PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS

Promotional marketing products are powerful business tools and are a great medium to build your business reputation, reinforce your service/product and increase sales. They are the only form of advertising that gives your logo visibility for years to come. From achieving short-term goals like increasing sales, to long-term brand reinforcement, promotional products are suitable for various campaigns.Our products are direct from the wholesaler to you .

Our mission is to provide a personal service to our customers and to make sure that their vision becomes a reality. It can be daunting trying to come up with designs for prints on any product particularly without the equipment to do it. It truly is important to us that organising ALL of your promotional needs is taken care of; from the initial idea all the way until the finished product reaches your hands.

Promo items facts and figures
REACH
• 71% of business travellers surveyed at an international airport recently reported having received a promotional product in the last 12 months.
• 33.7% of this group had the item on their person. The item was promoting the givers logo repeatedly to the participant and their associates.
• 55% of people surveyed kept their promotional product for more than one year and 75.4% said they kept their promotional product because it was useful.

RECALL
76.1% of the respondents could recall the advertisers name on the product they have received in the last 12 months
In comparison, 80% of participants answered yes to reading a newspaper or magazine in the last week but only 53.5% of them could recall the name of a single advertiser .

Total Promotional Product Sales: Sales in Australia:
$1.56 Billion (an increase of 35% in the last 3 years)

Information supplied by APPA ( The Australasian Promotional Product Association)

Nature Coast Promotions is based in the Eurobodalla on the south coast of NSW. Its your number one source for promo items to get your business more exposure.

When to use promotional items

It probably sounds like I think promotional items are a waste of money - they aren't. When done well, promotional products can form a very effective part of your marketing mix. They don't work, however, when little or no thought is put into the reasons for their purchase, and the act of presenting the gift is not linked to the delivery of a relevant message.

Here are some ways you can use your promotional items to good effect: (1)

1. Client acknowledgment: Remind your customer that your relationship with them is valued and important.

2. Employee recognition: Express your appreciation for employees or provide as an incentive to employees to achieve more.

3. Competitive advantage: Provide tangible reinforcement of how/why your company is unique.

4. New product announcements: Create interest and excitement for a new product or service.

5. Special events: Act as a permanent reminder to your customer of you and your event.

6. Trade show support: Be remembered long after the show.

7. Product development: Help generate immediate recognition and brand awareness.

8. New market focus: Build an everlasting impression and create interest.

9. Image development: Emphasise themes of value, service, commitment, quality and performance.

10. Increase visibility: Your company name on an everyday staple affords visibility and serves to remind clients of your product/service.

11. Drive website traffic: Offer a visible reminder of how to find you online.

12. Encourage referrals: Offer as an incentive to encourage clients to refer your company to potential prospects.

13. Supplement direct mail: Encourage greater response to direct mail offers by including a promotional product as part of the offer.

How to ensure success:

The choice of what promotional item to use can be challenging. Marketing & eBusiness magazine suggest the approach should, "Examine factors such as the level of seniority of the intended recipients, their nationality, geographic location, time of year and how valuable a customer they are."(2) We suggest you consider these factors as you work through the following seven-step process developed to help ensure maximum ROI on your next promotional item purchase:(3)

Seven-step process:

1. Define the specific objective you are trying to achieve by offering your promotional item.

2. Determine how you are going to distribute the item to your target audience.

3. Create a central theme that supports your image or position in the market.

4. Develop a message to support the theme.

5. Select a promotional product that bears a natural relationship to your profession or your theme.

6. Ensure you haven't picked an item based solely on uniqueness, price or perceived value.

7. Use a qualified and reputable promotional product supplier.

The key to all successful promotional campaigns is to use a promotional item that is different, supports your image and uses a clever and succinct message that emphasises your point of difference.

References:
(1) http://www.promotionalproducts.net/reasons_to_use_promotional_products.htm
(2) It's in their hands. Marketing & eBusiness magazine (August 2002)
(3) http://www.buildapromotion.com/steps/index.asp