Power of Promotional Products

How many times have you received a gift from a company? What was your perception of the company?

What are promotional products? Promotional products (also called advertising specialties and identity products) are usually imprinted with a company’s name, logo or message. They include useful or decorative articles of merchandise that are used in marketing, educational, and communication programs.

Positive Image An experimental study conducted by Georgia Southern University in 2005, reveals that recipients of promotional products have a significantly more positive image of the company, than those who don't receive a product. This was evidenced by the recipients' comments about the company; they were notably more positive than those from the non-recipient control group. The difference was statistically significant.ReferralsA different survey found that customers who receive promotional products were more likely to refer the business (the gift provider) to others than the group that received nothing. Conducted by Louisiana State University and Glenrich Business Studies, this study discovered that the winning way to ask clients for referrals is to send a letter along with the offer a promotional product incentive, and eligibility in a sweepstakes. This type of promotional letter can bump up referrals by as much as 500 percent.The Bottom Line Using promotional products with your own clients, the one's who buy from you, is not only positive reinforcement, it is just good business. A random survey of travelers at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport underscores the importance of using promotional products. Seventy-one percent reported receiving a promotional product in the last 12 months. Of those, 52 percent did business with the advertiser company after receiving the product. This study, conducted by L. J. Market Research found that among the recipients who had not done business with the advertiser, almost half said they were more likely to do business with the company that gave them the item. You have the resources at your fingertips. Include promotional products as part of your routine marketing program, and watch your business grow.


Source: Promotional Consultant Today, November 21, 2008.

New Year - Back to Basics

Each year countless people make resolutions to change something about their personal lives. Most of those “give up” or quit after a few short weeks. What about resolutions for your business? We work on preparing budgets for the year, establishing goals that we think people want to hear, but how much effort do we put into working our plan?

Our first goal was to update our website to provide more information, make it easier to locate product and make it appealing to the end user. Our focus over the past two weeks has been accomplishing that goal. Our much improved website has been launched, www.promosmatter.com.

With the current economy conditions, our next goal is getting back to basics. Like many other companies, we continue to seek out ways to grow our client base. Like so many others, we are focused on cold calling, whether by phone or door-to-door. We sometimes forget one of the most effective means of obtaining new clients, referrals.

Talk to your current clients and ask them for referrals. I have a good friend who lives by a philosophy of “the answer is always no, until you ask.” Asking for referrals is cost effective, builds on the relationship with current clients, and provides a means for an introduction. Who do your current clients know? Ask them to find the answer.