PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS - CORPORATE GIFT IDEAS

‘Tis the season – I have been in various sales & marketing roles during my career, approximately 12 years. Each year, top customers are sent gifts to celebrate the relationships that were formed and the business they have provided. So, what are you sending – cookies, food baskets, etc.? While each of these things are nice and mostly effective, the goal is to show your appreciation and create a deeper relationship – ultimately making it harder for them to leave. What are you doing to connect your audience to the gifts you are sending?

One year, while working for a print marketing firm that focuses on the real estate industry, our National Association of Realtors (NAR) conference (over 10,000 attendees) was held in New Orleans. That year, rather than sending the usual gifts I stopped by Café Du Monde - a popular local coffee shop, and ordered a couple cases of their most popular coffee. I sent over 100 containers, each with a personalized letter to my top 100 customers/prospects. The response was amazing! I received 9 hand written thank-you letters and several emails sharing personal experiences from Café Du Monde. Not only did that $5.00 gift show each of these customers that I was thinking about them, it helped tie back in an experience and joyful emotion the French Quarter and New Orleans has to offer. Not to mention I retained 100% of those clients and gained 5 new accounts because of it.

The letter went something like this…

Dear Customer,

I hope you had a fun and successful trip to New Orleans for the NAR conference. I am not sure if you had a chance to stop by Café Du Monde while you were there, but the coffee and beignets were truly amazing. Their one-of-a-kind flavor made me think of you and how you might enjoy a cup this holiday season. Bring it home or share it within your office, either way I am sure it will be a hit.

Thank you so much for your business this year, I truly appreciate it.

Cheers!

As you see, the majority of the letter is geared towards drawing out certain emotions - connecting them back to the conference, Café Du Monde, the French Quarter and New Orleans in general. Although you want to be sure and thank them for their business, you do not want to dwell on it and say “thank you for spending $XXXXX with us.” They do not care about your year and your sales; they care about how you were able to help them and that you will work hard for them.

What gifts have you been successful (or unsuccessful) with?

6 MARKETING TIPS FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR

The Minnesota State Fair is just around the corner and we have got 6 marketing tips YOU can use today. This 12 day event features fried you-name-it on-a-stick, butter sculptures, farm animals, concerts and some of the best people watching of all time. The fair draws almost two million people from across the state and around the country. Part of their success is built on 152 years of tradition. The other part is marketing expertise.

You may not have 152 years of tradition to rely on, but you can borrow some of that deep fried marketing expertise to get customers and prospects to engage.

1. Something for Everyone. Some people go for the food. Others go to see the animals or exhibit halls. The concert lineup is a diverse mix of artists from several genres. Some events are specifically geared towards kids and others are clearly toward adults. The fair knows it has a diverse audience a finds ways to appeal to each segment.

Smart marketers have a well-defined target audience that they appeal to. But, are there secondary target audiences that need to be considered? Find ways to enhance the experience for that secondary audience too.

2. Consistency. The first time I went to the fair, I took an entire day and saw everything. I went again the next year and was a little disappointed to find that everything was exactly the same. But, I have observed that when people talk about the fair, they talk about all of the favorite places that they visit year after year. I get it now!

A consistent experience builds a brand. Customers want to know what to expect each time they engage your business. The more comfortable and familiar your brand is to them the more loyal they become.

3. Be a Little Strange. Leading up to the state fair, everyone talks about the new, strange fair food item for the year. This year’s most talked about food item is the fried butter on-a-stick – unfortunately it doesn’t sound like it’s going to make its way up Minnesota this year (we’ll see). These food items defy logic and good health, but generate a ton of buzz before, during and after the fair.

Do something different to grab attention and create a buzz about your brand. Outside of the box ideas can’t be copied by a competitor. What brand quirk or differentiator can get people talking about you?

4. Make it an Event. The fair is one of the largest events of the summer in Minnesota. People begin talking about it months before it starts. Vacations are planned around it. There is a five year waiting list for campsites around the fairgrounds. You get the point.

Can you create an event to get customers or the community excited? It could be a new product launch, supporting a cause, customer appreciation or just for fun. Do it every year and it becomes something to look forward to.

5. Have a Contest. Competitions for State Fair ribbons are taken very seriously. Competitions with cash rewards can be cutthroat. People spend an entire year gearing up for the competition of their choice. This is their Super Bowl. It’s an important part of their fair experience.

Build brand loyalty by rewarding achievements of your customers. This can be as big as a customer loyalty program or as simple a coloring contest for the kids.

6. Easy Access. Parking at the fair is at a premium and if you choose the free Park & Ride option you better be patient and plan on an extra 30 minutes (each way) for the commute. The MTC has also partnered with the Great Minnesota Get Together and offers discounted parking with express bus service from 17 Twin Cities locations. A much better option if you’re looking to save a little cash and get in and out with ease.

Find ways to make it easier for customers to access your product or service. You may need to bundle with other businesses to ease a pain point. The less annoyed customers are when they engage your brand, the better chance of building a loyal following.

If you happen to be in the Twin Cities over the next week and half and are looking for something to do, I’d recommend the Minnesota State Fair. It’s a good time for all and a case study in good marketing.

WHAT IS YOUR BRAND PERSONALITY?

As I mentioned in a previous post; brands are more than logos or catchy slogans. They have personalities, attitudes, and invoke emotional responses. Businesses have always used this to build brand loyalty with those who identify with their brand. Studies have shown that brands can shape people’s personalities and self image. People feel more athletic with Nike or Adidas shoes, tech savvy with an iPad, or rebellious with a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

It is important for businesses to identify the traits within their brand that rub off on their customers. Tapping in to this emotional connection provides you with a loyal following. As your brand becomes an expression of their personality, those followers become your brand ambassadors who are more than happy to share their allegiance to your brand. They become a walking, talking, and fully interactive advertisement for your brand. Their personality, shaped by your brand, is experienced by those they interact with on a daily basis.

Business can help their loyal followers express their allegiance by giving them tangible ways to express their loyalty. Promotional items and apparel allow them to proudly display their loyalty and your logo. Getting this merchandise into their hands though drawings, loyalty programs, or a company store can help cultivate a strong following.

On the other hand, business can take advantage of brand personalities by associating their brand with another that shares the same characteristics that they have or desire. This can happen several ways. One would be to sponsor an event targeted to a particular niche with personality that align with your brand.

Another way is to co-brand by joining forces with a complimentary or non-competing brand in your advertising efforts. Both parties can appeal to each other’s audiences and take advantage of the shared personality traits of the brand loyalists. This can be a cost saving measure too as both parties split the cost of the advertising.

Utilizing well known brand name promotional merchandise helps people associate the personality and prestige of the well known brand to another. For instance if a brand wants to be known for high performance, they would place their logo on Nike golf shirts for their sales force to wear in the field. Anyone who sees the two logos together will attribute performance aspects of the Nike brand to the other.

The power of brand personality cannot be ignored when developing marketing campaigns. It can affect who you target and how you target them. Brands with loyal following must also take care not to do anything to drastically change the personality of the brand or risk alienating their loyal following.

What are some brands with personalities that people identify with?

ADVERTISING EFFECTIVELY WITH PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS

A key chain from the local car dealership, a t-shirt from last year’s downtown fun run and calendar with coupons from the local pizza place - you probably do not have to go very far to see an example of a promotional product.

Promotional products are items decorated with an advertising message that are distributed to a targeted audience to achieve a specific business goal. No other advertising media is more effective at creating a lasting, positive impression. Your message placed on the right promotional product will be well received and keep your message top-of-mind for weeks, months, and even years.

How can you be sure? Try this – have you ever received a pen, calendar, key tag or cap from a business you frequent? The answer is probably "yes." Now, without looking, can you recall who gave it to you? You probably can, and you have just experienced how effective promotional advertising works.

If you like numbers, consider the results of a 2010 Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) study* on the effectiveness of promotional products. 84% of those surveyed remembered the advertiser on the product they received, 42% have a more favorable impression of the advertiser and 62% had done business with the advertiser after receiving the product. The survey also found that promotional products are more cost effective than traditional forms of advertising (TV, radio and print).

Several factors go into choosing the right products, but a good place to start is the recipient, as their reaction will ultimately determine the success of your choice. Since the goal of any promotional product is to provide visibility to your brand or message, think about what your target recipient will think is useful or “cool.” The more the product fits in the recipient’s lifestyle, the more it will be used and seen, thus increasing its advertising value.

Promotional products are an advertising medium that generates goodwill, increases referrals, improves ROI, and compliments other advertising media. They are relevant to any audience and specialized categories can meet specific needs or initiatives like eco-friendly or USA made. Promotional products anytime you want to increase your visibility, make an event more memorable, or achieve a marketing goal.

Contact http://nolimitpromo.com/ for all your promotional product needs - mention this post and receive a free 1 hour marketing consult.

DOES THE EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA MEAN THE END FOR EMAIL?

It seems like every time a new marketing channel emerges as a successful, viable solution, people start talking about the imminent end of another channel. For example, when email gained popularity in the ‘90s, it was said that direct mail would soon be obsolete. We are now hearing the same thing about email as social media continues to gain popularity. The reality is that each of these tools is important and should still have a part in your overall marketing strategy.

Remember when you were a kid and you would get a new toy; all your other favorites would sit on the shelf, collecting dust. That is, until the fascination of the new toy wore off. Soon you would find yourself playing with both the new toys and old ones, making up new games and having even more fun. The same is true in marketing. People focus on the newest and most popular mediums until that allure fades. Then it is time to integrate both the old and the new. According to a recent study, email is still the most implemented marketing channel, followed by direct mail and websites. Social media came in fourth.

While it is inevitable that new technologies will cut into the marketing share of older ones, rarely does a channel become obsolete. It simply forces marketers to create new, innovative ways to stay competitive, which is a good thing for everyone. For example, the print industry has embraced QR codes and similar technologies making this static medium more interactive and appealing to an increasingly mobile world.

When choosing the best channels to use, consider your audience first. Just because social media is considered the latest and greatest today, does not mean that is where your customers are. The most effective marketing channels are those that work best for you.

Keep in mind, things are ever changing and it is important to continually test and track your marketing efforts.

What new or old channels are working for you?

YOUR LOGO IS NOT YOUR BRAND!

In our line of work, as a promotional products distributor we often catch ourselves using the words “brand” and “logo” interchangeably. Unfortunately, this is also a common occurrence in the business world. While it is understandable since the logo is the most recognizable feature of a brand, this is an oversimplification of what a brand is.

A brand is not a flashy logo or catchy slogan. It is what happens inside a person’s head when they see the flashy logo or hear the catchy slogan. It is an emotional connection between the entity and its audience. That connection is formed based on a combination of how the brand presents itself and a person’s perception and experience with it.

A brand can help shape its perception directly through its positioning statements, value propositions and taglines. For the brand to be perceived the way it is marketed to be, those elements must match with the individual’s attitudes, values and experience.

Logos serve as a reinforcement of a person’s perception of the brand. If the brand’s position and value resonate with a person, the logo becomes a banner of their loyalty. If they have had consistently positive experiences, the logo reminds them of the positive feelings associated with the brand. Of course, the same is true about negative feelings.

We cannot really control the minds our target audiences (yet?). However, we can control how we present our brands and how we interact with those we do or want to do business with. Each interaction a customer has with our business - reading an ad, talking to customer service, using a products or service - shapes their perception and therefore the brand.

Does your logo match your brand?