Tag Archives: Promotional Products

9 Simple and Effective Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

As any entrepreneur knows, it can be very difficult getting your feet off the ground and your name out there in the early days of owning a small business. Nobody has ever heard of you before, you don’t have any past customers or testimonials, and you’ve got nobody to spread your services through word of mouth.

That’s where small business marketing strategies come in. In order to be noticed and considered by your target market, you’ll need to advertise or market your business somehow – but what actually works, and where should you start?

In this article, we’ll discuss some small business marketing ideas to jump-start your marketing strategy. Before trying any of these ideas, it’s worth sitting back and considering some marketing goals and budget. Not all the small business marketing ideas in this article are free, some cost money or time investment. Try to focus on what’s best for your business and make the best use of your marketing budget.

Online Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

It is undeniable that online marketing has taken over the world of business. According to recent research, 70–80% of consumers research a company or product online before making a purchase. That’s a huge number of people to ignore if your company doesn’t have an online presence! Here are some ideas to kick off your online marketing.

Website Blog

If your company has a website, it could benefit from the addition of a blog. A blog is a website page used to display articles, news and other useful information. For marketing, blog articles encourage customers to visit and browse your website.

For instance, if you run a home improvement business, include a series of articles with tips about how to improve and upgrade a house. Well-written content with search engine optimised keywords will show up in search engines, such as Google or Bing. If someone searches for ‘home improvement tips’ and your blog has a suitable article, they will see your link in the search engine results.

One thing that you hear a lot about in online marketing is ‘conversions’. This means, what do you want the customer to do after they have landed on your website? If, for instance, a customer looking for information on home improvement ideas lands on your website, you could add links in the article for your company’s home improvement services or perhaps encourage them to subscribe to your blog and receive emails when the next article is posted (this is great for email marketing—see below).

Email Marketing

Email marketing is still one of the most popular forms of online marketing. As noted above, this can be combined with a website blog. Subscribed customers get updates and you can send email promotions to the subscriber list.

With email marketing, it is important not to send emails too often, otherwise you risk getting listed as spam content (or your customers will unsubscribe out of frustration). Do it right and email marketing is very powerful.

Aside from using a blog, there are several other ways to get subscribers. Many websites offer free information downloads in exchange for a subscription, or some other free offer. Most email marketing companies offer free starter accounts for up to 2,000 subscribers.

Google My Business

If your company supplies local services, Google My Business is one of the best small-business marketing ideas. Register your business and if someone in your local area searches for your business type, your listing will appear, with others, on top of the search listing.

It is possible to add useful information, such as opening hours, business information, location and pictures. It also allows customers to leave a review—the best-reviewed businesses appear at the top of the listing, which is great motivation to provide first-class services.

Facebook Adverts

Despite some of the adverse publicity that surrounds Facebook, it is still one of the best ways to advertise products online. It is relatively cheap compared to other platforms, and extremely effective.

The most powerful aspect of Facebook advertising is the huge number of users on the platform and the amount of searchable information about them. It is possible to pinpoint users and groups with specific interests or living in a particular country or city if marketing locally. For instance, as an author, marketing a new book about meditation, you could direct an advert to Facebook groups promoting spiritualism.

Internet Influencers and Social Media Advertising

Internet influencers are product promoters who have large followings on social media platforms, such as YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. For instance, an influencer with a popular YouTube fashion channel might promote your new fashion product to their followers.

The cost of the service will probably depend on how many followers the channel has. Some influencers might promote products in exchange for free samples, while others charge a fee. If you don’t have the budget to pay an influencer, consider starting a YouTube channel for your business as part of your social media marketing.

Create Facebook and Twitter accounts for marketing your business and create promotions to encourage customers to like your posts. If you have a website, include links to your social media accounts. As with establishing a brand, it is a long-term strategy. Remember to use your brand image on social media posts.

Brand Development Marketing Strategies

Establishing a brand is one of the most important aspects of a long-term marketing plan. A brand is something that should permeate every aspect of your business and define its identity.

Customers who associate with a particular brand will happily pay a higher price for their products. For instance, coffee sold in most high street coffee shops is of a similarly high standard, but if drunk from a cup sporting a Starbucks logo, it tastes magically better. This is how a powerful brand can influence customer perception.

Unless your products appeal to a wide market, and you have a marketing budget to match, you’ll likely be aiming at a smaller niche. So, as an important first step, understand who your customers are. A common way of doing this is to create what they called a customer blueprint or persona. That means creating a profile of your ideal customer, the person (or business) who would buy your product.

Build a Brand – Quick Tips:

It takes time, but when done well, branding is the most powerful marketing strategy of them all. Here are some quick tips:

1) Decide on your mission statement and target audience.
2) Brand differentiation – make sure that your brand differs from the competition, make your business stand out.
3) Stay on message – promote your brand image consistently on every platform. You want customers to instantly recognise your products and marketing information.
4) Design your brand’s image – this will include a carefully designed corporate style with a logo, appropriate colours and an attractive typeface. The design and style should apply to every aspect of the business, including the website, promotional materials, and business cards.

For great design ideas, try 123Print – we carry a full range of fully customisable promotional materials.

Brand Ambassadors

Get your employees involved as brand ambassadors. For example, if your business is in retail, give your staff a discount! It’ll surprise you how many of their friends want to make use of the staff discount. It is a good way of both rewarding your employees and spreading the word about your products to their wider social sphere.

Flyer Campaign

There’s nothing wrong with good old-fashioned letterbox marketing. Flyer (leaflet) distribution may sound old-fashioned, but there’s a reason it’s been around for so long: it just plain works.

You’ve likely received flyers in your letterbox yourself. You may have thrown them away eventually, but did you at least look at the flyer first, and take a mental note of what company sent it? Of course you did. And you’d recognise that company name if you saw it again in the future, increasing your familiarity with them.

Try a simple letterbox marketing campaign in your target postcode area. Include your logo and branding all over the flyer, and an enticing offer to get people shopping with you, and you’ll spread awareness of your company at lightning speed. You can design personalised and high-quality flyers at 123Print.

Loyalty Cards

Loyalty cards are very good for marketing your business and encouraging customers to buy again. They can be as simple as a card that is stamped every time a customer purchases a cup of coffee, or other products – after a certain number of stamps, the customer gets a free cup of coffee, for example.

Alternatively, loyalty cards can be a full-blown computer system, where a customer scans a card at the cash register and is awarded redeemable loyalty points. While powerful, the computerised loyalty system is a significant investment best suited to medium and large businesses. Stamp-style loyalty cards are much more affordable, incredibly simple to set up, and still very effective – check out a huge range of customisable loyalty card designs at 123Print.

promotional mugs

Are Promotional Products Worth the Cost for Your Small Business?

Promotional products are everywhere these days – no doubt, you even own a few of your own, picked up from business fairs, markets, and promotional giveaways.
Whether it’s a tote bag, mug, fridge magnet or umbrella flaunting your company’s logo, promotional products are perfect for both attracting new customers, and keeping your business fresh in the minds of existing and past clients.

Not only are promotional products effective for larger companies, they’re also perfect for improving brand awareness and recognition for small and medium-sized businesses. But of course, you have to allocate funds within your advertising budget to order these products before you’ll start to see a return on your investment. And it’s also important that you know how to use such products effectively, so that they’ll make the biggest impact on your customer base and sales.

This guide will talk you through what exactly promotional products are, and give you some examples of how to use them. We’ll discuss how much promotional products cost, the benefits they may bring, and discuss whether the rewards are worth the investment.

What Are Promotional Products?

A promotional product is, in essence, any physical item that bears your company’s name, logo, or slogan. This could be a pen, a keyring, a flyer, a t-shirt – anything, really. It might be a one-use-only item, like a paper cup, or something that’s designed to last for years, such as a ceramic mug. The merchandise itself doesn’t have to bear any relation to the service or product that your company actually sells.

You might have seen businesses handing out promotional products at trade shows or conventions, giving them away as freebies to customers with their order, or using them as giveaway prizes.

Many people think that promotional products are something of a gimmick, or simply used as a token gesture of kindness – but that’s not the case. Multiple studies have shown that promotional products are an invaluable form of advertising that can help to draw in new customers, and retain the existing ones. They can even help to boost morale among employees of a company, and improve employee loyalty.

Examples of Promotional Products and How to Use Them

As you might have guessed, there are many different kinds of promotional products, available at a number of price points. For example:

Flyers, leaflets and postcards are some of the cheapest promotional products. They’re so affordable that you can hand them out to passers-by, or hire a company to deliver them directly to homes as part of a local advertising campaign.

Magnets and keyrings are a step up in terms of price, but also durability. They won’t be discarded as quickly, and are perfect handed out as freebies with an order, or at trade shows and business fairs.

Drinkware such as glasses and mugs are designed to be used for many years, and make great gifts of thanks to longstanding clients and employees. While they may be on the costlier side, they’ll be used by your customers and employees regularly, increasing your exposure and brand awareness. One marketing study found drinkware to be one of the most influential kinds of promotional product – a famous example being the iconic Sports Direct mugs.

Clothing, bags and umbrellas are some of the longest-lasting and most effective promotional wares. They make great corporate gifts – the big benefit being that they’ll be taken outside, and be seen by the public!

The more hardwearing and high-quality the product, the longer it will last, and therefore the more expensive it will be to buy. But though these products may be pricier, they have the most usability and the longest lifespan – so they also have the most potential to help grow your business.

What Are the Benefits of Using Promotional Products?

The use of promotional products, gifts and merchandise will result in many tangible benefits for your business. Multiple marketing studies have shown that promotional products can:

Increase brand awareness and identification. Your name and logo will be more easily recognised and remembered.

Help improve brand image – change the way that people feel about your company. A study by the Advertising Specialties Institute found that people view companies who give them promotional items in an overwhelmingly positive light.

Increase your company’s sales. A customer is more likely to do business with a company if they own their merchandise, rather than a competitor who sells a similar product or service.

Increase employee morale, if your promotional products are given away to employees as a thank-you for their hard work.

Keep your business fresh in the minds of past customers. A potential customer will look at a branded mug and see your logo every single time they drink from it. This is much more effective than, say, passing a billboard.

Don’t forget that your promotional products won’t just have an effect on those who own them, but also anyone who sees the product being used. For example, if someone is carrying around a tote bag bearing your company’s name, this might be seen by anyone who passes them in the street.

Will My Customers Actually Use or Keep the Product?

In short – yes. Obviously, not every (potential) customer will be interested in keeping a branded product in their home; they may have no use for it, or no room to store it. But studies show that the average consumer will keep a promotional product for an average of 7 months.

For more durable and practical products, such as umbrellas, this average increases to 14 months. All this time, not only will your potential customer be looking at your logo every time they use the product – but they’ll also be seen using it, either inside or outside the home.

Furthermore, over 50% of people who own a promotional product will give it away to someone else when they’re finished with it, rather than throwing it in the bin. This will further spread brand awareness!

To increase the likelihood that your customers will actually use your promotional products, take into account your target market. Try to offer the kinds of products that your particular audience will be most likely to use. For example, if your company is popular with the over-70s, USB drives and tech gadgets may not be a sensible choice – but things and mugs and umbrellas might be perfect.

How Much Do Promotional Products Cost?

The cost of any promotional product will vary depending, of course, on what kind of product it is. For example, our magnets start at £15.95 for a pack of 20 small magnets – that’s less than 80p each.

Our personalised mugs vary in price depending on whether you want a single image or a wraparound-style image, and how many mugs you order. The more you order, the more you’ll save – a pack of 200 single image mugs comes to just £4.26 per mug.

In general, products which cost more to purchase are:
Larger
Higher quality
More durable
Reusable
Multi-purpose
Designed to be used for a long period of time (months or years)

Though a personalised coffee mug might be more expensive than a branded paper cup, for example, it will have a more lasting impression on the owner (whether that’s a customer or an employee), and will therefore generate more sales and interest in your company.

How Do I Know I’m Getting a Good Return on Investment?

Promotional products offer a greater return on investment than traditional types of advertising (such as newspaper ads and billboards). In terms of cost per impression (CPI), promotional merchandise is the most cost-effective form of advertising, at around 0.5p per impression.

A 2014 study by the British Promotional Merchandise Association also found that:

96% of marketers who had tried promotional products thought they were worth the money, in terms of increasing brand awareness
73% of the public said that they would purchase from a company that had given them a promotional gift

Data also shows that many customers will also remember the brand on their promotional product for many years after they have thrown or given the item away.

In terms of your own business, the most direct way to monitor whether you’re getting a return on your investment is to closely monitor your sales, website views, searches and clicks, both before and after you roll out your new promotional merchandise.

How Do I Factor Promotional Products into My Advertising Budget?

As excited you may be at the prospect of rolling out your new promotional merchandise to your employees and customers, don’t go overboard.

Make sure to factor in your spend on promotional products into your current advertising budget, to avoid overspending.

You may need to make some reductions in other methods of advertising, such as targeted online ads and promoted Facebook posts, in order to make room for your new ad specialties.

Think carefully about which promotional products you’ll need over the next 12 months when you begin your annual advertising budget. Start with products at a lower price point if you’re unsure.

Plan for a year’s worth of upcoming events, such as new product rollouts and seasonal sales. Be aware that it might take a while before you notice any additional revenue from your new products – but it will be worth it in the end.

Where Can I Order Personalised Promotional Products?

At 123Print, we offer a range of personalised promotional products including:
Flyers
Postcards
Keyrings
Magnets
Mugs
Stationery such as notepads, letterheads and rubber stamps

All of our products are fully customisable. You can select one of our templates to edit as you please. Or simply create your own design entirely from scratch using our editor.

Upload your own artwork (such as your company’s logo) for free. Choose a colour scheme and font that matches your business’s aesthetic.

You can order your promotional products in quantities of up to 2,000, the more you order, the more you’ll save. With fast shipping, competitive prices and a 100% satisfaction guarantee, you’ve got nothing to lose!

Are Promotional Products Worth the Cost for Your Small Business?

Promotional products are everywhere these days – no doubt, you even own a few of your own, picked up from business fairs, markets, and promotional giveaways.
Whether it’s a tote bag, mug, fridge magnet or umbrella flaunting your company’s logo, promotional products are perfect for both attracting new customers, and keeping your business fresh in the minds of existing and past clients.

Not only are promotional products effective for larger companies, they’re also perfect for improving brand awareness and recognition for small and medium-sized businesses. But of course, you have to allocate funds within your advertising budget to order these products before you’ll start to see a return on your investment. And it’s also important that you know how to use such products effectively, so that they’ll make the biggest impact on your customer base and sales.

This guide will talk you through what exactly promotional products are, and give you some examples of how to use them. We’ll discuss how much promotional products cost, the benefits they may bring, and discuss whether the rewards are worth the investment.

What Are Promotional Products?

A promotional product is, in essence, any physical item that bears your company’s name, logo, or slogan. This could be a pen, a keyring, a flyer, a t-shirt – anything, really. It might be a one-use-only item, like a paper cup, or something that’s designed to last for years, such as a ceramic mug. The merchandise itself doesn’t have to bear any relation to the service or product that your company actually sells.

You might have seen businesses handing out promotional products at trade shows or conventions, giving them away as freebies to customers with their order, or using them as giveaway prizes.

Many people think that promotional products are something of a gimmick, or simply used as a token gesture of kindness – but that’s not the case. Multiple studies have shown that promotional products are an invaluable form of advertising that can help to draw in new customers, and retain the existing ones. They can even help to boost morale among employees of a company, and improve employee loyalty.

Examples of Promotional Products and How to Use Them

As you might have guessed, there are many different kinds of promotional products, available at a number of price points. For example:

Flyers, leaflets and postcards are some of the cheapest promotional products. They’re so affordable that you can hand them out to passers-by, or hire a company to deliver them directly to homes as part of a local advertising campaign.

• Magnets and keyrings are a step up in terms of price, but also durability. They won’t be discarded as quickly, and are perfect handed out as freebies with an order, or at trade shows and business fairs.

• Drinkware such as glasses and mugs are designed to be used for many years, and make great gifts of thanks to longstanding clients and employees. While they may be on the costlier side, they’ll be used by your customers and employees regularly, increasing your exposure and brand awareness. One marketing study found drinkware to be one of the most influential kinds of promotional product – a famous example being the iconic Sports Direct mugs.

• Clothing, bags and umbrellas are some of the longest-lasting and most effective promotional wares. They make great corporate gifts – the big benefit being that they’ll be taken outside, and be seen by the public!
The more hardwearing and high-quality the product, the longer it will last, and therefore the more expensive it will be to buy. But though these products may be pricier, they have the most usability and the longest lifespan – so they also have the most potential to help grow your business.

What Are the Benefits of Using Promotional Products?

The use of promotional products, gifts and merchandise will result in many tangible benefits for your business. Multiple marketing studies have shown that promotional products can:

• Increase brand awareness and identification. Your name and logo will be more easily recognised and remembered.

• Help improve brand image – change the way that people feel about your company. A study by the Advertising Specialties Institute found that people view companies who give them promotional items in an overwhelmingly positive light.

• Increase your company’s sales. A customer is more likely to do business with a company if they own their merchandise, rather than a competitor who sells a similar product or service.

• Increase employee morale, if your promotional products are given away to employees as a thank-you for their hard work.

• Keep your business fresh in the minds of past customers. A potential customer will look at a branded mug and see your logo every single time they drink from it. This is much more effective than, say, passing a billboard.

Don’t forget that your promotional products won’t just have an effect on those who own them, but also anyone who sees the product being used. For example, if someone is carrying around a tote bag bearing your company’s name, this might be seen by anyone who passes them in the street.

Will My Customers Actually Use or Keep the Product?

In short – yes. Obviously, not every (potential) customer will be interested in keeping a branded product in their home; they may have no use for it, or no room to store it. But studies show that the average consumer will keep a promotional product for an average of 7 months.

For more durable and practical products, such as umbrellas, this average increases to 14 months. All this time, not only will your potential customer be looking at your logo every time they use the product – but they’ll also be seen using it, either inside or outside the home.

Furthermore, over 50% of people who own a promotional product will give it away to someone else when they’re finished with it, rather than throwing it in the bin. This will further spread brand awareness!

To increase the likelihood that your customers will actually use your promotional products, take into account your target market. Try to offer the kinds of products that your particular audience will be most likely to use. For example, if your company is popular with the over-70s, USB drives and tech gadgets may not be a sensible choice – but things and mugs and umbrellas might be perfect.

How Much Do Promotional Products Cost?

The cost of any promotional product will vary depending, of course, on what kind of product it is. For example, our magnets start at £15.95 for a pack of 20 small magnets – that’s less than 80p each.

Our personalised mugs vary in price depending on whether you want a single image or a wraparound-style image, and how many mugs you order. The more you order, the more you’ll save – a pack of 200 single image mugs comes to just £4.26 per mug.

In general, products which cost more to purchase are:
• Larger
• Higher quality
• More durable
• Reusable
• Multi-purpose
• Designed to be used for a long period of time (months or years)

Though a personalised coffee mug might be more expensive than a branded paper cup, for example, it will have a more lasting impression on the owner (whether that’s a customer or an employee), and will therefore generate more sales and interest in your company.

How Do I Know I’m Getting a Good Return on Investment?

Promotional products offer a greater return on investment than traditional types of advertising (such as newspaper ads and billboards). In terms of cost per impression (CPI), promotional merchandise is the most cost-effective form of advertising, at around 0.5p per impression.

A 2014 study by the British Promotional Merchandise Association also found that:

• 96% of marketers who had tried promotional products thought they were worth the money, in terms of increasing brand awareness
• 73% of the public said that they would purchase from a company that had given them a promotional gift

Data also shows that many customers will also remember the brand on their promotional product for many years after they have thrown or given the item away.
In terms of your own business, the most direct way to monitor whether you’re getting a return on your investment is to closely monitor your sales, website views, searches and clicks, both before and after you roll out your new promotional merchandise.

How Do I Factor Promotional Products into My Advertising Budget?

As excited you may be at the prospect of rolling out your new promotional merchandise to your employees and customers, don’t go overboard. Make sure to factor in your spend on promotional products into your current advertising budget, to avoid overspending.
You may need to make some reductions in other methods of advertising, such as targeted online ads and promoted Facebook posts, in order to make room for your new ad specialties.
Think carefully about which promotional products you’ll need over the next 12 months when you begin your annual advertising budget. Start with products at a lower price point if you’re unsure.
Plan for a year’s worth of upcoming events, such as new product rollouts and seasonal sales. And be aware that it might take a while before you notice any additional revenue from your new products – but it will be worth it in the end.
Where Can I Order Personalised Promotional Products?

At 123Print, we offer a range of personalised promotional products including:
Flyers
Postcards
• Keyrings
Magnets
• Mugs
Stationery such as notepads, letterheads and rubber stamps

 

All of our products are fully customisable. You can select one of our templates to edit as you please, or create your own design entirely from scratch using our editor. Upload your own artwork (such as your company’s logo) for free, and choose a colour scheme and font that matches your business’s aesthetic.

You can order your promotional products in quantities of up to 2,000, and the more you order, the more you’ll save. With fast shipping, competitive prices and a 100% satisfaction guarantee, you’ve got nothing to lose!

Why We Love Promotional Merchandise (And You Should, Too!)

promotional mugs

It may be hard to believe but, with roots dating as far back as the 18th century, promotional merchandise has a magnificent and revolutionary history.

From one of its earliest credited uses paving the way for the presidential election of George Washington; to its contribution in building some of the world’s brand behemoths; it’d be accurate to say that promotional merchandise has a successful history.

Yet, even with so many success stories it is astonishing that with every year that goes by, more and more marketers are eliminating the promotional product from their marketing plans.

Did you know? Only 49% of Marketers think about using promotional merchandise.

This comes as no surprise however, as, with the growth of online marketing, ecommerce and an emergent number of articles singing the praises of the latest social network; it’s easy for promotional merchandise to be eradicated with other, seemingly more lucrative marketing initiatives taking its place.

Did you know? 21.8% of marketing spends in 2013 were spent online.

Yet, with every day that goes by the online marketplace is becoming a fierce place for small businesses to operate in.

In 2014 businesses are predicted to increase online ad spend by 3.8%. With the news that Facebook is continuing to sever the rope that connects you and your customers, to the ever irritating Google algorithm changes and the both confusing and expensive AdWords, online marketing is fast becoming a landscape where only the power of money talks. Put simply, small businesses just cannot compete.

Nonetheless, for small businesses, the outlook doesn’t have to be so bleak; perhaps it is time you look back to the remarkable results of promotional merchandise. Sure it’s still going to be important to build a presence online, but with an unstable online climate and with 44% of people finding marketing online ‘annoying’, there is perhaps an opportunity in the proven traditional promotional products.

A report from the BMPA in 2011 shows its support of this statement in its key findings:


Key findings:

• Promotional merchandise can deliver a higher or equal ROI than most forms of advertising

• 66% of respondents said they could remember the brand on the promotional product they received during the last year

• 79% said they were likely to do business with the company in the future

• 8 out of 10 (84 per cent) respondents said that a branded promotional gift increases brand awareness

• Over three quarters (87 per cent) of recipients said they kept a promotional gift for longer than 12 months

• Over half (56 per cent) of respondents said their opinion of the brand/company was more favourable after receiving the promotional product

We’re not arguing that you should drop online marketing altogether, but with the average ad spend online rising, the agony of fighting for customer attention and the price of promotional merchandise dropping, maybe it’s time you look back into past successes and invest in a trusted product that has unique opportunities for the future.

Did you know? Reddit, one of the most popular social news and entertainment sites, seeing 100 Million Unique visitors per month, only spent $500 on marketing, spending all $500 buying promotional stickers!