One day, I read something stating that promotional products do not appear to add any value to the quality of the products which they associate with. This makes me ponder and examine the role of the promotional item industry that I am now working in.

How do Promotional Items work in the Eye of Individual Consumer Consideration?

When buying, importing, selling, or exporting something, I am always told that quality is the most important factor. And we must always strive to improve the quality of our products, no matter how small or large they are.

This makes me wonder whether branded gifts can actually influence people’s purchasing habits, with most surveys claiming that giveaways make people familiar with the company’s brand. Is brand recognition related to people’s buying activity or a foil to quality?

As the saying goes, life is not worth living if it is not subject to reexamination. To find the answers to these questions, I’d look into my typical purchasing habits When I am considering purchasing something expensive such as a home appliance, quality is usually the first thing that comes to my mind, rather than any brand name that I am familiar with. And I would conduct some search, seek some advice, then weigh my options before making my final decision.

If the brand of the giveaways that I keep is on my list, it does not mean much because I understand that promotional products do not guarantee product quality. And, as outsourced items, they have nothing to do with the production process and quality control actions of the product I am purchasing.

When I buy something of little value, such as drinks, my personal reference may be important, but convenience is often more of a random consideration.

Of course, some marketing experts would argue that people do not buy things at random, but are influenced by a variety of factors such as cultural, traditional, community elements, wagon effect, and advertising bombing effect. In this case, brand recognition generated from promotion products may distribute somehow in the marking route.

Marketing and Product Quality

I believe that giving out promotional items is part of the marketing strategy because it is mostly done by the marketing or sales department, and occasionally by the customer service personnel.

However, the role of promotional items does not appear to be significant in the overall marketing strategy, as they typically account for a very small portion of the marketing budgets when compared to those of advertising or other types of promotional activities.

To delve deeper into the potential return of a promotional item, I find it difficult to determine whether customers are purchasing your product under the impression of your branded items. Of course, part of the reason lies in the fact that marketing with promotional gifts is a very slow process, as people may keep their giveaways for months or even one year. After all, marketing strategy works in a complex way to influence people’s buying decisions.

However, in today’s business world, where the consumer is king, promotional merchandise is designed to appeal to human nature, as people are delighted to have something useful and free of charge. And something is better than nothing, as the old saying goes. Moreover, it seems that promotional products have more power in the business of repeating purchases, which I believe people also focus on quality when making their first purchase.

To summarize, quality is the most important consideration for the success of any product or service. Product quality should be the heart of product production and marketing framework, regardless of how novel marketing forms are.

More about Promotional Products

In 1950, a graduate student named Joe Segel first began selling promotional items in his school. He later named his product catalog Advertising Specialty. And later on came Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), a promotional product industry association in the United States.

Then the term CIP (cost-per-impression)was coined to persuade companies to promote their brands with promotional gifts. CIP refers to the amount of money spent to obtain one view of an item.

For example, if a buyer spends $10 on a branded hoodie, and that hoodie generates 1,000 views over its lifespan, the CPI is one cent. And the CPI of a one-dollar pen is even lower, at less than 1/10 of a cent, much lower than that of any other advertising medium, making promotional gifts an excellent choice for small businesses with low budgets.

Statistically, promotion products do play a role in the marketing section, as the sales volume of the US promotional item industry is $1.85 billion in 2011, and $2.05 billion in 2021, with an annual growth rate of around 8%.

How to Select the Right Promotional Items for Your Company?

Therefore, while we strive to continuously improve product quality a continuous way, marketing and finding the right promotional items will also help with product sales.

And, as a professional company providing promotional items for over 16 years, we believe that a better understanding of the marketing plan, as well as the needs of the targeted audience, is critical in determining the ideal giveaways.

And the following elements should also be considered when making your decision:

#1. Observe the trends

Following trends is beneficial, especially true for technology-related swag, which can quickly become obsolete. Every one wants something useful and long-lasting, not cheap and fleeting.

“Yes, I know this, and I understand trends are important.” you may say, “But, how do I observe the trend and make an informed decision?” Well, we frequently use google Trends or SNS to analyze and predict trends.

For example, if you want to choose a promotional item for some promotional project, you now have two options after considering your marketing goal and the audience’s reference: a sports towel and a phone case. They are rough of the same price, and both suitable to print your logo, with nearly the same lifespan and CIP. But you don’t know which one your audience will prefer. Then, google Trend will certainly be of great help in making a reasonable decision.

As shown in the graph below, the phone case enjoys a higher search rate on Google than the sports towels. This means that most people who search during this time period are more interested in phone cases than sports towels, despite the fact that they belong to different catalogs, as one looks novel, while the other is traditional. And of course, the decision is made in light of individual circumstances.

Furthermore, by paying attention to some popular posts on SNS most of the time, you will gradually gain an idea of what is hot right now. By great chance, these popular elements will become hot-selling products at any time. You can even let your imagination run wild and apply these popular trends to new product development.

Please browse my other article at the below link on how to find a suitable Chinese supplier to help you develop and produce new products:

#2. Abandon the concept of “cost performance”

In my business career, my guests often ask: ”Angela, we have a limited budget this time, so we can’t order something with a high unit price. You’d better suggest something cost-effective to match our budget.”

Indeed, cost control is an unavoidable issue for almost all industries, particularly in the current global economic downturn. But I doubt the idea of “cost performance”. There is nothing “at cheap price and of consistent quality” It is almost a false proposition in my opinion. Rather than working around the myth of “cost performance”, it might be down-to-earth to consider choosing the right promotional items.

What exactly is the “right promotional item”? Well, for instance, your company plans to attend an exhibition. Then, for thirsty customers, printing the company logo on the cup and providing free coffee at the booth is a pleasant approach. Moreover, there is a good chance that customers will stop by your booth and talk with you while drinking coffee, which will help to promote your business and increase your customer understanding.

You can even make an appointment with the guests for the next coffee in the conversation, by saying, “What do you think of our coffee? If you have time, you are welcome to return to our company to taste it again after the exhibition.”

All this stems from a coffee cup with a logo printed on it. It’s not expensive, but it’s the appropriate item, leaving customers feeling happy and making a good association with the brand.

Of course, the premise is that your coffee is not bad. Otherwise, forget what I said.

#3. Choose promotional items that are relevant to your products

For example, if a large kitchen appliance retailer needs to do promotional activities, kitchen tools are a good choice to make. This is just a simple example. I’d like to explain why choosing products that are closely related to your products will strengthen customers’ perceptions of your company.

Customers will believe that this company can not only sell kitchen appliances but also give practical kitchen tools as gifts and it must be highly professional in the kitchenware field. This will, in fact, increase their fondness for this company. It’s similar to when you are buying a mobile phone, and the nice salesperson even prepares a mobile phone case for you. “Exceeding guests’ expectations” is not only the essence of the promotional products industry but also of all businesses.