By following the 7 steps outlined, you can utilise economical and effective method to help grow your business. When using promotional products ensure you:
1.Set clear goals for your promotion.
What do you want to achieve? E.g. Build brand awareness? Create immediate sales? Provide a thank you gift your customer?
Setting clear goals will make it easier to choose items that will help your business. Promotional items reinforce you are a business that cares, enough to invest in longer-term practices. This provides your customers with a sense of security.
2.Identify your target market.
Do you want to target all your potential customers/clientele, or do you want to target subsets with different campaigns/items?
3. Set a budget.
Include promotional products as part of your marketing/advertising budget.
Identify your costs up front and include hidden/extra costs such as decoration set-up, freight, storage (if applicable).
4. Utilise joint ventures and partners.
Can you work with suppliers or other businesses to promote your businesses together? Joint promotions can also help you to strengthen your relationships with key business contacts.
5. Order appropriate quantities.
Don't buy more items than you need. Remember that some items have a limited shelf life, or may be replaced by new items e.g. USB drives with a certain capacity today may be less useful in 12 months time
High turnover items, e.g. pens can be used for long periods so it may be better to order large quantities and store excess so you don't pay extra freight and print set up charges unnecessarily.
6. Determine your method of product distribution.
Once you have your promotional item, how will you distribute them, and who will receive them?
7. Measure.
Measure the results. You can set an intended rate of return (ROR) to determine how effective your campaign is.
The best method to achieve this by is to measure a variable before and after the promotion. eg the number of sales, the number of enquiries etc. Bear in mind that sometimes results can occur some time after the conclusion of a marketing campaign. E.g. Advertising now may still cause inquiries months after the campaign has ended.
Where possible try to eliminate other variables. E.g. other marketing campaigns at the same time
