Do you think you really know all about promotional items? Perhaps you may want to think again! Over the years, we’ve had a lot of opportunities to talk to a wide variety of professionals in many different industries about these valuable marketing tools.
What we discovered is most of these professionals all had one thing in common: they are unclear about the benefits promotional items can bring to the table.
To clear the air on some of these misconceptions, let’s talk about three of the most common myths we should all stop believing!
I should choose promotional items based on the type of business I have
The first thing you should think of when purchasing promotional items should be whether they are useful to the people you plan on giving them to, not whether they are “themed” to relate to your company. You should also relate them to the theme of your promotion.
For example, a yoga studio shouldn’t only limit their promotional item purchases to yoga and exercise products. Let’s say there is a coffee shop next door that your students frequent. Giving away a tumbler would make sense because it is something they can use outside of class.
If you are looking for more representation of your company, consider purchasing items that coordinate with your company colors.
Promotional items must have all my contact information printed on them
Since the imprint area on a promotional item is limited, adding all of your contact information to a promotional item only clutters the item. It is also confusing to your audience. You wouldn’t have four call to actions on your website, would you? The same concept applies here. Try to pick the contact method that is most preferred by your audience.
A great way to decorate your promotional items is to add a landing page URL that your audience can go to to get more information about your company. With this method, you can give away a free white paper, report or .pdf download for them to claim in exchange for their email address.
They are a waste of money, I don’t believe I will get a return on my investment
Purchasing promotional items without a plan is like building a house without a blueprint. If you simply purchase promotional items you will be stuck in a never ending conversation of: “what do we do with these things?”
The purpose of purchasing promotional items is to move them. Meaning they need to find a home in your target audience’s hands, not a box in your storage closet. Unfortunately, Toy Story is not real and your items will not come to life at night in search of your audience all by themselves.
Which is why you will have to do the work here! The BEST (and only) way to use promotional items is to use them to initiate a marketing campaign or use them along with your existing marketing campaigns. Only when you have a plan to use them will you be able to get a return on your investment and reap the rewards these powerful marketing tools can provide.
Creating Memorable Impressions For Your Brand 