Charles Clixby, director of Absolute Promotions, outlines the benefits of having branded products to share with your customers.
Two simple statistics that illustrate perfectly the power of a good promotional item:
- 74% of surveyed professionals could recall a promotional product and the logo that was on it
- 91% of consumers recalled at least one promotional product in their kitchen.
One last stat for you – a staggering 87% of industry professionals believed that promotional merchandise helped them connect with their customers and increased awareness of their brands.
Absolute Promotions have been supplying corporate gifts and branded products to the pest management sector for 25 years. When it comes to promotional gifts, I have learned that there are four key elements to lead to a hugely successful and well-received branded product.
Quality
When it comes to promotional gifts, quality is a necessity. You should be demanding, and we will only be offering, the best quality available. We simply will not attempt to put your logo on a cheap product, as it will do more harm than good. Think cheap umbrellas on a windy day or a pen leaking on your new shirt – a poor quality promotional product will reflect poorly on your brand. If your promotional gifts are cheap, what does it say about your work?
Quality does not cost the earth and we can steer you through this with the right suggestions. It’s simple: choose quality over price. Demand quality! If it means ordering less, then so be it – but don’t compromise on quality.
Relevance and practicality
The pest control world is a unique one and it pays to think carefully about how your promotion products might fit into the day-to-day work or leisure time of the recipients.
Traditional items like pens and caps are no-brainer as they are always welcomed, but challenge your suppliers to come up with relevant ideas that you know will be used, thus maximising the brand awareness.
Newer products like fitness bands, power banks, microfibre cloths or Bluetooth speakers are examples of widely used item that help or complement the recipient’s activities, either in work time or leisure time.
Providing your customers with practical items that they can use, will ensure your brand gets wide exposure – turn your customers into walking ambassadors for your brand. For a high value item, how about a waterproof jacket, that is actually waterproof! (There’s that quality aspect again).
Whatever you choose, think first to make sure the recipient will want to use the product.
The ‘different factor’
We are often asked for something different. But in most cases this does not mean the client is actually looking for an item that had never been seen before, rather the client is actually asking for that the product simply does not the same as their competitors’ merchandise.
Absolute Promotions will be able to customise your promotional product items to make them to look, where possible, like they are your own ‘official merchandise’ if you will. This is achieved with the use of custom visuals and concepts designs.
If you focus on these four important factors, then you are well on your way to choosing a product that will fit seamlessly into your existing marketing and branding campaigns.
Charles Clixby, Director, Absolute Promotions
