Company-branded merchandise is any promotional item with your name or company logo. These items serve as advertisements for your company, increasing its brand and visibility, promoting the brand’s message, and attracting potential customers.
Meet Your Business Goals with Branded Merchandise
Branded merchandise is a cost-effective way to promote your business. These items can be produced and distributed relatively cheaply compared to television and print ads. With the right merchandise, you see longer-lasting visibility and ongoing benefits with minimal investment. Studies show it can boost sales by up to 15% and increase customer referrals by 22%.
The more business and marketing leaders investigate branded merchandise, the more they can see those benefits. Let’s look at why many companies have made branded merchandise an ongoing component of their sales and marketing strategy.
Provides a Great First Impression
Investing in premium-quality merchandise will show your customers you have high standards for your products or services. After all, if your merchandise is made of the best quality, your product will likely be also. Remember, a first impression can have a lasting impact on your brand equity with prospects and customers.
Increases Customer Loyalty
Branded merchandise is a great way to show your customers that you value their support and appreciate their business. 70% of consumers in the U.S. said they felt more appreciated when they received a promotional product, compared to all other types of advertising. When consumers enjoy using a product, they are more likely to remember the brand and continue to purchase their product or service.
Captures the Public’s Attention
How do you capture attention in just a moment? Branded merchandise delivers your brand’s message in a way that’s easy to digest. While one survey pointed out that 66% of those interviewed don’t actively watch TV ads, branded merchandise is a useful, uncomplicated marketing tool that consumers will likely look at, use, and display in front of others. Best of all, the right merchandise entices users to pay attention rather than fight for attention at the wrong moments.
Offers an Additional Stream of Revenue
Like store items, branded merchandise can be sold in your restaurant to generate passive income. Additionally, it can be offered as an upselling opportunity to increase your customers’ spending before they check out. Depending on the merchandise, it can feed into the collector in all of us with high-quality, fun products and a clever design.
Creates Collaboration Opportunities
Branded merchandise can offer great networking opportunities. If you partner with a complementary business, you can cross-promote and share the cost of the merchandise. Or work with a local artist to create merchandise together. You’ll get a potentially fantastic design, help another local business, and benefit from exposure to your partner’s audience.
Brings Brand Awareness
As mentioned, branded merchandise is a great way to advertise your product or services and create brand awareness for potential customers. However, investing and distributing this merchandise is only worth it if it brings value to the customer’s lives. Although it may be more tempting to invest in less expensive options such as business cards or branded pens, your customers are more likely to use and appreciate an item with value. Here is a list of branded products your customers will cherish and use forever.
Ideas for Using Branded Merchandise
Finding, designing, and selecting branded merchandise is only the first step in promoting your business and meeting your business goals. Here are a few ideas for turning your branded merchandise into sales opportunities and marketing gold.
Holiday Gifts
The gift-giving season is perfect for sending branded merchandise to past and current customers to show appreciation. From your customers to your staff, distributing a nice holiday kit is the perfect way to express your gratitude and good wishes for the new year.
Conference Giveaways
Conferences are the perfect setting to distribute smaller branded merchandise items. You can hand them out during the conference or set them out for attendees to take as they leave.
Sponsored Events
If an upcoming local event suits your industry, consider becoming a sponsor. By distributing branded merchandise with your logo and company tagline, you will leave a lasting impression on the participants.
Direct Mail
Although this method will require additional mailing costs, the best way to ensure leads receive your merchandise is to send it directly to them. While most people throw away paperwork they don’t recognize, they are less likely to throw away a gift. To ensure receipt, you could even send the recipient a text message or email to remind them to check their mail to accept their gift.
Grand Openings
Encourage people to enter your new facility by offering branded merchandise. Unique little kits will entice people to tour the grounds and ask questions about your product or service. Whether it’s a new store or factory, a gift will make the visit more memorable and encourage people to tell their friends about the grand opening.
Incentivize Influencers
Take advantage of the celebrity pull by connecting with influencers in your industry and encourage them to talk about your product or service by sending branded merchandise gifts. Influencers already have a group of followers, and you can use their influence to create awareness for your brand. Create additional buzz for your product by targeting social media influencers with a large base to post pictures of the merchandise or give an honest review.
Boost Your Business with Branded Merchandise
Determining the most suitable company-branded merchandise for your business is not always easy. But the best branded merchandise should leave a lasting impression and be products people want to keep. Choosing the perfect product to give away makes a huge difference in growing your brand and helping you increase customer retention.
A brand specialist will give you personalized advice to aid you in creating strategies for launching and promoting products that increase awareness about a company. GO2 Partners has a team of brand promotion specialists who can answer any questions.
The brand specialists will get to know your needs and objectives, develop, design and execute effective tactics to improve your brand identity, increase brand awareness, and help you sell more products. By discussing your needs with the specialists at GO2 Partners, you will develop a brand strategy that brings results.
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