How Promotional Merchandise Can Change the Way You Do Marketing

Published on: 03 November 2018 Last Updated on: 19 November 2021

Promotional merchandise has had a long history in brand marketing. Companies from all over the world see the impact and effectiveness of this useful tool to create and promote their corporate identity.

If you are looking for a way to enhance your business, you can use promotional merchandise to boost and revitalise your marketing initiatives. You have a wide array of choices when it comes to deciding what kind of product you want as promotional merchandise. You can use wearable items such as caps and shirts, or you can use non-wearable ones such as calendars, pens, and umbrellas.

No matter what your company does, or where it’s located, you can benefit from promotional merchandise. There are a variety of ways you can use these items to your advantage. Here are the ways it can change your business:

Different Ways Promotional Merchandise Can Change The Way You Do Marketing

These are some of the factors you have to take care off while you want to increase the promotional merchandise of your marketing technique. Do not make your choices in grey while improving your organizational status.

1. Increase visibility

You will have a broader reach by using promo merchandise because you will be calling attention to yourself. It will lead to an increase in visibility,and it will undoubtedly result in increased brand awareness. Hence, by using promo merchandise, you don’t need to resort to advertising or more expensive marketing gimmicks to attract new clients.

2. Promote your brand

Promotional merchandise will give your brand a stronger image and identity. You will gain more credibility and generate brand love faster with these on hand.

3. Build loyalty

Who doesn’t love freebies? Promotional merchandise will earn you the devotion of your past customers and potential clients. It is no secret that every customer wants to feel special. When you make them feel valued by trying your best to give them the royal treatment, they will come to love and rely on your brand to provide them with what they need.

4. Make effective sales

Promotional merchandise gives you the chance to communicate with potential consumers effectively since you have their complete attention for a short while. You can make your sales pitch without boring them or losing their interest with promo merchandise as giveaways.

5. Increase market demand

There will be a surge in sales since promotional merchandise increases brand love. You can expect that you will get a lot of pre-orders when you start rolling out your promotional merchandise.

6. Increase customer base

Promotional merchandise can guarantee that you will have a wider market share. Since you are going to be more visible, you will become more well-known and popular than your competitors.

7. Increased profit and business growth

Of course, when you are gaining more attention, you will clearly see an increase in your earnings. Promotional merchandise is worth the cost to have it made. And, since the items are cheap, they won’t put a big dent in your wallet. If you are experiencing a business slump, it might just be the answer to your problems. It can guarantee your business success in your field.

These are the ways promotional merchandise can directly impact your marketing initiatives and make them more efficient than ever before. Using this marketing tool will give your business the boost it needs.

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Key Components for Your Marketing Stack

It's clear to see that marketing is one of the most important aspects of any business. You can have the best products and services on the planet, but if you don't market them effectively and get people interested and aware of what you have to offer, your business won't be able to grow, develop, and fulfill its true potential. This is where marketing comes in, and in today's technological world, marketing is more evolved and in-depth than ever before. The average company has many components making up its 'marketing stack' - a term used to refer to the group of technological tools and innovations used by companies in their marketing campaigns and activities. Stacks can vary from one business to the next, and the exact tools you use will depend on your company's own needs and aims, but, in general, there are certain components that are absolutely key in order to create, distribute, and evaluate your marketing strategies. This guide will look at some of those essential items. Email Marketing: In the past, marketing efforts were mostly conducted via print ads or on TV for the bigger brands, but in today's world, the digital space is where you'll bring in a lot of your leads and customers, with email marketing being one of the most effective forms of them all. They're affordable, accessible, and highly effective for boosting sales and building brand awareness, and there are various email marketing tools you can choose to strengthen this aspect of your stack. Many email marketing tools are focused on automation and integration. They're able to automatically send out personal, timely messages to your customers and potential leads, saving you a lot of time in the process, as well as integrating with other leading apps and services, allowing you to sync data seamlessly across platforms and track the effectiveness of your campaigns. In short, they can help you build, send, and monitor your email marketing efforts much more easily. Social Media Marketing: Along with email marketing, social media marketing is one of the most effective and efficient methods available to modern-day brands. There are countless users on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and you can grow your brand on a global scale by conducting the very best social media marketing campaigns. Again, various tools can assist with this, designed to save you time and make your campaigns stronger. There are certain tools that can help you distribute marketing content easily across social media platforms, for example, as well as other services that can assist you with managing and launching campaigns in the first place. Some platforms offer seamless integration with the major platforms like Twitter and Facebook, letting you create and manage content and then track how well your posts and pages perform. Customer Relationship Management: Customer relationship management, often shortened to CRM, is another major aspect of marketing in today's world. It's all about controlling and managing the way you interact with customers throughout their journey, and CRM software is able to handle most of this management behind the scenes, reducing the risks of human error or bias and giving you the information and tools you need to engage with customers in the most efficient ways. CRM tools for marketing can help with everything from lead generation and management to marketing automation, analysis of sales data, keeping track of contact and company profiles, email tracking, event tracking, sales management, and so much more. This kind of software can seem a little complex at first, but once you get to grips with it, the advantages are almost limitless. Analytics and Evaluation: A big part of marketing that can sometimes be overlooked is the process of analyzing and evaluating the success, or lack thereof, of your campaigns and looking for ways to make improvements. Businesses that want to grow and evolve should never simply settle with the status quo; you always need to be looking for ways to take your marketing game further, and analytics tools can help with this. Analytics tools often appear as features of some of the other tools mentioned above on the list; for example, an email marketing platform might come with an analytics section to show you the engagement levels of your campaigns. However, dedicated analytics tools go a lot further than this and offer much more widespread application, letting you track conversions, leads, customer experiences, and more across your site, social media accounts, and other campaigns. Are We Forgetting Something? While this article covers some essential tools for a marketing stack—email, social media, CRM, and analytics—there is one crucial area that we of often overlook - Personalization! As more consumers are craving a tailored experience, businesses that fail to integrate personalized marketing into their strategy are risking a failure to launch. Why Personalization Matters Customers today expect brands to speak directly to them. Gone are the days of blanket emails and generic social media posts. Personalized marketing allows you to target individual customer preferences, making your campaigns more impactful and driving higher engagement rates. But here's the catch! Not many businesses have mastered this yet. They often focus on the tools themselves but fail to fully leverage the data these tools provide for creating personalized experiences. How to Implement Personalization Start small by segmenting your audience in your email marketing tools, then create content that resonates with their specific needs. This is an attempt to make your audience feel special upon choosing your brand! You can also use CRM to track customer behaviors and personalize touchpoints at various stages of their journey. Add personalization to your social media efforts by customizing ads based on user preferences and past interactions. Lastly, analytics tools can give you the data needed to tweak your personalized marketing efforts further. These are just some of the major components that should be included in your marketing stack to improve the effectiveness and potential of your campaigns. Explore your options today and build a stack you can rely on. Read Also: How to Integrate Email Marketing With SEO Best 5 Instagram Marketing Tools You Should Be Using Exploring The Different Types Of Digital Marketing Strategies Crucial Role of Content Marketing in Local Business Online Marketing : Selling Your Product And Services

Your Ultimate Guide To Creating SMS Marketing Campaigns

Every marketer would tell you that there are reasons why text marketing continues to become a mainstay in marketing agencies. In fact, both conventional and modern companies highly rely on their efficacy when it comes to reaching out to their target audience. Because when you think about it, every person checks their text message inbox every time they receive a ping. Leveraging communication strategies like an effective SMS marketing campaign allows you to grow your brand more, target more audiences, and even build closer relationships with prospects. There are a lot of things that SMS marketing can help you with in terms of achieving business goals. But before you partake in this marketing tactic, it’s important to understand the concept behind this marketing practice. Use this guide to make successful SMS marketing campaigns. What Is SMS Marketing? It’s crucial to understand first the concept behind this old but gold marketing strategy. SMS marketing refers to a short message service you send to your customers to build relationships with them. It’s important for text marketers to communicate with their target audiences in a respectful and compliant manner. No matter what your business goals are, SMS marketing puts you one step ahead of achieving them. For instance, you can drive more leads, introduce new products, lead them to check your website, and so on. The ideas that you can do with this marketing method are limitless. Compared to email or push notification marketing, SMS marketing has several advantages. For instance, every person who receives an incoming message in their phone inbox will surely take the time to check and read them one by one. While some people might check their emails at least once a day regarding text message inboxes, people often check them as soon as they receive a message. Your message can be concise and clear with SMS marketing. There’s no need for lengthy advertising messages. With brief sentences that can take up less than 160 characters of the SMS limit, you can already deliver what you want to say to your prospects. Choosing The Right SMS Marketing Tool Now, it’s time to understand the tool to use for this marketing strategy. With the advent of technology, there is now text marketing software at your disposal. For one, you can take advantage of Drop Cowboy Ringless Voicemail service and some other brands that offer reliable text messaging as marketing services. Text message delivery depends on the tools and services you choose. Such software comes with pricing plans that fit your marketing budget and goals. Unlike any other conventional marketing promotions like print ads, TV ads, and billboards, this marketing campaign is priced reasonably better. Also, consider partnering with the best SMS marketing service provider to automate your text messages to your target recipients. How To Maximize On SMS Marketing Campaigns As mentioned, a high percentage of people open text messages every time they receive one. By sending promotional messages via SMS, you ensure your customers will read them because they will arrive directly in their inboxes. Check out these ideas in which you can maximize your SMS marketing campaigns. 1. Limited-Time Promotions You can use an SMS marketing strategy to encourage your customers to avail of coupons and discounts or even redeem incentives or gifts. Offering these incentives for a limited time makes them even more effective. Announcing that the campaign only runs on a promo period is an effective call-to-action strategy so your customers won’t miss out on such opportunities. It’s one effective strategy to get your business to high ranks. Considering SMS marketing's high open rate, it’s the most effective way to communicate time-sensitive offers with customers. As a result, you ensure your customers don't pass up a good deal. This yield win-win situations for both the customers and your brand. They get discounted rates, and you could convert your sales funnel more effectively. 2. Reminding Customers One good purpose for SMS marketing is when you could send notifications regarding the recent actions of your customers. For instance, whether they checked your website, changed passwords, or linked different payment modes, an SMS notification will be sent to inform them that the activity is successful. Sending notification messages is essential for many businesses, and they’ve realized how effective it is in retaining customers. By relaying notifications about their recent purchase or online activities, the customers will grow their trust in your brand. It could lead to continuous patronage. Also, they will feel at ease by getting reminders of how your brand is already dealing with their orders or purchases. Receiving reminders is valuable, especially for customers who are always busy with other things and obligations. Make sure your brand is always at the top of your customer's minds. It’s a job that SMS is best suited for. With SMS marketing, you can remind your customers about everything from their most recently liked products to the purchased ones that are going to arrive soon. 3. Order Updates And Confirmation An SMS is also useful for customers to receive updates regarding their orders. Once they make a purchase, a message will be sent regarding the successful transaction. It ensures peace of mind for the customer. Also, the confirmation messages sent via SMS will allow them to use them as proof or evidence regarding their purchase. If products don’t arrive as planned, they can refer to the SMS notification. 4. New Product Release And Launches SMS advertising is also useful for announcing new product releases. It’s the most cost-effective way for marketers to advertise new product launching. Without paying for the expensive talents of celebrities to promote new products, a large number of users will discover your new product offering through the message they can read in their SMS inbox. Using this method will generate buzz and interest, and you could even entice old customers to come back and check out what's new. You can also use SMS campaigns to drive traffic to your website or storefront. Thus, you can simply include a link they can visit to check your new product or any offers. 5. Send Welcome Messages Send your customer a welcome message once they subscribe to your SMS marketing campaign. Companies must start building relationships with their customers. As a result, you will be able to communicate with them right away, as they will know they have been subscribed. It also alerts them to expect a few messages from your end every now and then. There’s no need for lengthy or complex welcome messages. Sometimes short but sweet thank you message about their subscription are already enough for your customers to remember your business. 6. Customer Service Tool SMS is not limited to being a marketing tool; it’s also a customer support tool. In this era where customer service should be at the forefront of any business, SMS strategy can be used to ensure customer satisfaction. It’s imperative that your work processes are as transparent as possible, and you can achieve this by constantly sending them SMS in case necessary. After all, a text message is the easiest way to communicate with pre-sale customers and post-sale tech support. 7. Collect Customer Feedback It’s essential for businesses to receive customer feedback to determine what they are doing well and what they need to improve. And it’s something that’s being offered with SMS marketing. You can send out surveys through SMS, and customers can answer them timely and convenient. There are many ways to create survey forms for them to easily fill out. The key is to attach the link to your SMS. Another option is to ask customers to rate you using a ranking system that’s easy for them to use. 8. Announce VIP Programs By offering a VIP program, you can encourage loyalty among your subscribers and customers. If you want to make your VIP customers feel special, offer them VIP-only discounts. This sense of exclusivity allows your customers to treat your brand with more respect and value. Also, use this program for customers to gain early access to sales and other promotions. One way for them to qualify for your VIP list is to encourage them to fill out a signup link. However, since it’s VIP, make it seems more challenging for them to enter this list. The harder it feels to qualify, the more special and valued they would feel. Tips To Apply Effective SMS Marketing Strategies Applying SMS marketing strategies require effective implementations. When done right, they can produce the best outcomes for your business. Here are some tips to apply effective SMS marketing strategies for your brand: 1. Ensure That Your Customers Opted In Your customers probably already provide you with their phone numbers. However, one common courtesy is to get their approval to start receiving SMS from your brand. Mass texting them without their consent is ethically wrong and will only lead to adverse effects on the customer. Ensure to get your customer’s clear opt-in before starting to send out text message campaigns. Your website or other online channels can allow customers to opt-in to receive text messages. However, you should get a text confirmation before you send them anything. There are ways to get their opt-in consent. One is to make them reply Yes or No to your single SMS regarding SMS subscription. Another way is through your website. They can press a CTA button regarding their receiving SMS messages from your brand. When the user clicks the link in the offer, they can fill out the subscription form and enter their number so they can start receiving your SMS campaigns. 2. Take Time To Introduce Yourself A good practice is to take the time to introduce your brand in any of your SMS campaigns. Chances are your customers don’t know where the messages are coming from. Failing to include your company name or brand name on the message will only forfeit its purpose. Hence, it’s important to include your company or brand name in that short message that you’re sending. 3. Make Messages Fun And Short It’s common for people to use SMS messages to communicate with friends and family informally. Texting should remain fun in your SMS campaign in the same way as a fun communication tool between people. Be friendly and personal with customers to build trust. Use local trending words that are popular with your target audience for the time being. It ensures to catch their interest and make them read your text message completely. The maximum number of characters in an SMS message is 160. With an opt-out option and the need to identify yourself, that's not much to work with. Don't waste any characters, and go straight to the point of what you want to say. 4. Don’t Forget To Use Target Keywords To encourage users to connect with you, you should select contextually relevant keywords alongside simple messages and shortcodes. Using such keywords will allow them to easily remember anything about your brand or company. If they want to research you online, they can use the same keywords found on your SMS. 5. Give An Option For Customers To Opt Out All marketing communications should follow these standards and rules. Much like getting their buy-in, you should also give them the option to opt out and unsubscribe from your SMS campaigns. You are more likely to lose customers if you constantly text them when they do not want to hear from you. Your messages should come with the unsubscribe option, so your customers can freely opt out anytime they want. There are some viable reasons for them to do this. But it doesn’t entirely mean that they won’t be good prospects for you in the future. It’s just that not everyone prefers to get this kind of information via text. SMS open rates tend to be much higher than those for email, so you should also expect a higher unsubscribe rate. After a message is sent, unsubscribes may spike and treat it as a normal occurrence. 6. Be More Informative Than Promotional You should be extremely considerate of your buyers' inboxes since promotional SMS messages can easily be turned off. Therefore, staying informative and interactive is best, and not focusing too much on sounding sales or promotional. A good rule of thumb is to focus most of your communication on order, whether a status update or a request for feedback. Schedule your promotional messages and send them at least only twice a week at a minimum. No one wants to keep receiving promotional messages that are obvious that they want to make money from you. Conclusion You can increase engagement with your target audience by using SMS marketing. Keeping your customers' attention is easier if you market to them where they are most active. Therefore, if your target audience is always in their phone’s SMS inbox, it’s worth considering SMS marketing as part of your marketing mix. Use this guide and wait for results to reflect your bottom line soon. Read Also: Calling Out – How Telemarketing Allows You to Reach a Wider Audience How To Move Your Career In Social Media Marketing Up A Gear? Best Marketing Strategies For Lawyers In Houston

Why Should You Hire a B2B Digital Marketing Consultant?

With the growing trend in the domain of digital marketing, if you want to stay ahead in the competition, it is suggested to hire a b2b digital marketing consultant. Hiring a consultant is often the best thing for the business if you are looking to have the best outcomes. With the growth of digital marketing, it has become important to not miss out on the train and catch the growing market. It has become a necessity since your competitors are already utilizing the best features of digital marketing to win the market share. As we have known how important digital marketing is to your firm, it is important to know the added benefits of having a consultant. Knowing what they bring to the table is very important for heading in the right direction. Perks of having a B2B digital marketing consultant on-board Every B2B business needs to understand that there is immense scope for growing online. A good and credible b2b marketing agency can make a world of difference when it comes to reaching new customers and increasing sales figures. They can help you optimize your verticals and plan campaigns in a manner that delivers the best results. The value that a consultant adds to the firm is unmatchable. Often regarded as the jack of all the trades, the consultants from the best universities bring forward huge experience. The added network effect along with the rich know-how about the latest technologies is why you must hire them. Instead of focussing only on immediate growth, the consultant's primary focus is to create a niche and a brand image for your firm. More than just providing the solution, they provide a long-lasting result to your firm, that enhances the image of your firm. To explore more into the benefits of a digital marketing consultant, let us understand them in detail. Growth Hacking: If you are looking forward to having a growth hacker in your team, there is no better alternative than a consultant. With the rich experience across all the domains, it is very necessary to have them on your team. They also bring into the varied culture and the unique factor of learnings from across the globe that enhances your team’s outlook. Short term goal achievement: You can easily achieve the short-term goals if you are well equipped with the best consultant. If you are not having the best consultant; you might miss out on the short-term vision and fail to capture a larger market share. Staying with the trend: Having a consultant is often the best way to implement the latest trends in the domain of digital marketing. If you are looking forward to capturing the market share, it is often recommended to be the first mover. Having the first-mover advantage will let you attract more consumers. It shall reduce the monopoly of your competitor thus keeping you ahead in the curve. Knowledge of every market: Do you know why consultants are one of the highest-paid professionals? It is because of their extensive knowledge about the outside world. Having outside knowledge about real-world happenings makes them unique in a lot of ways. They have been employed in different companies which have a wide range of cultural variation. It gives them the eye for scrutiny and a critical view of the organization. Having a consultant in your team can lead to hijacking the market and eventually increasing the customer share. If you are looking to improve your firm’s standing, you must not hesitate to hire a digital marketing consultant. Omnichannel B2B Marketing (...Yes, You Might Have to Do It All) In today’s fast-moving digital landscape, one marketing channel alone simply won’t be enough. You’ve got to be everywhere! I mean everywhere! This includes mail, social media, search engines, content platforms, and beyond. This is what we call omnichannel marketing. It’s not just a trend anymore; it is a means of survival in the digital world. It's a must to keep up with your competition. But here’s the thing: it’s a lot harder than it seems. Especially if you do not have a consultant by your side! Align Your Channels Omnichannel marketing is all about achieving a consistent and seamless experience for your customers. No matter what platform or channel they’re connecting with you on. Whether they come across your business on LinkedIn, read one of your blog posts, or receive an email from you, the communication should be similar. It needs to feel like a single conversation with your brand. Simple right? Not so much, and here is why! Keeping Everything Connected The trickier part is making sure everything connects. If your social media messaging doesn’t mesh with what’s in an email, or if the branding on your website doesn’t align with the display ads you create, it can throw potential leads off. In fact, it can also make it much more difficult to attract new business. Since your own brand looks half-hearted, how can you take care of another brand? That’s where having a strategy that spans all these platforms comes into play. It’s not just about being active in a lot of online channels – it’s about keeping them talking in the same voice. The Experience NEEDS to be Seamless When people click on your LinkedIn ad and then land on your website, if it’s not the same feeling that they got from the ad, you might lose them. They might just bounce to another competitor of yours! Yes, the competition is tough. Omnichannel makes each platform transition feel native. Meeting your customers where they are and walking alongside them through their journey is crucial. Only then will you be able to show that you are not just selling something, but rather creating an experience! Focusing on Key Platforms Now, you might be thinking! “Do I really need to be on every platform?” The answer is yes — and no. Depending on who your target audience is and what you are planning to achieve through your channels. For example, you don’t have to stretch yourself too thin. If you are a B2B service that deals with a logistic niche, you do not need an account on Pinterest. No client of yours is reaching out to you over Pinterest! Finding the target audience, and the right platform is what a B2B consultant is an expert at! So, hire one as soon as possible! Focus on the platforms that matter most to your target audience. For B2B businesses, this might mean prioritizing LinkedIn, email campaigns, and targeted content marketing. But don’t ignore emerging channels. Depending on your niche, there could be opportunities in areas you haven’t explored yet. Finally - Do Not Overwhelm Yourself! It can seem very overwhelming when you first start with omnichannel marketing. But you don’t have to do it all at once. First, figure out where your audience is and start there… and slowly expand as you become more comfortable. The key here is to stay consistent and not try to be everywhere. This is why hiring a B2B digital marketing consultant is crucial. They are the ones who make you understand that - “Omnichannel success is a marathon, not a sprint.” Read Also: Why Email Marketing is the BEST Digital Marketing Outreach in Singapore When Will Social Media Addiction Be Considered a Mental Health Condition?

How Promotional Merchandise Can Change the Way You Do Marketing