3 Tricks To Using Promotional Items More Effectively

Many people do not know promotional items are more than just “free stuff”.  While your audience may think they’re receiving “free stuff”, YOU should think of them as marketing investments.  Especially, if your audience holds onto the “free stuff” they just received from you. The key is to use promotional items more effectively.

Promotional products are packed with potential.  Plus the “free” item to your audience gives your message the capability to receive repeat impressions without a repeat cost to you.  How’s that for “free stuff”?

With that said, if you are not seeing results with your promotional items, it may be time to rethink your strategy to use the products more effectively.

Let’s start with three tricks to use promotional items more effectively, so you can start seeing results.

1. Carefully Choose your Promotional Items

Since promotional items are not blatant in-your-face advertisements to your audience, your goal is to choose products that will stay in front of your target audience the longest.  That means, choosing items your target audience will like enough to hold onto.

Tip: It is not uncommon – and is also a good rule of thumb – to purchase different promotional items for different audiences.

2. Selectively Pass Out Your Items

It is always best to have a clear approach to handing out your promotional items.  A great way to waste money and listen to “crickets” while you do it, is to give any old item to anyone and everyone.  You will have better luck if you pass out your promotional items to prospects you have already qualified.

Tip: Make sure you are passing out the designated item for the particular target audience.

 3. Follow Up

Promotional items are true marketing tools.  They need to be relevant to your audience to grab their attention, they need a strategy so you don’t waste your marketing dollars, and you need to be able to track and measure results.  One of the best ways to track and measure results is to follow up with your prospects about the “free stuff” you gave them.

Whether it is with a landing page, an in-store visit from your customer or a phone call from you, following up is important in determining whether your promotional marketing strategy worked.

Tip: However you have chosen to distribute the items, always follow up about the item you sent/gave away. That is how you will determine your results.

Since promotional items are such a versatile marketing tool, there are many ways you can incorporate them into your existing campaigns or by creating a promotional marketing campaign from scratch. Either way, if you follow these tricks you will be well on your way to using promotional items more effectively.