Promotional Products Buyer's Guide
Sunday 22nd April, 2007
By BuyerZone.com Editorial Staff The power of "free" is undeniable. Whether it's a giveaway at a tradeshow, an in-store freebie, or a fun gift for your employees, giving out something for nothing is a proven way for your business to get people's attention. Whether the freebies are clothing, clocks, mugs, pens, or any of a thousand other items, they fall into a broad category called promotional products. The category includes free products distributed as advertising specialties, premiums that are given to in response to specific actions, tradeshow giveaways, business gifts, and employee incentives or rewards. Promotional products are almost always emblazoned with your company's logo and/or message for maximum effect. They can be great tools to generate name recognition and create customer or employee goodwill, often at very little cost. While individual promotional products are usually inexpensive, the total sales add up: industry estimates indicate that promotional products racked up over $17 billion in U.S. sales in 2004. They're popular in all types of industries, from construction and service trades to academic and government. Almost any business can benefit from the right promotional product, but you need to get the right item for the right price. This BuyerZone.com Promotional Products Buyer's Guide will introduce you to the process of selecting and buying promotional products for your business. Promotion products pros and cons When used correctly, promotion products can have a positive impact for almost any company. Here are some of the benefits, as well as a couple of potential pitfalls to avoid. Benefits of promotion products Because people love freebies, promotional products have a value far beyond their cost. This is particularly true when they become something the recipient uses on an ongoing basis: a $2 coffee mug can provide constant reinforcement of your brand if a customer uses it every morning, and promotional clothing turns your recipients into walking advertisers for your business!Flexibility is one of the key features of promotion products. They can work within different budgets and as part of many types of programs, and can be given to any audience: customers, prospects, dealers, employees, and vendors. You can also easily tie them to other marketing efforts, either as incentives for desired actions or as branding tools. And the actual product itself can be almost anything. The benefits of promotion products as marketing tools are well established. Studies have proven time and time again that promotional items increase response rates, boost brand recognition, and create more favorable impressions of your company. Drawbacks of promotion productsTo achieve the best results, a promotional products campaign must be carefully planned. No matter how cool or compelling the giveaway item is, you have to have a plan in place to publicize the promotion, distribute the product, and measure the results of your campaign. Tracking can be difficult, especially for marketers used to the precise measurements of online advertising. Starting with a small, focused campaign can help you get a handle on how to be successful with promotional products. In addition, the product you choose may carry restrictions as to the size and/or colors of the logo and other printing you can apply, which can put a damper on your plans. However, these types of restrictions are usually fairly easy to work around “ simply switch to a product that allows more imprinting or scale back the amount of printing you want to do on each item. Getting your customized items produced also takes some time. Depending on the items you choose and the manufacturer's workload, you might get your products in a few days, or it might take six weeks. If you're planning on using your items at a specific event, make sure you leave enough time to get them produced. Be especially careful in the last two months of the year: many businesses order holiday gifts for customers and employees, making the end-of-year rush a big one for the promotion products industry. Choosing the right promotional itemsAnything a logo can fit on can be a suitable promotional item. The challenge can be narrowing down your choices to just a few, when there are so many different types of products that you could use. Here are some of the major categories and their relative advantages and disadvantages. Clothing “ the most popular category for promotional items. Promotional t-shirts are the most common, and other popular items include hats, fleece vests and blankets, rain jackets, scarves, and more. Pro: free advertising, popularity, great for employee items. Con: styles change, ordering multiple sizes can be hard, sometimes costly, items are seasonal. Food “ includes fruit baskets, candy, gums, coffee, and more. Pro: wide range of costs, appreciated by most people. Con: limited duration, allergen problems Office gifts “ stress balls, photo holders, sticky notes, even USB flash drives, anything designed to be used at the office. These are just a few examples -- the variety is nearly endless, including golf balls, squirt guns, yo-yos, umbrellas, ice scrapers, breath mints. You can find anything ranging from serious and useful to amusing and silly. With all the options, it's worth spending some time to make the right choice. The best promotional items effectively associate your company's name with an item related to your industry. for example), but imprinting promo items works best with 300 DPI or higher. This may seem like a lot of details, but to someone familiar with graphic file formats, it's all routine. The main point you should come away with is that to get the best results from an imprinted promo item, your images should be prepared by a qualified professional using graphics software like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, CorelDraw, or other publishing tools. You may be able to copy an image file into Microsoft Word and make it look good on screen, but you won't wind up with satisfactory results. Working with a vendorAccording to the Promotional Products Association International, there are over 20) in the mail showing how your logo looks when translated into fabric and thread. You'll often have a choice of shipping options, including drop shipping to a trade show or other third-party location. Again, be sure to talk to the distributor in advance if you have specific shipping requirements. Promotional merchandise pricing Pricing for promotional merchandise varies enormously depending on what items you choose. Prices can range from under a dollar per item for simple key chains and magnets to $5 to $20 for t-shirts, calculators, and leather notepads, to $100 or more for USB drives and lavish gift baskets. Knowing the price per item that you're shooting for will help you narrow down your choices to a manageable range. As with any bulk order, your per-item price for promotional merchandise gets lower as your quantity increases. These discounts are tiered at pre-set levels, so be sure to ask what quantity you'd need to order to get the next price break: you can always distribute a few more of your items. Some distributors also get better discounts from manufacturers based on their overall volume. In addition to the per-item cost, most distributors of promotional merchandise require a set-up fee of $30 to $100 to prepare your order. Many will also have a minimum order, which can be as much as 1000 pieces or $500. If you're looking for a small quantity of imprinted items, this can be an important factor in choosing a distributor. If you don't supply the right type of artwork, most distributors will levy an expensive per-hour charge for converting your files into a usable format. If you don't have a graphics person on staff, you will save money by using a freelancer to prepare your files. Whatever you decide, make sure you're getting the most for your dollar while not resorting to using shoddy materials. After all, whether it's a baseball cap or a bottle opener, the end result will be a tangible symbol of your company. Make it worthy of your company's logo. Payment terms will vary from one distributor to the next. Some may require payment up front, while others may offer payment due on delivery only. Also, the longer you work with a particular distributor, the more likely you are to get breaks on pricing and terms. If your business demonstrates that you'll be making a couple of promotional merchandise purchases per year, you'll have a much easier time getting discounts and better terms. Promo Products Buying TipsAvoid the rush. If possible, give yourself at least three weeks from start to finish to ensure the smooth production of your promo products “ more for very large or highly customized orders. Many distributors offer rush services “ but they'll cost you. Choose your item carefully. Don't choose your promo product based on the latest trend, or on the rock-bottom price. The right item will have value to your target audience and help you achieve the results you want. Promote from within. Giving employees logo t-shirts or baseball caps can be a great way to increase external brand awareness while also building company loyalty. Planning pays. Developing a consistent theme for your promotion and preparing a detailed distribution strategy will maximize the impact of the items. Get some feedback. Test a sample of the promo products you're considering on members of your intended audience. You may get valuable information, for example that the item you picked was the top giveaway at a recent tradeshow, or that while your employees enjoy working for you, they're not interested in clothes made in the company colors.
7 Ways to Build Brand Awareness
Saturday 24th March, 2007
Derived from YAHOO Small Business: To some, branding might not feel like a tangible aspect of running a business. It can't be seen like a product on the shelf, or counted like a cash drawer at the end of the night. But, branding is the reason people pay three times more for a product at one store over another. Good branding is the product of a clear vision, and nobody knows more about vision than small business owners. But, with limited resources, creating a brand identity can be tricky. Fortunately, building brand awareness on the Internet doesn't need to take a lot of money or resources. Here are seven strategies to build your business brand: Define the vision. Before moving ahead with the web site, create a brand positioning statement. This isn't just, ˜What kind of web site do we want to be?' This is ˜Who are we?' says Harley Manning, vice president at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass., a technology and market research firm that advises on the effects technology has on consumers and businesses. Good brand statements typically include the company's mission, vision and values. It's succinct. It's typically something that will fit on a page easily, he says. Build a brand worth believing in. Do you so believe in what you're creating that you would trademark it? says Andrea Fitch, president and CEO of RedCarpet Creations, Inc., and national president of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, both based out of Alexandria, Va. Really consider what kind of brand could represent the business through the next decade. Don't have a logo that in five years you're going to be tired of and discard for another, she says. Remember, the web site is the brand. A web site is not just a communication medium, Manning says. It is actually a channel that must deliver on the promise. Essentially, a web site should embody the promise that it makes to customers. If, for instance, a business claims to be innovative, the web site should look fresh and modern. Create a cohesive experience between all mediums. Before she launched her company's new web site, Fitch made sure it would be an event that her potential clients would never forget. RedCarpet Creations mailed 4,000 silver tubes containing scrolls that looked like rolled-up carpet. Inside the scrolls was an announcement about the web site's launch. Once online, the web site was an extension of the invitations because it followed through on the themes of red carpet imagery and references to visitors being treated like a VIP. Customers should easily be able to recognize the company's brand, whether it is print, online or some other form of media, Manning says. Don't sacrifice creativity. Once the brand's guidelines are established, creative choices must bring those attributes to life, Manning says. Don't let the company's brand become so dominating that there is no room for new thoughts and ideas. Brand should be the jumping-off point for interesting ideas, not the place where every new idea dead-ends. Fitch stresses that a sense of fun and whimsy will only enhance the likelihood that people will take an interest in the web site. Don't communicate brand at the expense of delivering. While a web site can be a significant tool for building brand awareness, clarity and functionality are paramount. Just be careful not to let the communication about your brand get in the way of delivering your message, Manning says. People should be able to understand how to navigate the site without knowing a thing about the company's catch phrases. You can't frustrate and annoy people into liking your brand, he says. Listen to the customers: They determine a brand's true value. Pay attention to customer feedback about the site because, ultimately, it's the customers' opinion that counts. When it comes to building a brand, a company can incorporate everything from signature colors to catch phrases, but at the end of the day, it's the consumer who decides what a brand is really worth. It's not what you say [about] yourself, it's what others say of you, Fitch says.
|
Comments: