Promotional Products Work Week 2016

A few years back the Promotional Products Association International decided to dedicate one week each year towards raising awareness of the effectiveness of promo products as an advertising medium.

It was a very wise move given some of the push back that the industry was getting from some  politicians and a few other loud voiced naysayers who saw promo products as nothing more than an expense - and in their minds, a needless one - that was helping drain public sector budgets of funds that could be better used elsewhere..

This came on the heels of a move by the pharmaceutical industry (equally as short sighted) aimed at curtailing the use of promo items for the exact opposite reason - that they were too effective when it came to influencing physicians on which medications to prescribe for their patients.  

Promotional Products Work Week - which runs from May 23 to 27 this year - is a nice response.  Consider that certain more mainstream forms of advertising have been in more or less steady decline ever since the rise of the internet, yet promotional product spending continues to increase annually.  It’s now a 21 billion dollar industry and is showing no signs of slowing down!

Why? Promotional products engage. They’re tangible (as opposed to abstract like a commercial). They stay in front of their intended audience. They create recall.  They create goodwill.  People want them (and get excited about receiving them) They commemorate and create memories. They reinforce what your brand is all about. And maybe the most overlooked feature - they compliment the other forms of marketing by increasing their effectiveness.  

And as we move forward, with the continued downward spiral of TV, radio and newspaper and the rise of mobile and social media, promotional products are poised for even more growth for the reasons that I just mentioned.

Promotional products work.  They’ve always worked.  And they will continue to work for a long, long time to come!

The BEST Marketing Real Estate Location

In my last blog post, I talked about the ability of promotional products to give your brand access to prime marketing real estate.  Now I’m going to talk about the most prestigious location of all, one where, if allowed in, your brand is pretty much assured to wind up top of mind by sheer osmosis if nothing else!

I’m referring to the smartphone, a device which is pretty much always attached to our hands these.  Think about it.  Anyplace you go people are looking down, focused on their phones, as they deliver an endless stream of information, communication and entertainment.

A few quick stats: 73% of Americans always have their mobile device with them. People pick up their phones between 150 to 200 times a day on average. 75% of adults are now accessing the web via mobile and among 16-24 year old's phone use averages over 3.25 hours a day!*

So what do you think it’s worth to be able to attach your brand to such a device - and I’m not referring to an app?  I mean the phone itself?

Promotional products can do that.  Items like the smartphone wallet, the Backstrap Phone Protector Case or a Cloth Screen Cleaner actually attach to the phone.  Phone cases, which can also be imprinted, protect a phone.  And full color phone decals can dress up the phone case.

All of these are readily available promotional products.

Regardless of which item it is, if you can somehow get your brand on someone’s phone, it’s on the best billboard imaginable!

*Source- 2016 Mobile Marketing Trends Every Marketer Needs by Heidi Cohen

Promotional Products & the High (Marketing) Rent District

I like to think of promotional products as keys that open the door to valuable real estate property. Now it wouldn’t surprise me if your initial reaction to that statement is “whoa….what’s he smoking today?”  But hear me out….

Promotional products are all about gaining people’s attention - specifically the intended audience for a marketing message.  What’s unique about promo items is that the recipient places the item somewhere - be it the desk, in the kitchen, in the car, on a wall etc.

 

Now think of those areas in terms of real estate.   In the places a promo item’s recipient spends his or her time, your brand or marketing message is gaining access to that ‘property’.  And that’s one benefit that makes promotional items unique. No other advertising medium can place your message into those hard to reach - but extremely valuable - places quite as effectively as promotional products.

Say you’re a freight forwarding company.  What’s it worth to have your brand on the desk of shipping managers every single work day?  Items that could accomplish that task include a desk blotter, note cube, note holder or letter opener among many others.

If you own a restaurant that does Take Out and can gain access to a customer’s refrigerator door, guess where they’ll be looking when they’re hungry?

 

Think about where you’d like to have your marketing message seen by the people you’re seeking to reach.  You’ve just taken a step beyond the so called ‘trinkets and trash’ mindset and you start to realize just how useful a carefully chosen promotional item can be!