Cutting through the noise to reach your audience is harder than ever. There are A LOT of distractions and in general, people have smaller attention spans than ever before. A study by Microsoft discovered that our attention span is now 25% shorter or around 8 seconds. Time magazine famously penned the article “You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish”. Attributing the loss to our digitised lifestyle, multi-screen fascination and mobile phone usage. It wasn’t all bad news though, apparently, we’re getting better at multitasking. But, what does this have to do with marketing and branding strategies? Well, a lot. There is any number of channels to promote your brand through. From digital tactics like; Social media and Google Ads to more traditional mediums like; billboards, print and yes, merchandise. The hard part is assessing which channel is getting ‘cut-through’. What ad, billboard, social post or t-shirt is getting people to ring the phone or click the ‘book/ buy now button’. The answer, in part due to our decreasing attention spans is all of them.
In this article, we’re going to make the case for ‘promotional merchandise’, look at some of the pros and leave it up to you.
It’s a jungle out there! Advertising has created a lot of noise and distraction. Accessibility to platforms has also ensured a lower barrier to entry. Meta (formerly Facebook) is a great example of this. Anyone with a computer, a website, a Facebook page and a credit card can get ads on the platform and start selling. Sprout Social in 2020 estimated that there are over 10 million active advertisers on Facebook. The trick is often in building highly creative assets, targeting audiences, building funnels etc etc etc…
Ads in magazines usually adhere to a 50/50 or 60/40 rule from editorial to advertorial. Your audience is a bit more trapped and the publication is more relevant but still, you’re up against similar advertisers. Plus, the barrier is usually higher, you need print-quality art, with the right bleeds and crops to suit the publication.
The above is a little disparaging and we are trying to convince you that promo products have a place in your marketing mix. Somewhere higher than you may have imagined.
We feel that promotional products are more effective than radio, print and digital ads, especially considering the overwhelming volume of advertisements that the average consumer is exposed to these days – all that noise, remember? Wearable branding, useful products that increase re-exposure, useful things that serve to remind and persuade – promo products fit nicely into your marketing strategy.
The law of reciprocity
Persuasion by reciprocation is based on the law of reciprocity. It’s considered by many to be the most powerful law of human nature. It states that “If you do something nice for me I’ll do something nice for you.” That’s why a lot of companies use promotional items. They see an increase in brand loyalty, improved customer relations and increased sales!
A brand is more than just a logo and there’s merchandise to match your message
It’s important to remember that a brand extends further than simply a ‘logo’. There’s a huge range of promotional products available these days – Finding something that aligns with your brand is so much easier. You’re an IT company? There are some great tech products. You’re a local Gym? There are a bunch of sports and active enthusiasts products that fit your brand. If your brand is corporate, fun, eco-friendly, and playful, for older users or younger people – there’s a product to match. Merchandise as a strategy simply works and the menu of ‘on-brand’ products is enough to tweak your interest.
Maximise the return on investment
This has always been a tough one to measure. How many times did that pen, USB drive, t-shirt or notepad lead to an actual phone call or booking? It’s hard to say but a recent study “Silent persuasion. Incidental use of promotional merchandise benefits unfamiliar brands” published in January 2021 found that incidental use of promotional products led to a more positive reaction to an unfamiliar brand. In layman’s terms, that pen with your logo on it keeps getting used, and even if consumers don’t recognise the brand on it they react more positively to it when they are ‘introduced’ to it properly. That effect keeps happening every time that pen passes hands, that USB goes into the next computer or the guy wearing your promo t-shirt out shopping gets seen. Definitely, worth keeping in mind, we think. You can read the full report – here.
Building loyalty
Creating aligned promotional items that are high quality builds loyalty. The law of reciprocity comes into play again. People are more inclined to use your business not just because they’ve been exposed to your brand through a t-shirt, coffee mug or pen in the office but also because they have something useful to them from your business. The best part is that they will continue to do so – that piece of marketing merch stays with them for an average of up to 8 months – making that social media ad or even billboard look a bit silly.
Marketing is multi-faceted now more than ever. Getting brands out there and cutting through the noise is made that much easier with promotional merchandise. Keen to see what we can do for you to help reach your customers? Give us a call via our reach out below.
Sources / further reading
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-stats-for-marketers/
https://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02650487.2020.1855823?cookieSet=1