Is It Time To Stop Wasting Marketing Dollars On Promotional Items?

Have you ever wondered if you’re wasting marketing dollars buying “stuff” when it comes to your promotional item purchases? It’s OK to say “yes”, but have you considered why?

Most businesses purchase promotional items to pass out “stuff” with their logo. Very few businesses buy promotional items with a plan to back up their purchases with a strategy that drives results. Or, they do create a strategy but don’t follow through to see results!

Either way, there’s no doubt money is being left on the table because of improper implementation of these useful marketing tools. Now it’s time to ask yourself, “is it time to stop wasting marketing dollars?”

First, let’s talk about how there are many benefits of using promotional items to achieve your goals. Benefits like:

• Increased awareness of your brand
• Gaining new customers
• Retaining current clients
• Creating unforgettable experiences your audience will love you for!

These benefits can only be realized when you create a strategy for your promotional items and properly implement the strategy.

The first step is to define your audience…

Once you know who you’re targeting, you can create a message and choose products that relate to them.

When you craft a message that relates to them, it will be easier to grab their attention. And, when a promotional item is unique, useful and relevant to them, they will hold onto it longer. This results in more impressions of your message and your brand.

Decide what your buyer’s journey looks like…

Describe your buyer’s journey from the first point of contact to after closing a sale. For example:

1. A prospect calls you.
2. You invite them to meet with you to discuss your products and services.
3. Prospect purchases
4. Follow up
5. Build relationship

Now, define your marketing goals

Promotional items can help you achieve a variety of goals. Do you want to increase your leads? By how many?

If you want to increase your sales by a certain dollar amount, specify the dollar amount.

Or, let’s say you want to reengage clients who haven’t done business with you in a while. Define how many clients you want to contact and how many you want to close.

Finally, sprinkle promotional items into your buyer’s journey

Sprinkle promotional products into your buyer’s journey to move them along the process.

Here’s an example from our buyer’s journey from above:

1. A prospect calls you.
   • Your promotional item can BE your advertisement if it’s printed with your message and a call to action. OR, your promotional item can work in conjunction with another form of advertising.
2. You invite them to meet with you to discuss your products and services.
   • Gift the prospect an exclusive item they cannot buy anywhere else, just because they met with you.
3. Prospect purchases
   • Offer a secondary exclusive item when your prospect makes a purchase “today”
4. Follow up
   • After the order is placed, send a “thanks for doing business with us” gift.  This shows your new client you appreciate them!
5. Build relationship to reengage clients and increase frequency of purchases
   • Create a frequent buyer program and give clients the opportunity to rack up points to exchange for free gifts.
     
6. Enhance the experience they receive with your company
   • Design a birthday club or exclusive member club and send out gifts to clients on special occasions like birthdays.

Is it time to stop wasting your marketing dollars?

As you can see, a simple strategy alongside your promotional items can go a long way to help you strategically and intentionally achieve your marketing goals.  This way you can invest your marketing dollars instead of wasting it!