Attract & Keep Customers with Promotional Products

Keeping your name in front of customers and prospects is critical to growing your business. especially if you rely heavily on word-of-mouth and referrals. You've got to find ways to make it easy for people to remember you and find you.

The following statistics and trend information from the Promotional Products Association International might surprise you:

• Mailing a pen or other promotional product along with a sales letter can increase the number of prospects that call you back by as much as 50 percent.

• Customers who receive promotional products as gifts are more likely to refer friends, colleagues, and others to your company than those who don't.

• Promotional products can help increase repeat orders from your customers by as much as 16 percent.

• Sending a useful promotional product like a baseball cap or t-shirt instead of a general thank you note can enhance your customer's positive feelings about you by as much as 25 percent.

• At trade shows, promotional products can increase awareness of and preference for an exhibitor's products by as much as 70 percent.

Besides the ever-popular pens, key chains and letter openers, you can find a wide variety of items that can be personalized and used as promotional giveaways. Nowadays, everything from luggage tags and golf tees to water bottles and measuring tapes can be imprinted with slogans, company names, and more. What's important, however, is to select something that is useful and that your customers will want to use again and again.

Some other creative ways to use promotional products include:

• To reinforce early orders and early payments, for instance, send a pen to customers who consistently pay once a bill arrives.

• To thank customers for their business. For example, bicycle dealers may want to give out free water bottles with the purchase of every bicycle and auto repair shops may include floor mats with every service job.

• To support community events, sport teams, and educational programs. Instead of giving money to your town's summer festival for instance, try donating Frisbee® Discs imprinted with your logo. Or donate balloons to the high school graduation ceremonies as a way of showing your company's pride in students' accomplishments.

• To recognize employees for their hard work and length of service to your company give them sweatshirts, jackets or t-shirts. These are popular gifts for employees on 5- or 10-year anniversaries. (Remember, employees who feel good about your company may do a better job with customers.)

Think over your brand to see if there is a tie-in you can make. The more you can relate the item to the rest of your company, the more powerful it becomes.