters even better, they're not expensive. Compared to other ways of marketing, they're downright cheap. Even the expensive ones are an inexpensive way to market when you look at them in relation to the results, in relation to the number of times they get your message and/or logo to be seen.

On average, personalized mugs are kept for a bit over 7 months. Some (about) half of the people who receive them use them at least once a day. That means that they get to see your logo, company name, and/or whatever else you printed on that mug more than 210 times. Compare that with a sales letter.

Yes, a letter will cost less. But most people will not even open the envelope, let alone read your finely crafted letter. And very few of those who do open the envelope and read, or at least scan, your letter keep it for a few days.

Other promotional items are kept a bit longer, some a lot less (pens, though very popular, are kept about half as long as mugs, but they are used more often during that shorter period). Some items can be used in such a way that only the user ever sees them, others are seen by dozens or (T-shirts) hundreds of other people.

Since useful products are kept longer, it makes sense to use such products. No matter how useful a product is, if it's not delivered in time, it's useless. So allow ample time for the production and delivery. Rush jobs cost more. ROI goes down if you pay more. You won't like that. Nobody does.

The second most common reason people who receive promotional gifts keep them? They look good. So, it stands to reason that you should combine useful with beauty. By the way, novelty items don't do so well. Again, it stands to reason: you look at, or play with, a promotional product a few times and there's no novelty left in it for you. If you absolutely have to have novelty, marry it with usefulness, as in custom coffee mugs, for instance.

Note that even people who're not likely to ever buy your product or service will keep a useful, good-looking promotional item. They might even get attached to it, use it exclusively, like many people do with coffee mugs, for instance. But they're still not going to buy. So, make sure you choose carefully who to give promotional products. They must be current clients or people who're very likely to become clients.

Marketing your pork meat with promotional products to people who only eat Kosher is a waste of your time and money. Of course, nobody would do that. But it makes the point. But many marketers fail when the situation is not so clear. I got seven offers from moving companies 1 month after I moved. I don't know how they found out about me, but they should have also found out when the moving was scheduled.

Marketing with promotional products to all the households within three miles of your location will yield some customers. But with a lot of waste. Marketing with promotional products to all the households within three miles of your location who have the three characteristics all your best clients have creates less waste, better ROI. Marketing with promotional products to all the households within three miles of your location who have the three characteristics all your best clients have and have shown interest in your offer/business is even better.

In other words, with promotional marketing, first think usefulness, then apply all the marketing principles you apply to your other marketing, success cannot help but follow.