There is no doubt that the right promotional product can be an invaluable technique for marketing your brand. However, when promotional products are not executed correctly, they can become a nightmare. With excess stock taking up space, bad merch becomes nothing more than a wasted investment. The key to creating a successful promotional product lies in choosing the right type of merch for your brand.
How to Choose the Right Product to Represent Your Brand
There is no point trying to copy one of the most successful promotional products in history if it is not relevant to your brand. No matter how successful the reusable Starbucks travel mugs are, if you are company is a funeral parlor then your mugs might not go down too well. To ensure you are making the wisest investment by choosing the most appropriate merch for your brand you need to ask yourself a few key questions:
What is my Brand Identity?
Choosing the right promotional product for your brand relies upon a clear understanding of your brand identity. Your brand identity should outline who you are as a brand, what you stand for, and what you represent. Your promotional product must represent as many aspects of your brand identity as possible. Your brand identity should be completely reflected by your promo product, not only in the way that it looks but its usability and feel too.
Who is My Target Audience?
Once you understand what it is your promotional product is trying to represent, i.e. who you are as a brand, the next step is to understand who the promotional product is for, i.e. your target market. Your target market should already be aligned with your brand identity, meaning the design of your product should automatically be appealing to your target market. If this is not the case then this might be a sign of bigger issues within your marketing strategy.
In addition to thinking about what your aesthetic appeal might get to your target market, you should consider your audience more practically. What type of person are you selling to, what do they do, how do they spend their leisure time, how much disposable income do they have? Answering detailed questions about who your target market is should help inform your understanding of the most useful product for your target market.
What is the Purpose of this Product?
The next question you will need to answer is, what is the purpose of this product, how do you intend it to be used? For example, if you run a café, creating promotional reusable coffee cups and offering your customers a discount when they bring these cups in-store is a great way to create a consistent stream of marketing for your brand. However, if you run a web-design agency, then chances are this type of product won’t increase your footfall at all. Your product should not only be something that represents your brand and that is relevant to your target market, but should also serve a practical usage, to ensure that it is as visible as possible.
Creating a promotional product can be a successful marketing technique that not only helps make your brand more visible but helps to make your customers feel more valued. When done correctly, a promotional product can offer a range of benefits. However, when executed poorly, a promotional product is nothing more than a waste of resources.
*Photos by Anete Lusina
