When you hear the word “marketing” you probably think about advertising campaigns on TV and a clever sales pitch trying to encourage you to purchase a certain product. While to an extent that is true, there is a much deeper strategy behind marketing and it is broken up into a number of different specified segments. One increasingly effective segment of marketing is Promotional Marketing.
Promotional Marketing is marketing through the branding of physical product. Rather than creating a digital marketing campaign or renting out a billboard, Promotional Marketing is based on the premise of developing a direct one-to-one marketing solutions in a more inbound approach. This direct marketing approach allows brands to connect with their client base by providing them with unique products displaying their brand name and message. This makes Promotional Marketing an increasingly influential tool for organizations who wish to grow their brand and gain impactful exposure. However, Promotional Marketing is more complex than simply slapping a logo on a product and handing it out for distribution and so in an effort to better understand what goes into Promotional Marketing, we are going to break it up into three distinct sections.
1. Advertising
By placing your brand logo on a physical product, you are advertising. Every time and everywhere that specific branded product is used, it is generating brand exposure. Depending on the product selected, the amount of impressions will vary. For example, according to ASI (Advertising Specialty Institute), branded hats average 3,136 impressions per unit while branded t-shirts average 2,450 impressions. There are many different factors that will play a pivotal role in your equation of exposure, but making certain that you provide a product of value to your audience is critical. Promotional Marketing firms like Stran are experts in creating strategy to help clients maximize return on campaigns and so this is nothing to worry about for your organization. Your focus becomes defining your branding goals and Promotional Marketing firms can take care of the rest. If you produce a product that your audience will find both appealing as well as useful, then your average number of impressions per unit will increase dramatically as they will be utilized on a far more regular basis. This is an advertising strategy that commands intimate market knowledge, industry intelligence and branding expertise. By having a base of knowledge on what your target audience wants and needs, filling that void with your branded product will drive brand exposure the same way as traditional advertisements do while creating a unique sense of brand loyalty with the recipients of your product.
2. Publicity
Beyond t-shirts, hats and other wearable items, Promotional Marketing is a great way to command attention in your market segment and showcase your brand message in a fun and creative manner. Promotional Marketing can help your brand gain publicity by creating a custom product or display. Promotional Marketing firms are experts in the creation of clever products known as “dealer loader” items which are attention commanding products that are often utilized as end cap displays to attract the attention of consumers and spice up the in-store shopping experience. By creating a unique display, your brand will gain positive publicity and it will expose it in a creative and attractive light. You want your brand to be the talk of the industry and by creating a unique dealer loader, you can be sure that you are gaining the positive attention that you seek.
3. Sales
Promotional Marketing will serve as an advertisement and it will reward your brand with positive publicity, but above all else, it will result in increased sales. Sales are the ultimate driving force behind any and all advertising & marketing campaign and so the primary objective of implementing a promotional product-based marketing program is to increase sales. How does Promotional Marketing drive sales? It drives sales through increasing not only brand recognition but also spurring brand loyalty. When a product is given away as either an incentive or a gift, the recipient of the product will view the brand name on the product in a more receptive and loyal manner. This increases the likelihood of the recipient purchasing or utilizing the brand on the promotional product in the future and generating repeat business. Additionally, the brand on the product will be increasingly visible and will remain top-of-mind in the specific niches that it is exposed to. That is yet another reason why it is imperative to select the right product for a specific audience segment as their use of the product ultimately decides the effectiveness of the program implemented.
These three functions of Promotional Marketing are what makes it one of the most cost-effective and impactful forms of marketing available. No matter the size or scale of the organization, Promotional Marketing is effective when utilized properly. That is the primary reason that it is used by industries ranging from education to finance, it produces results. Establishing and maintaining your brand is one of the most important things that any organization can do to expand their reach, make sure you don’t get left behind and invest in Promotional Marketing!