If you have gone on shopping lately you would have noticed one trend. This trend is of free gifts. Almost everything has something or other coming together as gift. These gifts can be a supplementary product or can be totally alienated product. These products that are given to consumers for free are called promotional products. Promotional products are now becoming norm rather than exception. So a question arises, why promotional products are so much popular with consumers as well as marketers. And what all can be given to consumers so that effectiveness of promotional campaign is felt b y him.
The answer to first question can be as simple as “People love free gifts” to complex phenomenon of brand testing and supplementing. Whenever you buy a product and notice that you have offer of getting some other item free with it, desire to purchase the product increases. Many times it so happens that the gift product is not very useful to you, but still it pushes your purchase decision. But for marketing campaign to carve out of so much clutter it is necessary to have a promotional product that stands out.
Once you think of giving a free item with your product, there are many things that will come to your mind. But you should think of few points before deciding on the promotional items. First you need to decide goal of promotional campaign that is whether your sole goal is to increase sales of you product. In such a case best gift can be a supplementary product. For an example if your product is a hardware device for computers then best promotional gift can be software. This way your client will feel an urge of purchasing.
One more requirement with which a promotional campaign is often designed is to launch a new product or new brand in your basket. In this case promotional strategy has to be different. Here the new brand which you are launching can ride on the shoulder of the established one. In such case your established brand can have a smaller packet as gift to users. A client will have trial of your new introduction and can become consumer for that also. There have been successful brands that have followed this path.
Many times a marketing team launches a promotional campaign to have brand recall. In such campaign you need to give take-aways that have your brand name on it and can be useful in daily chorus of client. Most prominent thing that is being given is carry bags. Whenever your client uses it he will be reminded of your brand. But that is not end of it, these carry bags will go wherever your client goes and keep on spreading your name. They will become walking advertisement of your product. Some other very popular given things are Pens, Mugs, T Shirts and caps.
If you understand that a business runs on relationship you share with your consumer then promotional items can help in developing that relation. But you have to remember to choose correct product as promotional gift. The quality of item you are giving has to be best. Because many times to save cost people give lower quality item. The client will associate your brand with the promotional item and hence can lower your image in his eyes. This will lead to more harm than benefit of campaign.