Are your promotional items worthy of your brand?
March 4, 2008 by ShannonCherry
Filed under Business
I was at an event last week where someone was using a promotional item as a free giveaway.
More often than not, I see people give away pens. To me, that’s boring – and certainly says nothing about a brand.
This guy who was offering the promotional item realized this too. So he took a different approach, but it was just as flawed.
He gave away brain-shaped stress balls with his logo on it. And he said, “Here. You can use a brain!”
Besides the fact he completely insulted his target customer, the brain had NOTHING to do with what he did, which was to create websites.
Now I love bobbles, doo-dads and chochkies as promotional item. They can create great brand awareness. But you should think about the item BEFORE you purchase it. When deciding on a promotional item, consider these questions:
- How does it relate to what you do?
- Is it something your target market really wants and needs?
- Is it something that will truly remind your prospects about you and your business?
- Will other people notice the item and inquire about it?
Everyone who got a ‘brain’ left it on the tables at the end of the day. Luckily for me, I stayed behind and scooped them all up.
My kids love them and my pup has chewed on a few too!
Feel bad for the guy. Did anyone approach to give him this constructive criticism?
Put yourself in his position for a moment, would you appreaciate someone telling you ‘reality’ “It’s better to have a promotional item relate to your business, if you wat clear advice pay for a mentor or get in a mastermind group.”