Beyond Banners: Creating Brand Awareness with Promotional Products
When you came to work this morning, were you contemplating
how to increase the brand awareness of your product? I
would venture to say that most of you responded NO. But
that is exactly what you do every day when you beautify your
property through maintenance, remodeling units, planting new
landscaping, or even re-surfacing parking lots.
My question is: Why stop there?
Projecting your properties image beyond the boundaries of
your complex and into the hearts and minds of future
customers solidifies your presence in the community.
Promotional products can play a dynamic roll in projecting
a positive image for your business, and that can result in
increased revenue from new tenants.
Most of you probably utilize banners or signs in one form or
another to promote specials. This method has proven
successful for apartment owners and managers for many years.
I encourage all of you to continue utilizing banners and
signs to attract passers by to your community. But should
you stop there? Absolutely not!
The average person is exposed to over 5000 advertisements
per day, many of which they completely block out. If you
rely solely on banners or even supplement them with
newspaper ads, the return on your dollar may be as low as
.03% What if you could increase that response rate to 20%,
40%, or even 70%? Would it be worth your time and money?
Promotional Products sales expected to top $20 Billion in 2007.
In a recent survey conducted by the Promotional Products
Association International, (PPAI), some startling facts were
discovered about how promotional products are perceived and
utilized.
REACH
Of those polled in the PPAI survey 71% reported receiving a
promotional product within the last 12 months. Of those,
33.7% reported having that product with them at the time the
survey was conducted.
Increase your visibility in your local community. Distribute
promotional products at community events, tradeshows, fairs,
concerts, parks, fire safety days, etc. Choose products
that have a perceived value, and that facilitate use, by the recipient, on a daily basis. Finally, give something away with your name on it to everyone who walks through
your front door!
RECALL
When asked, 76.1% of the PPAI respondents could recall the
name of the advertiser that had presented them with a
promotional product gift within the last 12 months.
Conversely, only 53.5% could recall the name of a single
advertiser from a magazine or newspaper that they had read
in the past week.
If you spend at least $500.00/month on newspaper
advertising, I challenge you to take a 12th of your annual
newspaper-advertising budget and convert it into the
purchase of a promotional product. Then take that product
to an event or location where you believe there will be a
high concentration of potential renters. Distribute that
product along with brochures and an invitation to visit your
property for an open house or free tour. You can further
increase the active response of individuals by displaying a
sample of an additional gift to be given to one lucky winner
who visits the property.
Finally, for those of you who take this challenge, be sure
to let me know how it turns out. I would love to use your
experience as an example in one of my future articles.
IMPRESSION OF THE ADVERTISER
Building a favorable impression is an important step to
developing a positive brand image. In the PPAI survey 52.1%
of those who had received a free gift reported that their
impression of the advertiser was more favorable since
receiving the item.
Image is King in any market and a positive image results in
greater Return on Investment!
FREQUENT EXPOSURE / LOW COST PER IMPRESSION
Frequency of use of promotional products is critical in
terms of advertising exposure. Of those surveyed, 73%
reported using the promotional product they had received at
least once per week and 45.2% reported using it at least
once per day. Remarkably, 55% reported keeping their free
gift for a period of 1 to 2 years!
When faced with the decision of what to do with a
promotional product that they did not intend to use,
26% said they would pass the item along to someone else,
while 45% said they would keep it.
CONCLUSION
Promotional products extend the life of your advertising
dollars by providing multiple impressions to multiple
persons on a daily basis for and extended period of time!
Selecting the right promotional product can dramatically
increase your Return on Investment. When ordering, be sure
to specify your budget. This will reduce time when
selecting a product. There are over 300,000 different
promotional products available. Share your plan and your
goals with your promotional products distributor. Consider
them an extension of your staff and rely on their expertise
to help you select the right products for your business.
Coming Soon: How to retain existing tenants for longer
periods using promotional products
For more information, or assistance with your promotional products plans, visit
Promotions Superstore at www.weinkit.com or contact David Seymour at
[email protected].
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