Take advantage of promotional gifts as a marketing strategy. It must be recognised, as customers we love promotional gifts. Recently in the supermarket, I bought a pack of 2 deodorants simply because they came with a wireless speaker that is waterproof (ideal for listening to music in the shower).

And, importantly, promotional gifts, if well done, can really attract the attention of customers and even motivate the purchase of a product.

So today I want to tell you about 5 tips that you should consider when making promotional gifts because there is a thin line between doing something interesting and falling into the cliché.

Tip 1 – Think of the consumer

It is not always about giving the typical caps, pens or mouse pads. There’s nothing wrong with this, as long as it’s something the consumer wants. There are people who want pens and there are others who prefer a wireless speaker. So, the key is to first know what kind of consumer you have and what kind of promotional gift they would like.

This first point is the big difference between investing and spending money.

Tip 2 – Make your brand obvious, but do not be too ‘in their face’

When you offer a promotional gift, people are aware that they are choosing your brand over that of the competition.

You do not have to put your company’s logo in such a striking way that everyone sees it miles away.

Obviously, it depends on the promotional gifts you choose; for example, with a USB memory because of its size, this rule is complicated to follow because for your brand to look right it must be a good size.

For example, an umbrella. It is perfect to use your brand colours and even put your business logo/brand name somewhere, but it should not seem that the user is a promoter of your business.

Subtlety is the secret.

 

Tip 3 – Be creative

Do not fall into the cliché of always giving the same or what everyone else gives. That looks ugly and even the client will feel that you did not dedicate 2 minutes to understand what they would like.

There are many websites with promotional gift options for you to evaluate, get creative and even compare what is best.

But use your creativity – being cliché is the worst!

 

Tip 4 – Make it practical

If you are going to make a promotional gift, please make it practical.

A company recently gave me a knife to open letters (a letter opener). Really? Who receives letters nowadays? And if you receive them, do you receive so many that you need a special opener?

The advice is simple. And again, it is related to the other tips. Make sure that your promotional gift is practical for the client!

 

Tip 5 – Take advantage of the moment

There are different times of the year that can be ideal for your promotional gifts: Father’s Day, Women’s Day, etc.

For example, many marketing people talk about Christmas marketing, so the key question would be: why not to use that date to give an impacting promotional gift?

So, the last tip is simple.

Give something to your clients or potential customers at key times, in order to increase the impact of what you are offering.

I hope these tips have been helpful and that you really take advantage of this type of marketing action that, when focused, can have really interesting results.

 

By Eddy

Eddy is the editorial columnist in Business Fundas, and oversees partner relationships. He posts articles of partners on various topics related to strategy, marketing, supply chain, technology management, social media, e-business, finance, economics and operations management. The articles posted are copyrighted under a Creative Commons unported license 4.0. To contact him, please direct your emails to [email protected].