10 Key Places To Give Away Your Promotional Products
August 22, 2007 · Print This Article
Usually, you give away promotional products that are personalized with your business name or logo, for example. You do this to advertise your services or products; these are given to customers for “free,” as a means of advertisement. You probably also have these types of products lying around your house, given to you by other businesses.
This can be a very smart way to advertise your business, and it doesn’t have to be very expensive. In general, people love to get things for free.
If your item is particularly useful, they’ll use it for a long time, which further increases the chance that they’ll contact your business and use your products or services, since they’ll be looking at your logo or business name for a very long time.
Following are some ways you can give away your promotional product, and the reasons why you should do so.
#1. Use Your Website
You can hold a monthly giveaway, for example, on your web site in which you will give a winner one of your promotional products. To be most effective, think about your target market.
What is it that they’ll like? For example, if your web site has information on dog grooming, for example, you can give away free shampoo or some other grooming product in your giveaway.
#2. Use Other People’s Websites
You can also give away your product on other people’s web sites; they should be noncompetitive, in that they are not selling a product or service similar to your own.
However, the site should have a similar target market and its focus should be complementary to yours. For example, if your site has dog grooming products and information, you could offer a free giveaway on a site that offers pet-sitting services, for example.
#3. Use Your Offer As A Means To Get Customers To Upgrade Orders
You can use promotional items to get your customers to upgrade their orders. For example, if you sell dog-grooming products, for example, you can offer a free bottle of shampoo (with your company logo stamped on it, of course) with an order that totals $50 or more. Again, the item offered for the upgrade should be something useful to the customer and not just a gimmick.
#4. Use Free Items To Award Best Customers
You can surprise your best customers with a promotional gift. For example, if you go back through orders for the past year, you can send every customer that spent more than $100 of free promotional item that he or she can use.
This will not only make your customers feel appreciated, but they are more likely to return to your site and shop again, particularly if they know they will get something at no cost to them that they can really use.
#5. Use Free Items To Reward Your Best Affiliates
If you use an affiliate program, you can send your top affiliates a promotional item to thank them for their hard work. Not only will your affiliates be flattered, but they’ll work even harder to promote your products and services.
#6. Give Free Items To Non-competing Businesses And Services
Businesses that are not in competition with you can be a great source of word-of-mouth advertising and referrals. The noncompeting business has a target market similar to yours, but doesn’t sell the same product or services you do.
For example, a pet sitting service and a site that sells dog grooming supplies complement each other and have a similar target market, but don’t sell the same product or service.
#7. Give Away Free Items At Trade Shows
If you’re in a business that uses trade shows as a possible source of more customers, you can go to the trade show and give away free items with your company name or logo on them to get more referrals.
If you wish, you don’t even have to rent a table. You can just get some inexpensive promotional items (such as trial size bottles of dog shampoo with your web site address on them if you sell dog grooming supplies), and hand them out with your business card at the trade show.
#8. Give Away Free Items To Local Businesses
If there are businesses local to your area that would complement yours but that are not in direct competition, you can give them some free samples or promotional items, as well as a cover letter, résumé, and referrals.
This can gain you more referrals if that business sends you its customers. You can return the favor by doing the same and sending your customers to them as well.
#9. Use The Local Media
You can give promotional items to local media outlets, such as radio and television stations, or your local newspaper. If appropriate, you can even throw in some cookies or donuts.
Even if they don’t thank you on air or in print (many can’t, because this is considered conflict of interest for what is supposed to be an objective medium), they may still be able to give you some referrals off air.
#10. Leave Your Promotional Items At Vacation Spots
If you’re going on vacation, grab some of your promotional items and leave them in your hotel room, rest areas, or other places people frequent. You might be able to pick up some business this way with very little effort or expense.
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