Did you know that 83% of people like receiving promotional items? While there are many reasons why they like promotional items, one reason is because they like receiving free stuff. However, that is half the battle. Sure consumers like to receive free stuff, but don’t let that stop you from utilizing the products as marketing tools.
Simply giving someone something for free isn’t doing anything for you as a business professional. What you should do is create a strategic plan about how to give away the free items and to whom. This is so you will be able to track and measure results and see a return on your investment.
When you hear things like “promotional items can massively increase recall rates of your brand”. And, “74% of people say that promotional items make their experiences more memorable”, it’s easy to want to buy them up in bulk.
However, in order to get these results, and determine how to use your marketing dollars wisely, you first need to know the difference between a Promotion and a Giveaway.
What is a “Giveaway”?
If you’ve ever purchased the hottest product around to slap your logo on, you more than likely purchased a giveaway.
Giveaways are not a bad thing to have around the office to create brand awareness. Especially, if clients come to your place of business. They’re also not a bad thing to have around if you want to show brand authority or simply “want stuff with your logo on it”.
Giveaways are not going to be the solution you’re looking for if you are trying to increase sales and leads. This category of promotional items do not produce results and no one is going to buy from you if you simply give them a product with your logo on it.
This is why you need a “Promotion!”
A promotion is like any other marketing campaign, where you are investing in the growth of your company’s initiatives.
By creating a promotion, you can use the products to help you achieve a goal. A goal such as increase your sales, increase leads and even engage your clients.
You can do this by:
- Planning how to track the item (with a URL, QR Code or Discount Code).
- Add a call to action to the item.
- Strategically distribute the items.
- Measure conversions.
- Calculate your ROI.
When you follow these steps, you can obtain and track measurable data, determine whether you’re meeting (or exceeding) your goals and determine the ROI of the promotion.
As you can see, there’s a difference in the ways you can utilize promotional items to your benefit. To determine how to use them, always look at the goal you’re trying to accomplish, first. When you know your goal, you can determine how to spend your marketing dollars wisely and take steps to execute a proper plan of action.
Creating Memorable Impressions For Your Brand 