How to Choose the Most Appropriate Promotional Products
Promotional items are a great way to build your brand awareness with prospects and clients. When someone has a tangible item literally in their hand, your branding will become more memorable. Further, they can show genuine appreciation to existing customers, which builds customer loyalty and advocacy.
How to Design Promotional Products
When designing promotional products, the key is first to define the purpose. What are you designing for? A leave-behind? A thank you gift to new clients? This is known as starting with the end in mind. What do you want the outcome to be - how do you want the recipient of your gifts to feel? At Flow Fulfilment, we always want to provide our services simpler, faster, and cheaper.
Therefore, we created our 'Three D's' design process for all of our graphic design services, and it enables us to develop incredible promotional product designs for your business:
- Discovery. A 1-2-1 meeting to discover what you're trying to achieve.
- Design. We produce draft proposals that include mockups in different guises (e.g. on a thank you card, on a pen, on a bottle of wine, etc.).
- Delivery. We deliver a complete artwork folder ready for you to begin ordering promotional items from us immediately.
The Best Times to Send Promotional Merchandise
The time to send gifts must align with the purpose of the gift. If a Christmas gift, then the beginning of December is ideal. Don't leave it too late, as the recipients may already be on annual leave.
With thank you gifts, these are ideal after the clients first order/purchase with you - often a week after they have received the item is perfect. Therefore, with everything, always consider what is most appropriate for the purpose of that particular gift - this will dictate the best timing.
Promotional Items to Show Appreciation
After a client has purchased from you, stand out from your competitors by sending a thank you gift or thank you pack. These needn't be expensive - often, a branded box with a notepad, pen, chocolates, coaster and a handwritten thank you card is above and beyond their expectations.
However, if they have just purchased a £60k BMW from you, a posh bottle of champagne may be more appropriate!
Leave Behind Promotional Products
A leave-behind gift is literally something you leave behind. Consider estate agents typically leave a presentation folder containing various info when they value your home. To go one step further, leave gifts too. For a home with young kids, leave behind a branded teddy or toy.
Promotional Merchandise for Exhibitions
At exhibitions, companies use so many items to entice people first to visit their stand (often sweets, food or drinks), and equally so many things to help them stand out from other businesses.
Bags are key here - generally, you use the best bag to put everything else in, so make sure it's your bag that's being paraded around the exhibition! Consider ones useful to the exhibition with the gifts you hand out, such as a business card holder.
Christmas Promotional Gifts
When considering your Christmas gifts, a good idea is to print out your client list in order of annual spend and choose gifts for different tiers (e.g. top 10% spenders receive X).
Ideally, include a personalised Christmas card with your gift signed by the team, or at least by their Account Manager. Bottles of wine, hampers, boxes of chocolate can all be personalised, wrapped and packaged in your company branding.
Designing Employee Gifts
Often, employers overlook the power of gifts with their employees. However, a gift can often be more appreciated than money, especially when apparent thought has been put into it.
Where possible, buy employee gifts on an individual basis, tailored to each person's interests. For example, if they have children, a gift for their kids will be much more powerful than a gift for themselves. In addition, great employee gifts enhance employee loyalty and performance.
Order Promotional Products from Your Personal Print Portal
Within our group (The Flow Group), we have The Personal Print Portal, which enables you to have all of your print products (not just promotional merchandise) print-ready on your portal ready to order in just a couple of clicks.
When you request a FREE portal, you will see a category full of promotional products. Further, if there's a product not shown, simply enquire, and we will add that product to your portal for you.
Next Step
Our Sales Consultants and Graphic Design team are here for you. They can discuss your project with you, provide a host of ideas, and create beautiful and compelling artwork.
So, to benefit from the power of promotional products for your business, please do get in touch today.
7 Top Tips for Promotional Products:
- Remember, everyone loves to receive gifts, so wrap them up and make them feel special.
- Design them uniquely, with your brand clearly shown. Often a simple message is compelling too.
- Design with purpose. Different gifts are appropriate for different situations, so choose accordingly.
- Check out your competitors. What are they doing, what inspiration can you take, and how can you be better?
- Ask for feedback. Candid incite from those receiving the gifts can help you plan accordingly.
- Personalise. Make the gift unique to each recipient - it could be a handwritten thank you card or even an engraved gift.
- Don't go cheap! Gifts are most appreciated when thought, time and money have been invested.
