Are Your Promotions Being Trashed?

I was recently seeing a customer who was in a rush for an upcoming event. The phone call went something like this, "I need some ideas we have a sales meeting next week. Can you help?". So I put some ideas together that would work for this customer and that we could get quickly. When I arrived at the meeting a couple of people could not join in because they were still in the "agency" meeting - planning for 2013. So it got me thinking about how much planning went into logoed items and why a logoed item does not get the same attention as a print or digital item.
 Several studies show that logoed items are highly favored by recipients and are used frequently. I've personally gone into several meetings were someone in the group will say "I love that waterbottle or I still use the bag we got a few years ago". In fact in Warren Buffett's biography The Snowball, he said that his favorite  thing about going to the summit in Sun Valley was the free polo shirt! So why do logoed items get a bad rap? It's because companies often scrounge around before a trade show, meeting or event to come up with a cheap way to give out  a lot of merchandise, which always tends to backfire and leads to people in organization saying "Well that was a waste of money".  Instead of getting that kind of reaction use the opportunity to align your marketing strategy and turn your logoed items into a valuable marketing tool. Here are a few simple but critical steps to take

• Determine your target audience and your budget
• Collaborate with your logoed merchandise person to select products that are useful and relevant to the nature of your business, event or meeting.
• Order products from a reputable company to ensure good quality. Don't skimp and select cheap quality items to save a few pennies. It' your brand on the item and it's reputation will suffer if you look cheap.

Done correctly, logoed merchandise handouts that tie directly into the nature of your business create an important marketing tool. They help create name recognition, promote a positive image and ultimately generate leads and interest in your business.