March Madness is heating up…are you ready to be a marketing champion?
Monday, March 28th, 2011
March Madness is in full swing on the hardwoods of many arenas and coliseums across the country. The madness has a grip on the country, as everyone anxiously awaits the winner of the year-end championship tournament. However, a different kind of “madness” has its own effect on companies and employees this time of year as they close in on the trade show season.
Most companies are still in their pre-season stage of preparing for their annual trade shows. Budgets have been set. The booth space has been rented. The layout has been determined and some of the decorations have been chosen. It’s getting into crunch time now and you’re still not sure how to really make an impact with your customers and stand out from the trade show “noise” and clutter. You panic. The show’s in 10 days and you don’t have that one great idea yet that’s going to set your company apart and make you look like a superstar.
Finally, you think, “What the heck, we’ll just throw our logo on a bunch of pens and hand them out to everyone. If we do a couple thousand then surely people will remember us. Won’t they?”
To use a sports analogy, you choked. You froze. You buckled under the pressure. That’s easy to do if you don’t put in the preparation and time necessary to be great. You revert back to last year’s order or take whatever you can get with a rush order and the inevitable rush charge. But great ideas – ideas that can truly make an impact with your company – take some time to mold.
In the case of promotional items, it’s no different. Promotional items are meant to be another asset in your marketing toolkit to create a unique connection to your audience and ultimately create in them a desire to move towards your company. Some of the most unique promotional items can stand on their own to create a unique message. Others, while in a simpler form, can be used in conjunction with other ideas to create a lasting impression.
Let’s look at an example that illustrates just how creative you can get. ABC Company was an exhibitor at a recent tradeshow to show off their fancy new product with the latest and greatest new features that were going to gain them substantial market share. Unfortunately, much larger companies scooped up all the premium booth space on the show floor. ABC Company was relegated to the back of the convention center where it would take smoke signals and an Eagle Scout for their customers to find them. Their product launch was doomed.
Definitely a concern, but not one that couldn’t be overcome with some creativity. Inject a great idea and a unique promotional item. The fix came when ABC Company chose to purchase two-way radios (walkie-talkies) branded with their company’s logo.
The radios came in pairs. One month prior to the trade show, ABC Company mailed a marketing piece to their customers to announce their presence at the show. The mailing included one radio and a note to encourage the customer to come to ABC Company’s booth to receive the other radio in the pair. The customer was also prompted to contact the company via the two-way radio when they arrived at the show to be directed to ABC Company’s booth.
They were a hit! A huge hit! The promotional items not only had a high perceived value to the customer as a takeaway from the show, but by engaging the customer in such a unique way, the ABC Company strengthened the relationships with their customers. The buzz generated from that one idea helped to attract many new customers and catapult sales through the roof.
At Proformance Logo Products and Apparel we strive to help our customers find those great ideas along the way that will turn them into marketing superstars. Pens, key chains and koozies certainly have their place in the corporate promotional landscape. But dig a little deeper and you’ll discover a hidden gem of an idea that’s waiting to push your company to new heights. Contact us today to see how we can help you.
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T-Shirts are one of the most long-term advertisements you can use. This is seen over and over again, in the incredible number of ads on free t-shirts, athletic jerseys, and event shirts. Loads of us wear t-shirts every day, whether or not they have ads on them. One of the most classic examples of t-shirts as advertising can be seen in simple “Adidas” or “Reebok” tees. These shirts are cool, and have been in style for years and years. They’re simply ads for their respective companies, but fashionable ads. This type of advertising applies to any brand or logo fashionable enough to be purchased. If people don’t want to buy your shirt though, they’ll still wear it- provided you give it away.
Products can’t simply be shuffled into a stack like business cards can. They will hang around- whether it be on a desk, in a car, or on a keychain. This means day after day people will see your name, and when they need what you are selling, you’ll be the first name they think of. After all, are you more likely to notice a business card thrown in a drawer or hidden somewhere else; or something- anything- that is sitting on your desk. 
