Cheap Marketing
Well, there have been some recent positive news with regard to an improving economy. So, what are you doing about it? Maybe your marketing budget was cut in order to save money during the flailing economy, so now are just sitting around waiting for customers to come to you? Now is the time to be aggressive and grab your share of the ones that are actually ready to let go of some money. You must contine to market your business. There is no other form of advertising that is cheaper or more effective than using promotional products to market your business. Recent studies have shown that using custom printed promotional items have the lowest cost per impression over television, radio, newspaper, or sometimes even billboard ads. This means that more people are exposed to promos giveaways with your business logo printed on them. Most promotional giveaways are only cost a fraction of a penny for each marketing exposure.
Now, I’m not saying to stop all other forms of advertising. I am saying that you should think about diversifying your marketing strategies and use some less expensive mediums that may actually be more effective for your business. The key is to choose the right giveaways for your target audience and your business. You also have to choose the right price range. If you choose something to cheap, the giveaways may not be used and will end up in the trash. If you choose something to expensive, you will bust your budget and not reach many people. Use a qualified promotional products expert to help you choose a product that is both useful and unique to help you bring maximum results from your advertising campaign. This should be an investment that will bring in more money than you spend. So don’t wait any longer and see the power of promotional products for yourself.
Photos and research statistics are courtesy of The Advertising Specialy Institute.
2010 Reasons to Buy Promotional Items
Okay, so I’m not really going to list 2010 reasons, but I will list several VERY important reasons why promotional items should be used to market your business in this new year and decade.
We are coming out of the worst economic times since the Great Depression. Although economic recovery is not predicted to come back with a boom, it will likely be a slow steady growth. It is extremely important for your business to get visibility now, even if your clients aren’t buying right now. There will come a day soon that they will be buying and if they do not see your business name in front of them often, they will see your competitor. It’s very easy to get comfortable in your day to day job and fail to market your business. This is a pitfall for disaster. Promotional items are excellent items to market your budget and get the best cost per impression. So you may ask, “What is cost per impression?” That is simply defined as how much it costs you for each person to see your advertisement, whether it is on a television, radio, newspaper, or magazine ad or on a promotional item. The cost per impression for a promotional item is just pennies compared to other forms of advertising and much more effective. Everyone loves to get something free if it is useful, unique, or has value. You sometimes have to think outside of the box and veer away from pens or koozies and think of a more unique item for your business. The sky is the limit.
More often than not when times get tough, business begin to trim the fat to help sustain themselves. However, many businesses actually trim the lean muscle (the marketing budget) without thinking of the consequences. Effective marketing is what drives sales. If you track your marketing and are smart with your advertising, you should see a direct correlation between sales and marketing. Promotional items can be very effective if used properly. Make sure and utilize a knowlegeable promotional products consultant for creative ideas for your industry.
A typical promotional product is kept for 7 months. How long does a customer hold on to a newspaper ad or a radio or tv ad? I haven’t heard of many people TIVOing commercials so they can watch them later (Super Bowl commercials of course may be an exception).
Direct mailing to customers may not have a high response rate; however, add something lumpy in that evelope and that will be the first piece of mail they open. Curisosity is a great human emotion to utilize. Of course you want the lump in the envelope to be something with your company name and something that would be useful for that customer. The more useful an item is the more exposure that product will create for you.
Make sure and start the new year out right and use effective marketing techniques to give you business the edge over your competitors. Promotional giveaways are excellent resources to help your brand and company recognition. The earlier you start, the sooner you will benefit. Good luck with 2010.
Foam fingers and Foam Hands for the Big Game
Well, we are about to roll into the the New Year and in just about a week we have the National Championship game between Alabama vs. Texas at Pasadena, CA. Custom printed Foam Fingers are spirit items for not only this big game, but any other sports games throughout the year. With college, high school, and NBA basketball going on, these foam hands are great ways to cheer on your favorite team. And don’t forget these great items when football season begins again. A #1 Foam Finger is also a great fundraising item to raise money for your booster club or team. There are dozens of different styles to choose from including claws, paws, and many other shaped sports foam hands.
Marketing Your Business in 2010 with Promotional Products
Marketing in 2010 will be much different than in past years. At the height of a recession with some small (really small) signs of economic turnaround, all buyers will be very cautious. Buyers are looking for sales and coupons more than ever now. Buyers are also looking for FREE gifts that are offered with their purchases. Giving away free marketing gifts is a great way to drive in more sales, and I don’t mean giving away a cheap koozie or some other type of inexpensive giveaway. You should giveaway items of value such as promotional tote bags, custom calendars with your personalized coupons for each month, or maybe even a nice promotional mug. The possibilities are endless; however, you just want to make sure and giveaway something of value or something of perceived value. The more useful the item, the more perceived value the particular item will have. Promotional giveaways have been used successfully for years and there is no better time than right now to use them to increase sales for your business.
Top Promotional Products for Marketing in January
Well, Christmas will soon be here and gone and we will be into a new year. It’s hard to believe that in a few short weeks it will be 2010. I remember counting down the seconds to the new millennium like it was yesterday. It’s time now to get a marketing plan for January. Many businesses don’t think about marketing gifts for the various seasons, but only promotional gifts relating to their own business. This type of thinking significantly limits you when there are thousands of great and useful promotional items out there. Here are a few historical best sellers that are both useful and effective for promoting your business in January.
Promotional Ice Scrapers- A promotional ice scraper is one of the promos that will tend to hang around from winter to winter, especially if you are located in the Northern parts of the U.S. You can choose from mini ice scrapers, standard inexpensive ice scrapers, or the more premium ice scraper with a mitt to keep your hand warm. Whatever your budget, there are many different price points and styles to choose from. Ice scrapers are durable items that will last for years and keep on marketing for your company. As I’ve stated before, buying useful items such as these will maximize your investment in promotional items and have them work for your by keeping your business name fresh in the minds of your customers.
Promotional Hand Sanitizer- With all of the colds and viruses going around in the winter, as well as H1N1 virus, promotional hand sanitizers with your personalized logo imprint make great winter give aways. Show your clients that you care about their health while at the same time benefiting from these great marketing gifts. Choose from standard small bottles of antibacterial hand sanitizer to larger bottles and specialty bottles with carabiners attached. You can’t always wash your hands when you need too, but you can sanitizer your hands as long as you have these bottles available.
Personalized Lip Balm- Personalized chapstick is a perfect winter giveaway. Lips tend to get more chapped in the cold months, so why not give away a marketing item to help combat that. Your customers will certainly appreciate it. Keep your clients with health lips so they can spread the good news about your company to everyone they meet.
Halloween History and Facts
Facts and History about Halloween
Here are some great facts and a little history about Halloween put together by the National Confectioners Association. I have added some various comments in Bold Italics.
First, a little about the history of Halloween:
- The celebration of Halloween started in the United States as an autumn harvest festival. In pioneer days, some Americans celebrated Halloween with com-popping parties, taffy pulls and hayrides.
- In the late nineteenth century, with the large influx of Irish immigrants into the U.S., Halloween became associated with ghosts, goblins and witches.
- Jack-o-lanterns are an Irish tradition. In Ireland, oversized rutabagas, turnips and potatoes were hollowed-out, carved into faces and illuminated with candles to be used as lanterns during Halloween celebrations.
- The word “witch” comes from the Old Saxon word “wica”, meaning “wise one.” The earliest witches were respected dealers in charms and medicinal herbs and tellers of fortunes.
- The pumpkin originated in Mexico about 9,000 years ago. It is one of America’s oldest known vegetables. Pumpkins generally weigh from 15-to-30 pounds, although some weigh as much as 200 pounds. The majority of pumpkins are orange, but they also can be white or yellow. They are rich in vitamin A, beta-carotene and potassium, and their seeds provide protein and iron. They make great pumpkin pie too. I would like to carve a jack-o-lantern out of a 200 pound pumpkin.
- According to legend, the jack-o’-lantern began with a fellow named Jack, who was too stingy to be allowed into Heaven and too mischievous to join the Devil in hell. As consolation, the Devil threw Jack a lighted coal, which Jack placed inside a turnip he was eating. It is said that Jack continues to use the coal to light his path as he searches for a final resting place. Notice for all the over the top parents that don’t let your kids participate in Halloween, that this is a legend. That means it is NOT true. Halloween is a fun time. You don’t have to let your children dress up as the devil.
Trick-or-Treat Tidbits
Adults
- Four-in-ten (41%) adults admit that they sneak sweets from their own candy bowl. I bet this is closer to ten-in-ten (100%)
- On Halloween night, the majority (52%) of those providing treats to costumed kiddies will be passing out chocolate, while three‐in‐ten will drop hard candy or lollipops into the sacks. My question is, “Why do people still give out those nasty chewy fake peanut butter candies? You know the ones I’m talking about that are wrapped in either Black or Orange wrappers. Those are nasty and I bet most of them end up in the trash can. May since the stastics show that 41% of adults admit sneaking candy from their own bowl, that means the 59% that aren’t doing it are giving out these nasty candies.
- 62% of adults will be handing out candy because “it’s a personal favorite” or it’s a household tradition (55%) This is the way to do it. We give out Reece’s, Almond Joy, Kit Kats, and other GOOD stuff.
- 43% of grown-up celebrants cite costumes as one of the most indispensable parts of the holiday. What’s the point if you don’t have a costume?
- About 26% of households will include full-size candy (chocolate and non-chocolate) in their Halloween activities. I love these households. Don’t be stingy with the goodies.
- 90% of parents admit to sneaking goodies from their kids’ Halloween trick-or-treat bags. Me? Never! I can’t even believe you would suggest that.
- Parents favorite treats to sneak from their kids’ trick-or-treat bags are snack-size chocolate bars (70 percent sneak these), candy-coated chocolate pieces (40 percent), caramels (37 percent) and gum (26 percent). These statistics don’t quite add up to 100% but I guess that’s beside the point. Full-size chocolate bars would be closer to 100%. Don’t you know we want to help our kids eat healthier, so we have to ingest some of this sugar ourself. It’s just to protect our kids though, not for us.
- Parents least favorite goodie to take from their kids’ trick-or-treat bags is licorice (18 percent). No thanks on the licorice.
Kids
- 30% of kids report that they SORT their candy first when returning home with trick-or-treat loot, others:
- Savor it (20%) YES!
- Share it (16%)
- Stash it (14%)
- Swap it (7%)
- Kids say they prefer homes that give: anything made with chocolate (68%) followed by lollipops (9%), gummy candy (7%) and bubble gum or chewing gum (7%) Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!
- More than 93% of children go trick-or-treating each year. I feel bad for that 7% that don’t get to partake in this event. Halloween is not a devil’s holiday people!
- Kids tell us that their favorite treats to receive when trick-or-treating are candy and gum. Eighty-four percent of kids said candy and gum are their favorites over other options like baked goods or small toys. I don’t let my kids eat baked goods. Who knows how many roaches and rats are running around these kitchens. Or these days, what kind of poison could be in those brownies.
Customized Christmas Ornaments as Fundraisers
Churches and school can print a picture of their church building on the ornaments. You can vary the style and color combination of the ornaments from year to year and this will be an anticipated fundraiser every year. Be sure and get your customized Christmas ornaments early so you can sell them all and maximize your profits.
Basketball Season is Here
Well, it’s that time of year, not Winter, but Basketball Season. This exciting time of year for high school and college sports starts this month for many schools. Be sure and get your basketballs spirit items early to beat the rush as your favorite college team works toward a bid to the final four.. Custom mini basketballs are great promotional giveaways at basketball games. These are great for the cheerleaders to throw to the crowd after a big score or a slam dunk. You can get local businesses to be a sponsor and pay for these basketballs. This is a good for the sponsors because their logo can be printed on the mini basketball giving them advertising exposure to potentially thousands of fanatical basketball fans.
Maybe you want to jazz up the sales in the booster club store. If so, be sure to get a variety of spirit items such as stadium cushions, thundersticks, sports horns, and your choice of many other school spirit items.
Promotional Marketing Gifts
Well, we are into the 4th quarter of 2009 already and it’s time to ensure that your business has a strong finish to the year. Promotional marketing gifts are not only great to generate new customers but also to help make lifelong customers of your current clients. You have to make sure your customers know that you appreciate their business or their loyalty may fizzle out. There are many different types of promotional marketing items you can giveaway to your clients. With a virtually unlimited choice of personalized items, you can get creative and give a gift that is both useful and one that compliments your business.
Effective marketing gifts must meet the following criteria in order to be effective:
1. The items must be useful. Ideally give something that can be used daily in order to keep the memory of your company fresh in their head.
2. The products must be of value or have a perceived high value. You don’t have to spend a lot per gift; however, giving away a 30 cent magnet does not portray that you appreciate your clients or potential clients.
3. The item should be age appropriate to your target audience. You don’t want to give out baby bibs if you target audience has an average age of 50.
4. The promotional marketing gifts should be personalized clearly with your corporate logo to remind the recipients of who gave the gift to them.
Make sure and make the last quarter of the year a strong one for your company. Corporate gifts and marketing gifts if planned properly, will be an investment and not an expense.
Corporate Holiday Gifts
Yes, it’s only September, but that means that the Christmas holiday season is only a few months away. So, think about your your corporate gift giveaways for this year. Corporate gifts are great for customer retention as well as employee retention. Any type of personalized gift helps the recipient to have warm feeling towards the giver. The higher end the gift, the better it will be received and appreciated. The idea is to get your customers coming back and spending money with you. There is no better way to promote retention than making them feel appreciated. Choose corporate gifts that are either relative to your industry or at least ones that are useful for your clients. The more useful, the more they will use the item giving your corporate logo lots of exposure. It may be necessary to order two different types of holiday gifts: One for your top customers (more expensive gift) and the ones for the rest of your customers (less expensive). Everyone has a budget, so splitting your gift-giving helps with your budget.
The same goes for employees. Multiple surveys have shown that salary (although important) is NOT the most important factor in terms of employer loyalty. It is the way the are treated. Show them you care and they will work hard for you.