Change Throwaways to Results Generators
Chachkas (sp)…Freebies…Giveaways. Through the years, promotional items have taken on many names…most not very complimentary. We’ve all been on the receiving end of promotional items, and typically our overall impression is synonymous with throw away, little or no value, worthless, not an essential business tool. If you’re on the giving end, certainly this is not the desired response. Time and money have been spent with the ultimate goal of promoting your product and raising awareness of your brand.Let’s use a few other terms. This time I’ll pick words that are synonymous with business in the 21st Century. How about runaway competition; skeptical, hard to reach audiences; slow growth; and low price focus? This second set of terms should shed a new light on the use of promotional items as part of an overall branding strategy.Before you can appreciate how promotional products and branding fit into the solution, let’s expand on the problem. There were more than 33,000 new product introductions in 2004. The more staggering point, more than half of consumers could not name a single product that was introduced. It’s estimated that all of us receive 5,000 messages a day. Think about all the email, voice mail, snail mail, and advertising you receive, not to mention product emblazoned pads and pens, and most people can see how cutting through the communication clutter requires far more effort today than in the past. Actually success is generated more through strategic thinking than just effort.What can you do about this? First, decide on a brand. My definition of a brand is “the sum total of what makes your business or product un