Promotional products as one of the best marketing mix strategy
Promotional products as one of the best marketing mix strategy
Promotional products can help the businesses in offering long-term marketing exposure. Promotional items can assist in developing a best marketing strategy. They can build a business’s brand and hence save a lot of money by only purchasing what is appropriate for the business goal and the market. Like most of the advertisement, measuring results using promotional gifts can be quite challenging. But there is quite an inherent advantage and benefits of using such products which include building awareness of the business through increased marketing and advertising impressions.
To develop a good marketing mix strategy there need to be certain aspects that need to be considered. Some of them are mentioned below:
1. First, you need to research marketing demographics in order to get a handle on life as well as work styles of your target audience to find the right choice.
2. Then you need to find out whether you want to use any particular item to reward current customers. It is important to know if the customers wanted to be rewarded with promotional items. If customers want discount coupons then offering promotional clothing to them can cause resentment and they might not even use it.
3. Now you have to make sure whether the customer would like to use the items privately like cheap personalized mugs or whether they would use this item in public like in case of wearing a customized T-shirt at a health club. Hence, it is essential to do in-depth marketing demographics review of your target audience to determine if the product you are using for your marketing mix strategy has the potential that you desire to have.
4. Another thing to consider is that whether you will be able to afford the promotional item of acceptable quality to your customers. Giving out products which are of lesser quantity can backfire and damage your brand. Cheap personalized gifts are a great way to boost brand of a business, but low-quality product can certainly have a negative impact.
5. The important thing to consider before deciding any particular item for using as your marketing mix strategy is the potential life of the gifts. Whether it will be used once by the customer or discarded by them. You need to carefully determine if you are choosing the right promotional item that provides enough impact and exposure that you want for your brand even if its one-time use item.
6. Another important aspect to consider that define a promotional product as best marketing mix strategy is whether it aligns with the other marketing and branding efforts of your business. If your promotional item is out of sync with your other marketing efforts, then it won’t hurt your brand but won’t build it either.
7. You need to find whether the product you are using can turn into a tradition like regular distribution of customized pens. Customers often anticipate your regular promotion, and if you fail to do so, then they will be disappointed. Having your customers wanting for your promotion can be highly useful and a great marketing mix strategy.
Now comes the Return on Investment of ROI that you are expecting. Unlike other types of marketing efforts such as advertisements, infomercials, etc. measuring the ROI for promotional products can be quite difficult. It is quite unlikely that people on receiving a promotional giveaways will immediately run to a store and place an order for your product. However, as a marketer, you need to determine the ROI expectations whether it means actual sales or something different.
Sales happen due to the result of multiple contacts with the potential buyers. There are other metrics that can essentially be used and should be employed in order to measure the progress as well as the effectiveness of marketing efforts. It includes website traffic, number of shoppers visiting stores, number of visitors to booths at events and positive as well as negative feedback from the recipients of the item given to them.
These metrics are used to measure the effectiveness of your marketing mix strategy including promotional products. Most often, promotional products would be the only things which is added to your promotional program to find if they had any impact over time.
Regardless of how you measure the results, promotional products serve as a supportive role in your branding effort. They provide advertising exposure for the person who receives the item and for the person who may also see the item in use like custom clothes. Even though they are not direct response advertising as well as expectations for them to deliver as such is quite unrealistic, but they can be an essential part of your best marketing mix strategy.
Even though you can launch your promotional product campaign as marketing program at any time, it is better to find the right time and place to execute it. Promotional product plans or key promotional solutions for upcoming months should be done with scheduled promotional product use as per the target distribution opportunities such as trade shows and conferences. Other opportunities include retail distribution at checkout, the gift given in exchange for any particular purchase or participation, contests, holidays etc.
To execute a best marketing mix strategy involving promotional products, you need to note each promotional item distribution opportunity and note the following:
1. The promotional product that you are going to distribute like cheap personalized pens.
2. The budget for the total promotional products which includes product cost, shipping, the cost to mail to the customers and the setup cost.
3. The quantity of promotional product you intend to distribute.
4. Method of distribution of promotional products such as hand out at events or trade shows.
5. Method of determining promotional products ROI like store traffic, total sales, downloads etc.
Conclusion
Promotional products can be a great marketing mix strategy if executed in a correct manner. It can boost the brand of the business and create awareness of the business. It can be used for rewarding the customers for choosing the business and make them feel special. It develops a positive image of the business and often leads to repeat sales and better brand recognition of the business.