What Makes a Promotional Product Effective?

  • Apr 25, 2017

So you’re all excited about using a promotional product as a marketing tool! You’ve found the “perfect” pen/mug/t-shirt/key chain/whatever and can’t wait to give it away to all those people who will soon be doing business with you!

OK, you've got them out there and... the impending uptick in business didn't materialize. It didn’t work and the money, time & energy were all just a waste.

It didn’t have to be that way, though.

Choosing an item out of a catalog, putting a logo and phone number/website on it and handing/mailing it out does not make a successful promotional campaign. Just because you love the item, doesn’t mean it’s the right item. Giving it away to thousands of people does not guarantee even one sale.

Want to make a marketing campaign based on a promotional product work so that it's an investment rather than an expense? It takes some thought, research and creativity to get the job done.

The elements involved include:

  1. knowing who your target market is
  2. knowing what will appeal to your target market
  3. having a goal for the campaign
  4. make sure your campaign maintains your brand integrity and/or has a theme of its own that still ties back to your branding
  5. having a call to action
  6. determining the best delivery method
  7. putting a follow-up program in place
  8. setting metrics so you can measure your ROI/ROO

These eight action items are some of the stepping stones to a successful promotional campaign. You can implement them yourself, or hire a promotional product consultant to work with you to create a program featuring an appropriate imprinted product and marketing collateral. (Many consultants, like Lev Promotions' marketing solutions specialists, will provide their expertise at no charge above the product price as long as you don’t take the ideas and shop them out.)

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