Promotional marketing is often a technique used to acquire new customers or make employees smile, but there’s a group often forgotten about that can be the key behind increased sales for your business. If you’re not giving out loyal customer swag, you’re missing an opportunity to connect and grow your organization.
It’s business 101. A customer obtained is far easier (and cheaper) to maintain than a new one is to win over. For that reason you really need to give some thought to engagement, referrals, retention, and loyalty. In today’s global market, products and services are often very similar, and price is very competitive. You have to find a way to stand out in your customer’s minds. Customer swag is a good approach.
What Swag Does for Customers
When it comes to customers there are all sorts of reasons to give things away — the holidays, in thanks for a big order, a customer anniversary, or as a blanket statement to all customers for no reason.
While those things are all nice, a smart business person will find a customer action that they want to “incentivize” and direct the promotional marketing towards encouraging a desired behavior. For instance, mega cosmetics retailer, Sephora, gives out promotional samples with each of its orders. This rewards people for buying and gives them incentive to try something new. This something new will hopefully lead to future sales.
Maybe it’s not sales you’re looking to increase but social media shares and referrals. Many companies that are looking to create brand ambassadors will provide promotional items or swag to people who share on social media, review products, or send referrals. This sort of “gifting” is not a payment for shares but an incentive for them to continue actions they’re already performing.
Ever heard of the law of reciprocity? Humans are social creatures (yes, even you) and we like order in our minds. When someone does something nice for us (like sends customer swag), we feel the need to repay the favor. Most of us also enjoy boasting on social media about freebies we receive. This is yet another way for your company name to get out there. Plus people who see the freebies you gave will want to be a part of that and join in on the fun.
Customer swag is a good return on investment because it’s one of the cheapest forms of marketing. The swag only costs a couple of dollars but the traction you can get from it is priceless.
Contact the ThinkQuik team today to get some ideas on how you can begin turning your customers into brand ambassadors and thanking them for their efforts.
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