Article

Brad Larkin
Brad Larkin 25 July 2018
Categories Advertising

Build a Better Brand Experience by Aligning Strategy and Promotional Products

Including promotional products into your marketing strategies and sales prospecting strategies can help you make your brand memorable. There are four primary areas you should focus your marketing strategy around if you want to improve your brand experience:

Your company’s brand is more than just fonts, colour schemes and logos. Actually, your company’s brand is affected by every single interaction with your customers. That goes for live interactions, customer service, and even your website.

And, one of the easier ways to improve your brand’s image is to give a representation of your brand to your customers. That is why promotional products are some of the most popular advertising tools.

That point of view does seem to put a lot of responsibility on giveaways. Thankfully, the potential of promotional products is very significant. With a bit of forethought, you can utilise promotional items to build a powerful brand and connect with your customers.

There are four primary areas you should focus your marketing strategy around if you want to improve your brand experience:

1. Marketing and sales prospecting

2. The in-person experience

3. Customer delight

4. Employee advocates

Marketing and Sales Prospecting

Including promotional products into your marketing strategies and sales prospecting strategies can help you make your brand memorable. However, finding a perfect promotional product specifically for sales prospecting takes a lot of effort. The product should be valuable, high-quality, and unique. After all, promotional products are a reflection of your brand.

Trade Shows Giveaways

A lot of companies consider trade shows to be irrelevant. However, neglecting them is actually a huge mistake. In fact, trade shows offer an excellent opportunity for potential customers to encounter your brand. You should do the research about the industries and the demographics of the people and companies that will be attending. You should also come up with a strategic approach and choose items that fit the interests of the attendees. Bear this in mind - if they love the giveaway, they will remember your company.

Sale Leave-Behinds

If you find yourself in a sale situation, including high-quality giveaway items can give an extra delight factor to your customers that will make them remember your brand for a while. Of course, a promotional item is probably not enough to be a deciding factor in and of itself. However, if you pair it up with a good sales technique, it can really show your customers how thoughtful your company is. After all, giving your prospects a positive experience can easily lead to a lasting impression.

Mailers

If you are planning a direct mail prospecting campaign, make sure to target your primary verticals. Do your homework and create a list of prospects. After you do that, make sure to choose promotional items that can grab the prospects’ attention and mail the items with the invitation. Packages in the mail are not as easy to ignore, which means that the prospects will probably open them. So, your job, in this case, would be to make the box opening a fun experience.

The In-Person Experience

If your company’s setup allows customers or prospects to visit your business in person, you should use that. After all, it is a great opportunity for you to leave a positive impression on the customers.

Meetings

Even the smallest of details are important when it comes to in-person meetings. Remember - you want to leave an impression that your company “has it together.” Make sure that everything you use in correlation to your customer has your brand on it.

Are you giving them pens to sign a paper? Make sure those  promotional pens have your logo on them. Are you serving them coffee? Make sure the mugs have your logo on them. And, if you are giving them a token of appreciation, make sure it has your logo on it.

However, you should also bear in mind that all of this is not just about direct promotion. You actually want to create a pleasant experience for the customer.

Events

The main objective of event giveaways is to grow your brand awareness. You do so by getting your promotional materials into the hands of as many attendees as you can. Also, it doesn’t matter whether or not the event is hosted by your company. You should still come up with unique items that grab the attention of your consumers. But, above all that, make sure that you have enough promotional products for everyone. If anyone in the audience doesn’t receive their promotional gift, it could have a significant negative impact.

Customer Delight

Acquiring new customers is important. However, many companies tend to forget that delighting your current customers is downright essential for a growing business. Making your customers happy is what ensures that they will come back and stick to your company. And, promotional products are a great way to achieve that delight. You can incorporate these products into your delight strategy by connecting them to important milestones. These are some of the ways you can bring about that delight.

Welcome New Customers With Promotional Gifts

You can give your new customers promotional products as engaging welcome gifts. Similarly to previous advice, make sure that the items sport your logo and that the customers will like them.

Mark Anniversaries

Acknowledge the anniversary of your “relationship” with your customers. GIve them a small token of thanks on the day or month they originally signed up for your service. You can also use the opportunity as an excuse to contact customers who seem to have forgotten about you. Also, this type of thoughtful behaviour will create an instantaneous positive impression.

That also goes for their birthdays. In fact, numerous companies offer free gifts for their customers’ birthdays. You can send them a small gift and a birthday card on their special day, and they will feel appreciated.

Employee Advocates

One of the ways your customers shape their perception of your brand is through the interactions with your staff. So, you want to make sure every interaction goes well. And, you can use promotional products to ensure the encounter leaves a good impression.

Custom Apparel

One of the things you could do to improve these interactions is to have your employees wear clothing items that are in style, well-fitting, and of high quality. And, on top of that all, don’t forget to put your logo on the clothing items.

Remember - customers form their opinions within the initial seconds of meeting your employees. And, whatever they think about your employees translates into what they think about your company.

Giveaways

Give your employees the ability to give away promotional products at their own discretion. That will empower them to promote your brand during their everyday interactions. Your customers will appreciate receiving a small gift along with a business card. 

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