By Remy Raitt
The goal of the gift
Heidi Andrews, the owner of
Brand Innovation says your choice of gift should always be dependent on the intended audience. “It should add value to the receiver and aim to make them feel appreciated,” she says.
Gifts can’t go without…
Janet Van Ginkel, the owner of
Paper Tree Projects, a member of
The Vortex, says if you are planning to give gifts or promotional items the most important thing is to ensure your logo and contact details are visible.
“There is no point in handing out a pen with no details, it’s a waste of money and won’t achieve any marketing goals.” Van Ginkel says the two things that should appear on every promotional item are the company’s logo and web address. “If there’s limited branding space, ensure those two things are clearly visible, if you have more space other details can be added, but you don’t want to overdo the information either.”
Choosing an item
“Lots of gifts like pens and USBs have been done to death and will continue to be done,” says Van Ginkel. “People won’t throw these items away, they do have a lifespan, but eventually they will find their way to the back of a drawer or into a jar.”
Andrews says because these items are usually bought in bulk at limited cost, care should be taken in selecting something useful. Both she and Van Ginkel encourage people to try and source local products in favour of mass-produced items from Asia.
Van Ginkel recommends always choosing something simple, effective and thoughtful over mass-produced, cold, hard plastic.
“We focus on local business for manufacturing locally produced items,” says Andrews. “Some of the popular items we supply are solar lamps, first aid kits and technology.”
Relevance is paramount
There’s an abundance of opportunities to be witty and clever when deciding on a gift. A golf club shaped pen won’t go down if you’re a medical supplier. But measuring cups would be a useful, memorable and applicable gift for a
media monitoring company.
Think out the box and seize the opportunity to spend your budget on something that’s bound to be effective, and most importantly memorable.
Taking it beyond the tangible
Nancy Wagner of
Demand Media suggests using your promotional gift as a gateway to further brand awareness. By including online competition codes or
QR codes, receivers are encouraged to further explore the brand online. This also opens up opportunities to capture information about the recipient, who could then be targeted as a customer.
The risks
Wagner warns that promotional products at events attract two types of people; those who are genuinely interested in your brand and those just looking for a freebie.
“The best way to eliminate the freeloaders is to qualify the person as a potential prospect by asking questions and finding out their level of interest in your product or services. Then, even if they don’t buy immediately, at least you know there’s interest.”
She says giving out gifts also has the potential to set standards, prompting expectations from clients or staff. She advises the best way to avoid this is to give gifts randomly.
There are ways to incorporate promotional items into all budgets. Do you believe they make a difference? Let us know in the comments below.