Promotional products, (also called swag, giveaways,
tchotchkes, bling, premiums,) can be a very effective and cost efficient way to
advertise and promote your business.
Here’s what makes them so effective:
1.
80% of consumers own between 1 and 10
promotional products.
2.
60% keep them for up to 2 years.
3.
53% use a promotional product at least once a
week or more often
4.
88% of people who have received a promo item
recalled the advertiser for up to 12 months after receiving the item
5.
62% of
these people recalled the advertiser’s message
Only 71% of people can recall an ad they saw in a newspaper
or magazine from the week before!
OK, enough
with the statistics. Here’s the point I want you to take away: this stuff
works, people hang onto it, and they use it.
A
promotional item does not have to be expensive to be effective. It does need to
be useful.
Useful items
are retained, and that’s what you want as an advertiser.
But, what’s
useful? Well that depends on where you want to be remembered.
Do you want to be remembered in the office? Then think about
items like notebooks, sticky pads, pens, desk accessories, wall calendars.
Do you want to be remembered in the home? Then you would
consider things like kitchen utensils, magnetic memo boards for the fridge,
tote bags, coasters, BBQ tools.
Here are some items that work anywhere: cell phone chargers,
USB drives, water bottles, umbrellas, caps and T-shirts. Notebooks and sticky notes
work everywhere.
So, think about who you are going to give this stuff to and
what they would find useful.
Alright, you’ve thought about all of the above. You’ve
decided you can use promotional products to advertise your business. Here’s
what you need to know about buying these items.
- All items
will have a minimum purchase quantity. On less expensive items that minimum
might be 100 to 250 pieces. Sometimes you can buy less than the minimum but
you’ll be surcharged.
- All items
will have a maximum imprint area. That’s the largest available area for
imprinting your logo. The point is don’t try to print everything about your
company on the side of a pen. It won’t work.
- Artwork, (that’s
what the industry calls your logo or whatever design you’re going to put on
your promo item), needs to be in the proper format. The universal format for
promo items is what’s called “vector art.” It’s too complicated to go into it
here but vector art is a high resolution file that won’t distort and will print
clearly. Jpeg, tiff and giff files won’t work. If your logo isn’t in “vector
art,” spend the money to get it created in this format.
- Colors. There are
“spot” colors (think of one or two distinct colors on a T-shirt design), and
there is “full color process” (think of a refrigerator magnet that looks like a
full color photo.) When you see the
catalog price for an item it includes the first color. Every color you add is
going to cost extra
- Set up is the
charge to prepare your artwork for whatever process is being used to imprint
your item.
- Time. One of the problems with
technology is that we’ve all become accustomed to instant everything.
The problem
is that this is a manufacturing process and it takes time. Most products will
take somewhere between 7 to 10 business
days to produce. Add to that the shipping time. Many of the industry
suppliers are located in California and that’s 5 days by ground to the East
coast. Allow yourself a good 2 to 3 weeks to have your order produced and
shipped.
- Proof. A proof is a virtual representation
of what your design is going to look
like on your product. Always insist
on a proof and always go over it with a fine toothed comb. The last thing you
want is for your 1,000 pens to arrive with a typo!
The two
areas where a project can go wrong are artwork and time. Have your logo (in several
versions) in the proper format before you start your order. Give yourself
enough time to deal with any glitches that might come up..
A quick word or two about pricing. You can get pretty much
any promotional product through an on-line distributor. Their prices are often
lower than what a local distributor might be able to show you. They work on
huge volumes and small margins. If you know exactly what you want and don’t need any help, this might be the
way to go. If you need advice and guidance you should go with a local
distributor. As someone famous once said, “you get what you pay for.”
You now know:
- Promotional products work as a way to advertise
and brand your company.
- Pick something that’ s useful to your target
audience
- Have your logo (in several versions) prepared in the proper format well before you begin the ordering process.
- Give yourself enough time
If you stick to these guidelines you will have a successful
promotional product campaign.
