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When you are ordering items for your outside or traveling sales
personnel it is good to think about items that can be left behind to
remind people of your firm. So many people let impulse rule their shopping decisions, picking something up simply because it is a great deal or because it is displayed well in the store. This is not a good purchasing strategy for buying promotional items. You should have clear objectives before you go shopping, and then purchase items that meet those objectives. An example of this is the career school admissions officer who wanted to buy magnets to use as promotional items in her work with high school students. Even though these magnets were well within her allotted marketing budget, they would probably be placed on a home fridge and would not really be very effective in spreading the word to other high school students. An idea that was much more effective was to give out day planers to students that were enrolled in the school. This way the students would take them to school where several other students would see them, and could explain their plans for after high school graduation to their friends. This story illustrates how it is important to order incentive or promotional pieces that will be effective, not just the pieces that we like or that are inexpensive. The best way to order effective pieces is to know your marketing objectives prior to even beginning shopping. While you will find lots a great items for sale in catalogs and on web sites, all of them are a waste of money if they don’t help you reach your goals. Below are some key things to consider when setting objectives. First, how are you going to use the items you purchase? There are lots of choices: sales aids, stimulate trade show traffic, premiums, thank you gifts for current customers, introduce a new product or service, employee motivations, special event giveaway, improve customer service, gain back lost accounts, gifts, direct mail campaigns, and others. Of course, this is just a short list of the questions you can ask yourself. Once you pick one of the above, each will have its own requirements. Items used for a direct mail campaign, for example, will need to be light enough to not overburden your shipping budget. Good items to mail include magnets, stickers, paper and pencil sets, and pens. It would be foolish to use mugs or t-shirts in your direct mail plans, as the shipping costs would be very high. If, however, you are doing a small mailing to a very select group of customers you may want to consider the advantage of including a nicer, although pricier to purchase and mail, gift. You will probably want to spend more per items when the gifts will be used to motivate employees, thank existing customers, or build premiums. Because there will probably be less items ordered than for a direct mail campaign you should be able to spend more per item. An employee would probably not be very motivated to receive a pen for years and years of hard service to your company. Some good items to order for these purposes include clocks, desk items, acrylic awards, plaques, engraved items, and much more. When you are ordering items for your outside or traveling sales personnel it is good to think about items that can be left behind to remind people of your firm. You want the name of your firm to always be close at hand. Some good ideas for this application include coffee mugs or note pads that can sit on a clients desk and remind them of you when they are ready to make a decision about the products or services that your company offers. T-shirts are a great way to promote your company at a special event such as a concert or festival. One great idea is to tie the t-shirts up in a knot and throw them to people in the crowd. If you are looking to get a similar impact, but with a lower budget, think about items such as key chains, magnets, pens, pencils, tape measures, and calendars. It is important to manage the cost of your promotional items wisely. It makes sense to spend more on a loyal customer than you would on a prospective customer. Here is one possible budget allocation idea: prospective customers – gifts under $5, current customer – gifts for around $25, long term loyal customers – gifts for around $50. Remember, your first step when ordering promotional items is to determine your objective. It is not a good idea just to order items because they are inexpensive or attractive to you. |
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