Promotional Merchandise - A Powerful Marketing Tool

10 Reasons Why Promotional Merchandise is Such a Powerful Marketing Tool

Promotional merchandise should never be overlooked as part of a comprehensive marketing mix. It is such a powerful marketing tool that it is often used as a stand-alone marketing strategy. Here we will look at reasons why promotional merchandise has many advantages over other forms of advertising such as TV, radio and printed material and why you need to use promotional merchandise to build your business and brand recognition:

1. Targeted
Unlike many other forms of marketing, with promotional merchandise you can be very specific about who you target and engage with in order to promote your business. This means your marketing budget is only spent where you are most likely to get a return on your investment. Close targeting means less wasted money.

2. Affordable
Other marketing strategies can be costly, and possibly out of the reach of small businesses. Promotional merchandise is available to suit all budgets. Easily affordable items like keyrings, pens, pads, mouse mats, mugs and coasters can all work well for your business. Promotional items do not have to be expensive to be highly effective.

3. Longevity
TV, radio and printed media are all rather transient, and have to be repeated often at great expense to achieve a high level of exposure. Promotional merchandise has a much longer life for a one-off investment. If you carefully select your promotional merchandise and provide promotional gifts that your target audience will use on a daily basis, and perhaps even keep in their pocket or handbag (the most sought after place to be for any advertiser) they will be used repeatedly over a prolonged period of time. This will keeping your company on the radar of your customers and clients.

4. Sensory
It is a widely accepted fact that the more you engage your customers, the stronger your brand becomes and the more likely they are to buy your products and services. Other advertising media may engage sight and sound, but promotional merchandise can also engage touch, taste and smell. With promotional merchandise you can actively engage more of the senses at the same time, therefore delivering a much more powerful message. Think about appealing to more senses with your promotional merchandise and capture your audience.

5. Impact
Physical contact with your carefully chosen promotional merchandise has much more impact than a transitory medium such as TV, radio or print. On its own it will immediately create an impression of your business, and continue to do so as long as it lasts. As part of a more comprehensive campaign, promotional merchandise can create a great supporting act as a tangible point of contact and reminder of what your customers and potential clients may have seen elsewhere. This can greatly enhance recall in your target market.

6. Complimentary
Your choice of promotional merchandise can compliment and reflect the products or services you wish to highlight. If you link them into your theme or select items which tie in with your branding colours, artwork and messages, this will support the marketing messages you are endeavouring to promote and boost brand recognition and recall.

7. Visibility
The presence of your promotional merchandise in the everyday office or home environment of your target audience means that your company logo and messages are highly visible on a regular basis. Whether they are actually aware of it or not, your targeted audience will be subliminally digesting this information, so that when they have a need for your products or services, your company will be an immediate thought and hopefully win you the business

8. Enhancing Existing Relationships
The giving of promotional gifts to your existing clients departs several benefits. At a basic level it provides an opportunity for contact with your client, which serves to open opportunities for further promotion of your company and keeps your business front of mind. However, promotional merchandise can also be a reward loyalty or an enticement to buy more of your products or services, which will serve to build repeat business with your existing customers.

9. Building New Ones
To increase your business, as well as retaining existing clients you need to entice new customers to buy from you. Giving well chosen promotional gifts to prospective customers can create in them a sense of obligation and an incentive to buy from you rather than your competitors. Ensure your promotional merchandise reflects the quality and aspirations of your company, so your new customer gets the ‘feel’ of what you can offer them.

10. Your Contact Details Easily to Hand
If your contact details are easily to hand on your promotional merchandise, your potential customer will not have to go searching for you and perhaps encounter contact details of your competitors first. This could potentially lose you customers and business that your need to capture for your own company. Make sure you include your contact details on your promotional merchandise so your customers can come straight to you.

Don’t forget that you can also use promotional merchandise to encourage and reward your employees and colleagues. Their increased motivation could also work towards bringing in more business.