DO PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS WORK??

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Crazy Dave's  Newsletter

a short but hopefully useful read.

Do Promotional Products Work ?

Hi Frances,I hope your keeping really well and the start to the new year has been good to you, i have been asked  recently and over the past number of years [12!!] a number of questions about promotional products, how they work and even  if they do work so i thought i would put my thoughts in a short newsletter hopefully it will be informative. The first thing i remember being told by the renowned promotional speaker Cliff Quicksell was the story of The Cereal maker Kelloggs

Before the Great Depression, the company  Post dominated the packaged cereal market. Predictably like many companies, Post cut way back on advertising and promotions while Kellogg's doubled its marketing budget. By 1933, even as the economy plummeted, Kellogg's profits had risen almost 30 percent and afterwards became the industry's dominant player. In downturns customers and clients look to companies who are strong visually  or giving the impression they are strong by keeping in touch with their customers and are scared off by companies who go silent for fear they are in trouble, these times like now are an ideal opportunity for particuarly smaller players to gain significant market share with simple regular targetted marketing.

Now, I'm not telling you to spend your cash like it's going out of fashion you still have to be smart about where you spend your marketing pounds. Your specific plan will depend on your target market and your unique objectives. During down times, you should generally focus on measurable, direct-impact marketing media - the stuff that will bring in actual sales now.

I am often asked to comment on how cost effective promotional products are. Clearly, much depends on finding the right product for your business - and one best suited to the area in which you do business. However, consider an advert in a trade magazine or directory that can cost hundreds or even thousands of pounds, yet potentially only be seen by very few of your target audience. If they do not use the directory to look for your service, they will never see your message, whereas a well chosen promotional product can reach most of your target audience - and on a regular basis! simple things like putting a calendar onto a mug or a desk pad can keep your details in front of your customer all year long, always remember the customers perception, a cheap pen giveaway is good for getting your name out there but if you were to spend  just £5-£10 on a quality parker pen that they would definately use for instance  for say your top 30-50 customers, those customers could be worth several thousands or tens of thousands of pounds a year to you in business, spend £10 get £3,000 in business i know what i would do.

Of course there are many different items available to suit  for many different companies, make sure you ask questions of your  promotional merchandise supplier and tell them what you want to achieve with your promotion, a good one can guide you through the process and offer alternatives which are not always more expensive but that suit your needs more.In finishing i have copied below a snippet from a major survey carried out in 2004 i hope it will go some way to show you why i believe in my industry so much and why we come to work every day with a smile on our faces.

A 2004 study by L.J. Market Research clearly demonstrates that promotional products offer you advantages that may not be available in other media such as:

• High Recall. Customers will remember your organization long after they've received your promotional product.
• Repeated Exposure. You'll make a lasting impression because of the length of time the promotional item is kept.
• Favorable Impression. Customers who receive promotional items come away with a measurably more favorable impression of your organization resulting in an increased propensity to do business with you

Take care and speak soon

kind Regards

Dave