Partner Article

Which is the most effective marketing method?

Business owners and decision makers within a company have a whole host of marketing platforms and marketing methods they can use to promote their business and services to the consumer, but, which is the most effective? We now live in a world that is cluttered by advertising and many platforms can be just too expensive or confusing for us to even consider. Marketing budgets are diminishing year on year and marketers need to look for new and inventive ways to get their budgets to stretch further. One marketing method that can often be overlooked or viewed as expensive is the creative use of promotional products and corporate gifts. Promotional items are so much more than just freebies; if a promotional product is deemed as useful by the recipient research shows that 89% of people will keep it. That is why many companies are now recognising the value of promotional items and understanding the different ways they can raise the companies profile and brand awareness of a product or service.

Research has shown that promotional giveaways are often difficult to miss and provide great brand exposure and 89% of recipients have said they kept promotional giveaways for longer than twelve months so maybe it is worth considering using promotional items in a fun and creative way to compliment your traditional newspaper, radio or online advertising campaigns that can often be too expensive to do on an ongoing basis. Include a lightweight mouse mat or pack of sticky notes in your next direct mail piece or include a printed pen in every information pack you send out, send out company information packs on a branded USB, use your very own branded ice cream or flip flops for your Summer marketing campaigns or use printed carrier bags at your next exhibition.

As many businesses spend their marketing budgets online or on more traditional offline advertising trying to acquire new customers the existing and potentially loyal customer is very often overlooked. One of the most effective marketing methods is building good old fashioned working relationships and giving promotional products or corporate business gifts is a great way to achieve this. People love free stuff and promotional products make almost 6 times as many recipients feel appreciated, they motivate over twice as many recipients to take action and invoke loyalty in over three times as many recipients than the mediums of print, web, direct mail or TV.

New research has revealed some fascinating insights into consumers’ reactions to some advertising media. Only 28% watch TV commercials and 73% of consumers find banner adverts are the most annoying advertising medium and promotional products the least annoying. Nearly 39% of consumers indicated they are more likely to remember a TV ad because they see it more often, this is only just ahead of promotional giveaways at 35%. 94% of us remember an advertiser who gives us a promo item or the product it was advertising after we have had it for six months and 98% of the consumers surveyed said they didn’t think promotional products were a waste of money.

Like any marketing activity you undertake you need to do your research and ask yourself a few questions to ensure you get maximum return on investment from your promotional items.

What is your target audience, objectives, timescales and budget for the promotional activity?

What information about your brand do you want to communicate to consumers? Should you include a call to action? What would you like the recipients to think about your company after the campaign?

Do you want information back from the recipients in return for the giveaways?

Have you done other promotional campaigns that have been successful? Can you take any learning’s from this?

Keeping your brand name in front of your existing customers and new customers is critical to any business and promotional items are the perfect way to get your brand noticed, seen, heard and talked about giving you maximum return on investment.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Isla .