Promotional products are not always used to benefit one’s customers, but also one’s employees! A food processing company was having a rough time minimizing their work-related injuries. This resulted in remarkably high financial costs, low productivity, and even lower morale…Read More
Sales in a drug stores photo processing center were dwindling. The problem: their customers began using online photo processing, rather than coming into the store. The reason: their customers lacked the confidence and knowledge to come in and use the self-serve photo processors, and others were simply unaware that such a center existed…Read More
Oftentimes, simplicity is the best strategy. SnugZ USA, an industry supplier located in Salt Lake City, Utah, had difficulty making a splash at trade shows. They felt as if they were a minuscule fish in a gargantuan pond! Year after year…Read More
A time-tested use of promotional products is packaging them with a retail item as a free gift. An outdoor/camping supply store launched a new line of camping tents and wanted to highlight the release, as well as boost sales.
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Promotional Calendars – Building Your Brand A Little More Every Day
Promotional Calenders are a great way to build a brand. Before I jump into why, we have hosted a great case study involving 
promotional calenders and a well known national convenience store. Click here to check out our promotional calendar case study
Promotional calendars are a staple in the promotional products realm. They’re a tried and true product and immensely effective in promoting one’s business. Why has this product possessed so much longevity? Three reasons: breadth of use, practicality, and aesthetics. We’ll tackle each of these reasons separately, expounding on each as we go.
Breadth of Use—
First and foremost, the vast majority (97%) of all businessmen/women use a calendar on a near daily basis. That means that every day, Monday through Friday, they’re staring at their busy schedule, and consequently everything around it. This could be your logo, or slogan, or both (which would be my suggestion).
Practicality—
Because calendars are used so widely by professionals, it only makes sense to capitalize on giving them something that they need in order to stay sane! A study conducted in 2008 showed that nearly 50% of the average user would, if they were without their calendar for a day, be severely affected by its absence! I will reiterate: just one day without a calendar and their lives would be severely affected! Outside of the practicality of giving a promotional calendar, the use in and of itself is practical. People need to plan out their busy lives, and a calendar is a great gift to aid them in that pursuit. Talk about one being thankful!
Aesthetics—
Human beings enjoy beauty and art. With a promotional calendar one can give their customers an aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable gift that serves as a work of art! Some artistic flair goes a long way when giving away promotional items, as you appeal to one of the basic human desires: beauty. If you hand a client a calendar that is artistically interesting and intriguing, you’re hitting the practical and the aesthetic elements (what they need and what they enjoy), a perfect combination, and a tested way of improving customer relations and securing future business.
Promotional calendars are both practical and enjoyable (which don’t always go hand in hand), and are a great way to promote one’s business. Here are some helpful tips when deciding to design a calendar series:
1) Ensure well-integrated design—make sure that the calendar fits your brand image and “flavor.” Check the logo design, color palette, subject matter, and content of each month’s graphic to make sure that it fits with your company likeness and culture, as it is a reflection of who you are as a business. Also, make sure to implement your logo in the design for each month, as you don’t want them forgetting who gave them such an awesome gift!
2) Taylor the calendar to the client—this is just as much a design issue as the art you place on each page. Should you use the traditional flip calendar, or the year-at-a-glance calendar? Pocket or full-sized? Magnetic or paper? All of these choices should be well thought-out and planned. For example, if you’re main client is a contractor, they’re probably not going to want the fanciful, full-color version of your calendar, but rather the simple, large, full-month calendar. Don’t worry, you can still flash your logo on it!
3) Make it pretty, make it relevant— No one wants something ugly hanging on their wall, so don’t send out an ugly calendar! Take time with the design, and try to avoid using stock photos of butterfly’s and flowers (unless that fits your business, then go for it)!
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Promotional Calenders – At A Great Price
Credit Union Promotes Movie Night with Popcorn
Believe it or not, emotionality has much to do with brand devotion and connection. People feel sentiments towards brands, and so it
is vital for a business to do as much as they can to ensure that those emotions are positive! A credit union in found a fun and creative way to not only promote their brand and service, but to also serve a worthy cause. The event? a community-wide movie night where a local food bank was benefited. The problem: few attendants. The solution: popcorn.
The choice was made to imprint bags of popcorn and send them out to members of the community, primarily focusing on their current customer base. They designed the logo with aesthetics and functionality in mind, and decided to use the bags as an invitation. They included the name of the event, the time, the location, the date, and of course, their logo. What good is a promotion without your company logo, right? The results: more than 1,200 attendants, raising over a half-ton of food for the food bank and non-profit organizations!
Promotional Points
1) Fun and creative—This company could have merely sent out nicely printed paper invitations, but these would have been easily forgotten in the rest of the mounds of mail members of the community received each day. The use of the popcorn bag made more a memorable promotion that worked, beautifully.
2) Inexpensive—Popcorn bags are inexpensive, and the return (a positive, trusting attitude towards the company and helping out local charities) was invaluable.
3) Personal—The credit union sent out spokespeople to approach community members, personally inviting them to the event. This adds a whole new dimension to the promotion when face-to-face contact is made.
*Not all case studies described are owned by Surge Promotions. We seek to inform, enlighten, and inspire our clients to reach their creative limits through sharing information and working with them to achieve the most unique, and most profitable promotion possible.
Advertising Merchandise – 4 Steps to Ensure A Successful Campaign!
Advertising Merchandise, also known as Promotional Products or Advertising Specialties, can elevate your business to the next level. Many companies add promotional marketing into their budgets separate from TV and Radio advertising simply because of its efficiency. However, there are several factors that you need to keep in mind when planning your campaign:
1. Who is your Client? (Defining your Target Market)
It’s critical to choose a promotional product that suits the nature of your target market. We hope you’ve done some research on your potential clients and made some conclusions. If not, you shouldn’t take another step without clearly defining your target. In order to do so, you will need to ask yourself a few questions to clearly focus on your target demographic:
Is my target a business or an individual?
Am I targeting men, women or both?
Will they be professionals?
What is the age range of my target audience?
Am I targeting singles or married couples?
Do they have other common interests?
2. How to Distribute?
Sometimes distribution will determine what product you choose. Other times, the product will be the deciding factor on how you distribute them. I’ve placed distribution first here simply because many businesses generate campaigns around events and distribution channels more often than around products themselves.
One of the most common outlets is for tradeshows or similar type events. Any type of gathering of like-minded businesses or organizations that exhibit to potential consumers provides a great opportunity of distributing advertising merchandise.
Another popular distribution channel is direct mail. You can send items such as traditional letters, postcards sealed with magnets, or custom promotional boxes with intriguing messages.
3. What’s your Budget?
Your budget can dramatically affect the complexity of your promotional campaign. Hopefully you’ve been able to develop an idea for what your customers are worth to you. Is your average client worth $150/year? $500/year? $1,500/year? Use this information, along with what it typically costs to gain a new customer, and set your budget and goals for the campaign. If a customer is worth $500 per year, and you think that you could land 5 new accounts with this campaign, how much are you willing to spend to earn that $2,500 in profit? $500? $1,000?
4. Choosing Your Advertising Merchandise
A lot of this depends on the information that has been gathered answering the questions above. Look at the following criteria to help narrow down you selection.
Are you wanting a product that is useful (ice scraper, ink pen, etc) or that will be proudly displayed (lapel pin, plush toy, desk clock)?
Do you want a high dollar item, for example 100 – $5.00 items or 500 – $1.00 items?
Is this item going to need to be shipped individually or bulk to a tradeshow or event?
Does it need to fit in a tradeshow or gift bag or other packaging?
Keeping all of these elements in mind will ensure that your promotional marketing campaign is targeted and effective for your event. Your distribution will be smoother, and your objects are kept top of mind. You should keep all of these factors in mind with each new project, and remember.. document your successes and failures. While not every project will be met with overwhelming success, if you’ve analyzed your position and your strategies, you’ll come out ahead.
Keep checking back on this site to get more tips for using your advertising merchandise as effectively as possible.
Want to get serious about using Promotional Products in a marketing campaign or to increase your branding and boost your sales? Email or Call Us Today.
Email: info@surgepromotions.com
Phone: 859-624-0045
Connect With Us
- Foursquare – Checking in Without a Reservation March 8, 2010
- We’re Not in Kansas Anymore… March 4, 2010
- Jered’s “SicNasty” Birthday Spectacular! February 26, 2010