Archive for July, 2011

Promotional Marketing + Promotional Risk Coverage= Success and Sales

Promotional Marketing + Promotional Risk Coverage= Success and Sales

Promotional marketing has the same meaning for many people as just the term “marketing,” especially those who are not in the marketing industry. As if what marketers do is nothing more than contests, coupons, and giving out free samples. While that is a part of marketing, promotional marketing is only one small fraction of the big umbrella that makes up Marketing (with a capital M).

Promotional marketing is the idea of promoting your product or service by attracting attention to potential customers. You see this quite a bit in places like grocery stores. The next time you’re walking through your grocery store, count how many promotional marketing items you see: coupons to try a new brand of breakfast cereal, or the free samples of a new food item.

Car dealers and timeshare companies are also big fans of promotional marketing. How many “game cards” have you received from a local car dealer where you would win a prize if it showed up under the silver scratch-off discs.

But there’s more to promotional marketing than just coupons and free items. Contests are another popular method of marketing promotions. Whether it’s a bank giving you 30 seconds in a giant box filled with money and a large fan, letting you grab as many of the fluttering bills as you can, or it’s a golf tournament that will give you a free car if you hit a hole in one on the 14th hole, contests are another great way to bring in potential new customers.

The most famous promotional marketing contest is the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, where you could win million or more, as well as subscribe to different magazines. We went nuts for these when we were kids, begging our parents to please please enter, because we could win a million dollars!

The reason people respond to these promotional marketing campaigns is they’re attracted to the large cash and prize giveaways. Sure, logically we know that the odds of winning are higher than the odds of being struck by lightning, but emotionally, we hope we’ll beat the odds just that one time.

Of course, promotional marketing experts are worried about the one person who does beat the odds, so promotional risk coverage is available for those promotional marketing campaigns that offer large prizes and cash to winners.

If you want to create an effective promotional marketing campaign, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

* Why are you holding the promotional marketing campaign in the first place? Is it to sell more product, collect names for your customer mailing list, or just to increase brand awareness?
* How will you measure success? Through increased sales, a bigger customer list, or based on the number of promotional marketing items you gave away? We don’t recommend measuring this last item, because measuring the amount of money you spent does not always translate well to the amount of money you’ll make from it. Just ask any auto racing promoter who spent 0,000 and didn’t get a single sale as a result.
* Who is the marketing campaign geared toward? Is the promotional marketing item going to appeal to your target audience? If you are trying to reach younger men between 18 – 34, a contest that has tickets to a football game will draw them in, while two free passes to a day spa will not.
* Are you trying to reach existing customers or looking for new ones? The kinds of promotional marketing items you give away will attract one group or another.
* Are you compliant with the state and federal laws? Do you have promotional risk coverage in case someone wins more than you thought they would? (Imagine how the car dealer must feel when someone hits that hole-in-one and wins a car he wasn’t expecting to give away.) There are a lot of laws surrounding promotional marketing campaigns, and you could run afoul of laws without knowing it. Consult with a promotional marketing professional to ensure you run a clean campaign that doesn’t get you into trouble down the road.

Car dealers and timeshare companies are also big fans of promotional marketing. How many “game cards” have you received from a local car dealer where you would win a prize if it showed up under the silver scratch-off discs.

But there’s more to promotional marketing than just coupons and free items. Contests are another popular method of marketing promotions. Whether it’s a bank giving you 30 seconds in a giant box filled with money and a large fan, letting you grab as many of the fluttering bills as you can, or it’s a golf tournament that will give you a free car if you hit a hole in one on the 14th hole, contests are another great way to bring in potential new customers.

The most famous promotional marketing contest is the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, where you could win million or more, as well as subscribe to different magazines. We went nuts for these when we were kids, begging our parents to please please enter, because we could win a million dollars!

The reason people respond to these promotional marketing campaigns is they’re attracted to the large cash and prize giveaways. Sure, logically we know that the odds of winning are higher than the odds of being struck by lightning, but emotionally, we hope we’ll beat the odds just that one time.

Of course, promotional marketing experts are worried about the one person who does beat the odds, so promotional risk coverage is available for those promotional marketing campaigns that offer large prizes and cash to winners.

If you want to create an effective promotional marketing campaign, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

* Why are you holding the promotional marketing campaign in the first place? Is it to sell more product, collect names for your customer mailing list, or just to increase brand awareness?
* How will you measure success? Through increased sales, a bigger customer list, or based on the number of promotional marketing items you gave away? We don’t recommend measuring this last item, because measuring the amount of money you spent does not always translate well to the amount of money you’ll make from it. Just ask any auto racing promoter who spent 0,000 and didn’t get a single sale as a result.
* Who is the marketing campaign geared toward? Is the promotional marketing item going to appeal to your target audience? If you are trying to reach younger men between 18 – 34, a contest that has tickets to a football game will draw them in, while two free passes to a day spa will not.
* Are you trying to reach existing customers or looking for new ones? The kinds of promotional marketing items you give away will attract one group or another.
* Are you compliant with the state and federal laws? Do you have promotional risk coverage in case someone wins more than you thought they would? (Imagine how the car dealer must feel when someone hits that hole-in-one and wins a car he wasn’t expecting to give away.) There are a lot of laws surrounding promotional marketing campaigns, and you could run afoul of laws without knowing it. Consult with a promotional marketing professional to ensure you run a clean campaign that doesn’t get you into trouble down the road.

Promotional Currency (PC) is a digital promotions firm that merges digital technology, artist licensing and promotional risk coverage to deliver turnkey, fixed-cost solutions that meet the unique needs and budgets of the brand marketing or b2b marketing client. Among product offered are: unique customer loyalty programs, promotional incentives, online promotions and mobile promotions.

Source: ArticlesBase.com

Friday, July 8th, 2011 Promotional Products Comments Off

4 Promotional Items With Impact

4 Promotional Items With Impact

Promotional merchandise can be extremely effective in creating a physical presence for a brand or corporate image. The general rule is the better placed the merchandise, the higher the impact. Good quality promotional products, particularly long lasting items, have a continuum of uses and applications that make them work well in any environment.  An imaginative promotional approach sticks, and it establishes a brand like nothing else.

Promotional items are generally valued comparatively on their “retail” value. This is actually a pretty natural response to any gift item. Something worth is more valued than something worth . With promotional items, therefore, the perceived value of the items is highly relevant.

The novel, mid and high value promotional items, can be very good, even surprising, promotional assets. Their marketing value is considered higher than their retail value, mainly because they’re very strong in their presentation. They also reflect an implied value on the recipient, another major plus in terms of values.

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Promotion items create their own marketing mix, and fit perfectly into the classic “Four Ps” of product, price, placement and promotion. Promotional merchandise works the same way as any other marketing product.

A good range of promotional items and related impact values is important. Promotional items like “A free iPod with every purchase over 0″ are obvious value matches. Add the seller’s logo and good presentation of the promotional product to that mix, and you have a perfect promotion at point of sale. A wide range of promotional products as incentives for sales levels is an extremely effective selling point, in any industry.

Promotional products provide a priceless asset to any promotion- Access to customers. The value of the free or incentive promotional items will naturally increase interest. More importantly, it increases the credibility of the offer. The sale is now a deal, where the buyer can gain.

The depth of the market and receptivity of customers is also increased. A good promotional product range will get interest from anyone. Promotion materials like IT products have real value, because they’re all useful. A laptop bag, for example, is very useful, and will be valued accordingly by the recipient. The logo on the bag will be decorative, and if anything add to its value.

To create a very high perceived-value promotion, a package of items can be put together easily. Suppliers of promotional materials can provide anything you need in this regard.

For example consider this as a promotional package:

Laptop bag
VOIP phone
An iPod
Wine bottle gift box
Travel took kit
Promotional stationery
Promotional key ring
LED digital photo frame
Business card holder

Combinations like these provide a lot of high impact positive reinforcement for any promotion. These promotional items will be appreciated, and your promotion will be a major success.

 

Creative Promotions is Australia’s leading provider of high-performance promotional products, complete print management, and warehousing services. For more information, please visit Promotional Products

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Source: ArticlesBase.com

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 Promotional Products Comments Off