Help Consumers Bond with Your Brand
In the last couple of posts, I offered my thoughts on why promotional marketing is such an excellent tool, whether your business is doing well or needs some help. Today, I’d like to talk about the reasons it is so good for your brand regardless of how things are going at the moment.
Some companies currently view promotional items as an afterthought or are not taking advantage of their benefits at all. For others, it may be time to dial it up a notch; make even better use of the brand-building capabilities they bring.
The Results Are In … and Incredible
For the facts, look to the 2019 Global Ad Impressions Study just released by the American Specialty Institute (ASI). It presents results from surveying thousands of people, both in the U.S. and around the world. I could probably find 500 reasons in these results for you to use promotional marketing, but here are five great ones to start.
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Consumers like it best.
Not too many people get up in the morning hoping to see some TV commercials or eager to check out some magazine ads. Their attitude is different when it comes to promotional products.
- Promotional products are the most highly regarded form of advertising
- When asked what kind of advertising they liked best, consumers under 55 chose promotional products.
When they tell you what they think, it usually pays to listen.
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Consumers respond to promotional marketing the most.
Much, if not most, advertising is ignored, or at best quickly forgotten. That is simply not true of promotional items. They do the job you want them to do.
- With promotional items, recipients remember the advertiser. With hats and apparel items, 85 percent remember who gave it to them.
- They improve your chances of a sale. Even with an inexpensive writing instrument or promotional bag, more than half of recipients say they are more likely to do business with the advertiser that gave it to them.
They remember. So don’t forget to include promotional marketing in your mix.
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Big impact at a tiny cost.
You can’t ask for advertising dollars to work much harder than they do when invested in promotional items. They aren’t limited to the living room TV set or doctor’s office magazine. They get around.
- Promotional items are seen often, by the recipient and many others. Promotional outerwear captures an estimated 6,100 impressions over its life. Hats and T-shirts rack up 3,400. Even that inexpensive writing utensil chalks up 3,000.
- Your CPI (cost per impression) is minimal. With that writing implement, for example, it’s as little as one-tenth of one cent. Headwear and T-shirts come in at two-tenths of one cent. And one-third of men wear their promotional hat every week, or more.
If money is no object in your business, feel free to ignore results like those.
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The effect of promotional items is lasting.
Those who cannot understand the value of promotional items have the mistaken notion they are quickly tossed aside, with very short lifespans. Simply not true. They are on the job far longer than virtually any other form of advertising.
- Many promotional items are kept for an average of one year or longer. That includes apparel, drinkware, umbrellas, desk accessories, USBs and many more.
- Nearly half of consumers keep promotional T-shirts for two years or longer. And oddly enough, even promotional calendars are kept for an average of one year or more.
And this doesn’t even consider that more than half of consumers will give away a promotional product they don’t want. Clearly, they see the value—and your company gets the benefit.
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You’d Like to Grow Your Business
Okay, sorry, I know this “reason” is a little sneaky. But I think it’s accurate. And I want to make sure you can see how these big-picture results apply to your business. Two points on that:
- First, don’t take my word for it. Check out the Global Impressions Study yourself. It’s actually fun and interesting, and I’m confident one stat I didn’t have room for here will jump out at you and spark an idea.
- Also, remember that promotional products are not “generic.” We can choose them for how they relate to your business (like a USB drive in the shape of a guitar for a musical instrument retailer). And your logo and message make it yours alone.
Many Reasons To Work With Us
We understand the power of promotional products. It’s one of the many areas of expertise we’ve developed in helping businesses work more efficiently for nearly 100 years. Our ISO 9001:2015 certification is another indication of our quality processes. And we’ve earned two consecutive Best of Print and Digital awards based on our customers’ ratings. (And stay tuned for news of a three-peat in my next post!)
Contact Superior today for a promotional product audit. Because getting your brand out there is important. But getting consumers to care and respond to it is what drives business.
