Promotional items must go beyond gimmicks to deliver real marketing objectives, says Ian Hodgson, head of merchandise at Charterhouse
With nearly half of marketers spending more on promotional merchandise this year than last, and all businesses sharpening their focus on ROI, it is vital marketers have the right processes in place to maximise their investment in promotional marketing.
Earlier this year, the British Promotional Merchandise Association released research suggesting that promotional merchandise is a particularly cost-effective way of raising brand awareness during a recession.
The best promotional merchandise campaigns are on the marketing agenda at the first wider campaign meeting and come from a collaborative approach between brand, creative and production experts. This ensures creativity is pushed beyond a logo slapped on a USB stick to maximise the real value of the product. This could mean tying it in to the wider campaign through social media, for example, to get the right people thinking about the brand.
So, what can B2B marketers do to ensure their next promotional merchandising campaign is a success?
1. Be clear on objectives
Before forging ahead with creative and strategic plans, it’s vital to establish clear and realistic budgets, objectives and success criteria for the project. What do you want to achieve with this merchandise? Who do you want to target? What metrics can be measured to gauge success – social media activity, sales enquiries, promotion redemption or event subscription?
Do not allow these objectives to evolve throughout the project. If changes must be made, revisit the original objectives and carefully consider what impact this might have.
2. Involve key stakeholders
There is likely to be a large number of internal and external stakeholders interested in your promotional merchandise campaign, such as sales directors, marketing heads, event organisers, brand managers and producers – each with their own agenda. But, as the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth – in this case that can mean wasting time, money and destroy the creativity and impact of your project.
Consult stakeholders at the outset and share the development work with production teams to avoid any last minute changes or alterations. Most of all, ensure the final say goes to a clear-headed, trustworthy project manager. This will minimise conflict and crossed communication further down the line and enable a more efficient process.
3. Align product with strategy
The possibilities with promotional merchandise are seemingly endless, from the design and functionality of the product to the mode of delivery. However, it is imperative to ensure the product is aligned to your brand and ties in to wider campaign objectives.
The merchandising won’t do all of the work for you; take a holistic view of the entire campaign to ensure you have chosen the right product for the right target, at the right time.
Consider how the product might generate social media activity, either by directing customers to particular social media content, e.g videos using URLs or QR codes, or by encouraging user-generated content, tracked by hashtags.
In the consumer space there have been some notable examples of brands using their promotional products to generate social media buzz around events, such as large sporting events or music festivals, but this could be equally effective at B2B conferences and exhibitions.
The important thing to remember is that business executives, when they don’t have their business hats on, are consumers too. The kinds of things that excite consumer audiences and generate buzz are also likely to excite B2B audiences; the trick is to keep it strategic.
Products that set a challenge are good at stimulating involvement and can easily tie in with social media, such as games and puzzles.
Again, it’s important to consider the context in which your product will be used to ensure you hit the right target and get them engaged in your campaign in the right way. But remember, social media engagement can be unpredictable. Think carefully about the potential consequences and applications of your approach to promotional marketing to avoid any embarrassing slip-ups.
4. Ensure viable production
When it comes to budget and time allowances, the sky isn’t the limit. Creativity and thoughtful strategy take time, as does producing quality products on a viable scale.
Always factor in enough time to fully meet your objectives – this includes time for checks and measures during production, for example ethical audits, sampling, testing and inspection.
5. Review the campaign
Once the campaign is complete, take the time to review, against your original objectives, and evaluate what worked (and what didn’t) at the end of the project.
Promotional merchandise can be incredibly cost effective, but there is always an opportunity to hone your approach further. These learnings are vital to a smooth process and should be shared with everyone involved.
