Who doesn’t love a great deal?
One that’s economical, something you want or need, and good quality. That’s the Triple Crown of the buying experience, isn’t it? Yet so many marketers throw away what they know about being a customer when they market their product.
In promotional marketing especially.
We’re often contacted by potential clients who tell us they want something (an imprinted pen, maybe?) for around .10 an item. They don’t care what it is, just keep it under budget.
Cheap Doesn’t Benefit Your Company
We will gladly give you a personalized promotional product that is dirt cheap, but we’ll also let you know they won’t be flying out of your booth or off your desk. If your customers don’t find value in it, they won’t want it. If they don’t want it, it doesn’t serve its marketing purpose.
Customers, and potential customers, need to want your item in order for you to get marketing return on investment.
There’s a marketing comic I stumbled across recently that showed a conversation between the boss and the marketer. It went something like this:
Boss: Our billboard isn’t getting us any new customers.
Marketer: I know. I don’t understand it. It was so cheap and there’s a lot of traffic in that area.
The next frame shows their billboard along a congested highway with the caption “Only 320 miles out of your way.”
It’s no wonder the sign didn’t generate customers. The marketer was looking at the budget and not at what the audience needed. There may be a lot of traffic along that route but who will drive out of their way for something they can get 5 miles down the road?
Great marketing adheres to a budget but it also keeps customers, or potential customers, in mind. You want to use something they will find value in. Without that, you just have a cheap billboard and no traffic.
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