Marketing collateral - it's a gift, not 'promotional merchandise' (yuk)
Icebreaker, leave-behind, door-opener – it's nearly always a good thing to hand out something more solid than a mere business card if you're serious about getting business.
But why are so many business incentive gifts, well, crap?
The answer - lack of imagination. I don't understand offering as a gift and object that hardly anyone would buy.
There's this weird mindset that says you can only give strange, quasi-practical 'non-things' away. Flat pens, monogrammed golf balls, cheap desk accessories and polo shirts with company logos on. if you want to depress yourself, pick up a promotional gifts catalogue and imagine getting the pick of that pile for Christmas....
Promo gifts have to have one or more pf three magic ingredients - value, wit, and a real link to your product (and that doesn't mean a logo stuck on it).
A direct marketing outfit I used to do work for once sent out a hot airline meal to the desk of every one of their 100+ key prospects to persuade them to use their airline catering service.
Another sent a real live homing pigeon in a box (with careful release instructions). to alert customers to their client's unique approach to communications. Did they get a result? You bet they did.
Clever = memorable and original
Witty = engaging in a product related way
Valuable = not another bloody pen...
IThere are more examples to think about, if you feel like signing in.
Why not take a look?
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