The 4 Secrets of Successful Promotional Products

A brief introduction to Promotional Products and the 4 essentials of a good promotional gift.

Promotional products gain their unique powers from the ability to place a targeted marketing message into the everyday lives of your audience members and keep that message top of mind. This is done in a manner which produces less waste than a more traditional marketing method like catalogs or direct mail.

The wide-reaching definition of a promotional product is any useful item that carries branding in the form of a logo, marketing message or contact info. While many marketers over the years have stretched the definition of both 'useful' and 'branding' the original intent of the piece remains true to its roots.

There are four attributes that your promotional products must possess in order to be successful:

Your products must contain a marketing message (and make it effective).
Many marketers forget to add a call to action to their promotional gifts, despite the fact that it usually does not mean increase costs.
Your audience should be targeted and qualified.
You can't afford to market to everyone, that much is obivous. Your goal should be to get promotional items into the hands of the most infliuential people in your industry, or those most likely to create positive results for your campaign
Your products should be audience appropriate.
Imagine sending a thumb-drive to a group of quilters; or a leather binder to animal rights groups! At best the result would be no response, and at worst you would have created a negative image. Always make sure your products are geared toward your audience's interests.
Timing is...everything.
No matter how well suited your message, audience and product, it is nothing without the proper timing. Make sure your promotions are well-timed. After all, the only difference between a caterpillar and a butterfly is timing!

One of the best ways to master the 4 major aspects of promotional product success is to partner with an experienced firm that can take on each challenge and produce a result which embodies an effective message, a targeted distribution, an appropriate offering and the perfect timing.