Promotional products can open doors for your business and make your audience not only notice you but endear you to them as well. But you can do promotional product marketing incorrectly. If you do, you’re wasting your money and the team here hates to see people waste money.
So what are you (most likely) doing wrong?
Well, we can’t say for sure but we thought we’d share some of the most common mistakes we see in promotional products these days. If you’re doing any of these things, you need to stop right now.
Most Common Mistakes in Promotional Marketing
While some of these things might work for your business, it’s likely they’re not serving you or your audience to the full extent that they could be. We’ll touch on marketing, design, and timing errors that are limiting your return on investment of your promotional marketing.
Not tying your item into your marketing
The most common mistake we see is businesses selecting a promotion marketing item out of obligation; the “I’m going to an event and need to bring some swag” concept. With no more thought than that, some people simply google “giveaways” and buy from the top search result. They don’t care if it’s a keychain or a pen.
Why you don’t want to do this: effective promotional product marketing should take your audience’s needs and interests into mind. If you can give them something they need or will find valuable, it serves as a larger reflection on your business. If you’re just giving them junk, they may see your business product or service in the same way.
Buying by cost only
Listen, we understand wanting to be on a budget. We take that very seriously. However, some people take the budget to an extreme selecting the cheapest item they can find. When you do this, your audience feels it.
And we’re back to the previous problem of giving out junk.
Why you don’t want to do this: Don’t make your audience feel like your giveaway was done out of obligation. You want them to feel like this is an integrated part of your marketing campaign and speaks highly of your business.
Selecting an item that doesn’t work for your company
Swag has become very personalized these days. As we’ve mentioned, it’s a “calling card” for your business and recipients will expect that your swag fits your company brand. If it doesn’t, there will be a disconnect. For instance, if you’re a green company, you likely have strong support from your audience on that. Many people do business with you because of your green brand. You don’t want to disappoint them by giving away something that would go straight to a landfill. Give them something they’ll use and reuse and will build your brand.
Why you don’t want to do this: again, a disconnect in your brand can give your audience pause. It can also affect the impression of those who don’t know you and are learning about you for the first time. You want your swag to reflect what your company stands for.
Jumping on the bandwagon
Have you ever been to a conference or tradeshow and there’s one giveaway everyone has? We call it the bandwagon effect. When people don’t pay attention to their audience’s needs and instead go with what’s popular or on discount, you get a lot of the same thing, which is never a good marketing tactic.
Why you don’t want to do this: blending in and looking like everyone else is the opposite of what you want to do in your marketing. It also means fewer people will want your swag. If people don’t take your swag, your marketing dollars are wasted. Instead, customize what you’re giving away to your audience and you won’t need to worry about standing out because you’ll appeal to your ideal audience.
Selecting a bad product for your branding
Swag should be designed in a way that recipients and viewers should know exactly what company the swag belongs to with a glance. Part of that happens through branding colors but having room for the logo is also important. If you select an item with a very small printing surface, you’re not going to have room for a complicated logo. If it’s easy like a geometric shape with a name, fine. But if it has a lot of art involved, you’ll want a big area. For complicated logos, you’ll want to skip over a pen.
Why you don’t want to do this: even if a swag vendor tells you they can get your logo in the allotted space, they’ll need to shrink it down. When they do this, you’ll lose some of the logo’s integrity and design. Don’t go with a small print area if you have a complex design. Go with a vendor and a swag selection that allows you to replicate it in all of its glory.
Not allowing enough time
We live in an instant gratification society. You can get a lot done for you in very little time. For instance, you can send something overnight from the other side of the country in a day. Because of this, the average business has lost track of how long things take. They believe print on demand of swag should occur the same day it’s ordered and it should be shipped out the day after that. While you may be able to find a vendor that’s willing to accommodate very short turn times, you will be sacrificing something. It will either be hugely expensive or very costly.
Wait, what?
The vendor will either charge you a huge rush fee or the item you order will be made cheaply and with so little care that it will cost you dearly. It’s simply impossible to turn things quickly without paying the price one way or another. If the vendor is good at quick turns, they have to have the staff that can get it done. A big staff is a costly operation. That cost will be passed onto you.
If they don’t have a big staff, they won’t have the quality assurance that is necessary for a promotional marketing project. Printings smear. Problems occur. If they don’t have the staff, they won’t catch those errors.
Why you don’t want to do this: you will pay for a quick turn time. Build in plenty of time ahead of your event or need to ensure you get a quality item at a good price. Don’t rush things because rushing causes errors and you don’t want that in a large swag run.
Ordering off the internet from goodness knows where
This is so tempting, right? Your boss says you need an item for the conference. You search for swag referencing only the budget and you select an item from goodness knows where. You are satisfied and excited to tell your boss how much money you saved.
Until that is, there’s a problem or change with the order. Now you’re trying to retrace your steps and figure out who this company is and how you can get a hold of them.
Why you don’t want to do this: you want accountability in a promotional marketing partner. If you select someone with those qualifications, you won’t have to do as much project management on your end. If you don’t, you’ll be managing the whole process and that can be a pain with a discount supplier.
At ThinkQuik, we ensure the best service and can help you avoid these costly mistakes. Our team has years of experience and works as an extension of your marketing team ensuring you are satisfied.
Our customers like working with us because we take pride in your project when most swag vendors don’t. We believe in building a long-term relationship so we’re not going to just process things. We’re going to ensure you are completely satisfied with the results. Give us a call today.
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