How to Use Promotional Products to Boost Your Brand’s Reach

If you’re looking for a new way to get your brand out there and noticed, promotional products can help you stand out amongst the crowd.

All companies need strong branding in today’s market and promotional items can help make this possible. They’re such a simple trick that anyone from large corporations to smaller ventures can make use of. If you’re wondering how to use them effectively, keep reading.

The power of promotional products

We’ll start with an example of one of the most bizarrely effective uses of promotional products in recent years. Almost a decade ago, Compare the Market launched a marketing push featuring a meerkat character. People buying insurance or energy through Compare the Market got the option of receiving a free meerkat toy.  

You wouldn’t think you could sell car insurance with the option to get a cuddly toy out of it, and yet they somehow managed it. With this marketing push, they stood out among the competition and became memorable.

While smaller companies might not have the same marketing budget, it doesn’t mean they can’t try something out on a much smaller scale.

Target your audience

The best way to approach and convert any audience is to know them well. This goes for any kind of marketing or PR strategy, and it’s the same for using promotional products.

This part is important to assess whether your promotional products ideas would sit well with the people you’re trying to target. For example, a mug is a great choice for a coffee company because you’re targeting people who drink coffee.

If you’re a b2b company, then making use of stationery or other desk items for promotional products makes sense.

Try to find out more about your audience and choose products that would genuinely help or interest them.

Choose your platform

If you’ve got promotional products ordered, the next step is to find a platform to show them off at. A lot of companies make use of business shows, conferences or festivals – places with a lot of eyes. They’re also places where people appreciate freebies, so having a handy product with your logo on will be appreciated.

Think items like pens, bags, t-shirts and notebooks – the kind of things that people will use, take away and hopefully display on their desk or at home.

Other ways to use products

Another method is to include branded products in competition giveaways – this gives the brand more spotlight and some build-up. You can promote this via your website, social media channels, in-store or at a business show.

Other companies give potential clients or clients they’ve had for a while a gift basket with branded materials and other fun stuff. This can help win new clients, keep current ones happy and also gives your brand some attention if they post about it on social media.

Work on your brand message

When you present at festivals or business shows, you need a strong brand message behind all the branded cups and pens. The same goes for your website if you’ve promoted your products online.

The branded products may spark curiosity, but once people come over they should have a good idea about what you do and how you can help them. That will help to keep hold of their attention, so that they become customers.

Use products for social media campaigns

When you invest in branded materials, it’s important to get the most out of your money. Don’t just leave it to the day to relish in the brand-boosting potential.

Have a build-up, get seen and recognised where you need to be in order to make sales and spark interest, whether that be online, at a show or on the high street.

Shout about your brand on social, sharing pictures of the products to boost views and click-through rates. This is particularly useful if you’ve got a stall at a public or business event. You can share photos of your products and your stall to encourage people to come over for a chat.

Keep track of the effects

When you’ve done all the hard work, it’s important to keep track of the effects of this particular strategy. What worked well? What didn’t? This can help inform better choices each time you start a new branding strategy.

If you would like to make use of promotional products, we supply a range of different products, all ready and waiting for your logo!

Author Bio - Ryan McCormick has been running Orange Promotions for over 7 years and has a wealth of experience within the promotional products industry. Orange Promotions offer online promotional products to a diverse clientele range from large blue chip companies to local service providers