Key takeaways
- Think experientially: how can you make the most of your audience’s attention and give back to them in a meaningful way?
- Print can be digital: Think about how your promotional products fit into your digital conversion journey.
- Purpose and planet: Be thoughtful in your promotions, whether that means putting eco-friendly solutions first or finding a community partnership that speaks to your business’s mission.
Promotional products are a powerful marketing tool when done right. Having an effective strategy for your promotional materials can do more than just boost awareness – it can power customer loyalty and bring your brand to life in new places.
Choosing the right distribution strategy is crucial to creating meaning for your brand. Looking for fresh ideas on the right way to approach promotional products? Read on for innovative ideas that go beyond the traditional to help you maximise your impact and get real return on your investment. Read on to discover our six innovative tips for distributing your promotional products.
1. Leverage Events and Trade Shows
Your target audience, all in the one space? That’s the power of trade shows and events. If you’ve already invested in your branding, this is the perfect place to show it off.
But building awareness at an event isn’t a given. Just being there is part of the battle, but too many exhibitors let themselves become part of the wallpaper, with forgettable branding and poorly planned merchandising.
These days, we’re all experts at tuning out: we’re constantly surrounded by visual noise and have trained ourselves to be selective. That’s why something interactive or useful is crucial to helping you stand out. Make the most of your space and provide a clear, cohesive, well-thought-through experience, and you’re sure to be memorable.
Consider interactive displays or experience-driven tactics that can create a bond with your audience. Don’t just be wallpaper: provide something tangible, something that sticks. Whether this is physical merchandising, informative, useful displays and signage or giveaway guides, is up to you and your business. Need help with the ideation side? Speak to a product expert!
2. Consider Corporate Gifts and Employee Incentives
When you first hear “corporate gifts”, you might not feel particularly excited or energised, but there’s certainly a way to do this type of promotional merchandising that does spark engagement and positive brand sentiment. It’s all in the way you approach it!
Showing appreciation for your employees or your clients comes through thoughtful, genuinely useful or meaningful gifts and creative ideas. This can be something extremely practical – like a branded powerbank or bluetooth speaker: something that makes it easier for your audience to connect and stay connected. To encourage and thank your staff for their hard work, you could consider a wellness pack, containing things like branded yoga mats, sweat towels, fitness gear, or even stress balls. Travel gear also shows you care about their wellness, encouraging them to get outdoors. Things like picnic baskets, backpacks, and durable metal drink bottles are a great choice. Stuck for ideas? You can find plenty more ideas on our full run-down of Corporate Giveaway Ideas here.
3. Embrace“Call To Action” Marketing
When distributing your materials, it’s important to be more than just a logo. Think about the action you want your audience to take first and foremost when you’re designing your merchandise. When your aim goes beyond just awareness, remember that you have the ability to engage customers through your digital presence: QR codes are still highly relevant and useful tools that you have in your arsenal, even when you’re working with print. You can also consider how your promotional products play into other digital experiences: does the QR code lead to a members-only discount? To exclusive content? Remember that your promotional products can be part of the digital journey, or even the keys to it! We’re always happy to help you design and craft this experience – you can chat with our product experts throughout the process to ensure you’re getting the right outcome and maximising your investment.
4. Work with Community Groups and Charity Partners
You and your brand have heart – so show it! Giving back to the communities that support you by supporting them in sponsorship and co-branding. This gives you the opportunity to align yourself with the things you care about, showing where your brand really lives in the hearts of your customers. It’s simple, but impactful: we’ve helped co-brand things like t-shirts, marquees, flags, and event collateral. We’re experts in helping you do this thoughtfully, with people and planet in mind – we can provide both product and guidance to ensure you make the most of your opportunities.
5. Prioritise Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Distribution Methods
Regardless of where it is in their consideration process, you can almost guarantee that your audience is thinking about sustainability. This means that there’s a high likelihood that they expect you to act with respect to the environment. This is vitally important when it comes to creating and distributing promotional materials. At Promo Gear, we’re specialists in thoughtful promotions – we are industry-leading in pushing more sustainable promotional practices, and mitigating the effects where necessary. For us, this means producing high-quality, long-lasting promotional products and incorporating biodegradable or readily recyclable packaging wherever possible. We also work to help reduce any flows to landfill: we consider environmental impact from the start and love working with brands who do the same. We exist to help solve the problem of promotional materials ending up in landfill – help us achieve our goal!
Why Work with Promo Gear for Promotional Products?
We’re the kind of team that wants to sit down with your team and understand your needs: we always find this gives the best service and the most exciting outcomes.
The possibilities go beyond posters – you can come to us with your creative ideas and we’ll make them happen. We’ve created everything from custom socks through to 3D puzzles, paper-free campaigns, and even pinball machines. We’re big picture thinkers and are always happy to chase down an ambitious goal with you!
Want to turn ideas into actions?
Are you ready to take a new approach to promotional products? Are you inspired to start a new project that’s as thoughtful as it is conversion-focused? We’d love to hear from you!
Most of our brightest ideas and biggest projects start as a simple chat with one of our product specialists – reach out for a consultation and start exploring the future of promotions for your business.
