With recent studies indicating that people of all ages prefer promotional products over any other type of marketing or advertising, their potential is not in question. But unless you choose the right products for each new marketing event or campaign, realising this potential will be close to impossible. In this guide, we show you how to select the perfect promotional products for any type of marketing initiative in Australia. Among other things, we’ll be discussing factors such as budget, audience demographic and the nature of the event or campaign being organised. We will also take an in-depth look at the product selection process. Many customers have asked us “How do I know which promotional product is best suited for my event or campaign?” and today we set out to answer this question in detail.
Understanding your event/campaign and audience
Before you can start the product selection process in preparation for a new event or campaign, there are a few factors that you will need to establish:
- The nature of your event or campaign – The type of event or campaign that you are organising should influence your choice of promotional products. If you are planning a formal dinner & dance to launch a new B2B service, high-quality drinkware or writing implements could be an excellent choice. For more casual events, consider products that are practical and fun, such as beach bags, confectionery and headwear.
- Your target demographic – The needs and preferences of your target audience should always be uppermost in your mind when choosing new promotional products. Make sure you understand your audience before proceeding.
Having determined what type of event or campaign you are organising and the target demographic, you are almost ready to move on to the product selection process. However, before you can start evaluating different types of promotional products, you will first need to decide on a budget and set of objectives for the event or campaign.
Setting objectives and budget
There is no way to choose an effective promotional product for a new campaign or upcoming corporate event if you don’t know what you want to achieve. With this in mind, we recommend defining your objectives clearly before you begin to look at the type of products that are currently available. You also need to decide on a budget before you start evaluating your options.
Choosing the right promotional products: a detailed analysis
Now that you have established what type of event or campaign you are planning, together with your target demographic, primary objectives and budget, it’s finally time to start the product selection process. This process should always include the consideration of crucial factors such as product relevance, uniqueness, utility and longevity.
Product relevance
The promotional products that your organisation uses to increase brand awareness, highlight brand strengths and improve annual turnover should be relevant to the campaigns and events in which they are employed and to the products and services they are promoting. They should also be a good fit for your corporate philosophy and aims.
- Campaign/event tone – If you are organising a regatta to promote a new yacht, we recommend considering more formal promotional products such as beautifully engraved drinkware and quality branded apparel. For more casual events and campaigns, look for promotional products to match.
- Corporate image – Companies that wish to build a fun corporate image may wish to focus on light-hearted branded goods, whilst organisations that want to project a serious image should invest in high-quality practical products.
- Relevance to products or services – Wherever possible, promotional products should be relevant to the products and services they are intended to promote.
If you focus your attention on branded merchandise that is relevant as far as all of the key areas discussed above are concerned, your future marketing events and campaigns should be even more successful.
Innovative and unique products
In a sea of mediocrity, unique and innovative promotional products stand out. Rather than choosing the same tired old branded merchandise, consider experimenting with some new ideas for your upcoming event or campaign. In some cases, it’s not the product that needs to be updated but the branding and decoration methods. Whatever angle you approach the problem of product selection from, try to think outside the box and use your branded merchandise in new and innovative ways.
Creating unique promotional products for your marketing events and campaigns will not only help to ensure that your giveaways are well received, but it will also help to build a brand image that will serve you well in the future.
Utility and longevity
How useful and durable your promotional gifts prove to be will have a marked effect on their performance. The more times they are used, the more exposure your brand or company receives, which means promotional products that excel in terms of utility and longevity should be the most effective over time.
You should now be in a position to choose the perfect promotional products for your next campaign or event but before you start placing orders, we have a few words of advice on choosing the right supplier, selecting customisation options for your products and distribution strategies.
Working with suppliers and customisation
Choosing the perfect promotional products is one of the most important tasks you need to complete but there is another task of equal importance: choosing the right supplier. It is of crucial importance that your supplier be trusted to meet agreed delivery dates, and they should also be able to supply products of a consistently high quality.
The customisation strategies you employ must be sound, or all your other efforts will prove to be in vain. The logos printed on your corporate apparel, the colour schemes chosen for your branded tote bags and the slogans featured on your promotional baseball caps should all complement the products and each other.
Distribution strategies
Whether you plan to use promotional products at an upcoming marketing event or as part of an ongoing marketing campaign to raise brand awareness, you will need to formulate an effective distribution strategy. An effective strategy should enable you to achieve all the following:
- Ensure the products arrive in good condition – The promotional products you present as gifts must be in excellent condition.
- Assess the impact of your promotional gifts – How promotional gifts are presented must allow for feedback to be collected.
- Maintain a ‘feel good’ factor – Recipients should enjoy the gifting process and not feel under attack from your marketing executives.
If you formulate a distribution strategy that enables you to achieve all these aims, you will be ready to put your promotional product plans into action.
Choosing promotional products for marketing events and campaigns is an endeavour that should be approached methodically. With the right products, you can raise brand awareness, improve your corporate image and increase annual turnover. The wrong products could make people aware of your brand for the wrong reasons, damage your corporate image and decrease your annual turnover.
One of the easiest ways to ensure the success of your next campaign or event is to partner with a team of experts such as ourselves. At Branded Products®, we have years of experience in helping with the task of choosing and distributing promotional products, and we’re always happy to share our expertise with our customers.
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