Branded promotional products have always been an integral and impactful element of promotions and sponsorships. Leading businesses tend to implement a strategic approach that ensures their merchandise is a critical element of an overall marketing strategy. The best-branded products help a company to connect emotionally with their target market, express the personality of their brand and reinforce their message.
What is branded merchandise?
Branded merchandise features a company’s brand message or logo printed on an item. Thus, plain merchandise becomes branded when visuals like logos are displayed upon it.
Effective campaign branding permits businesses to connect with their target audience on a more personal level. Branding can help a business to stand apart from its competition. To establish brand resonance by reinforcing a marketing message, it is important to create merchandise that hits the spot. Below are some tips on how to achieve this:
Know your brand identity
Brand identity is how businesses want their target audience to perceive them. The goal is to be unique and stand out from the competition through design, personality and outlook.
Brand identity is a critical part of creating powerful promotional products. The branded merchandise must match the brand identity. Following are some non-visual and visual elements which help to build a corporate identity:
● Logo: This is a visual component that displays the offering. It can be a picture or a text, or a mix of both.
● Tag line: This visual element communicates the message of a brand. It is a memorable and short description of the brand.
● Colour palette: These are sets of colours used in marketing materials, including the logo.
● Imagery: This includes images and visuals which communicate the message of the brand.
● Voice: This is a non-visual element made of words and values expressed by the brand.
● Personality: Another non-visual component of a brand made of human traits, which the brand attempts to replicate during interactions with customers.
● Associations: influencers and partners associated by customers with brands.
Choose popular items
Branded merchandise is most successful on items that can be used in daily life such as water bottles, hoodies, power banks, bags, journals, hats, T-shirts etc.
Utility is key. Customers will not have any real use for decorative items. The more practical a promotional item, the more useful it is as a branded product. Such items will enjoy more viewership by the target audience. They will tend to stay at the top of mind for the audience.
Emphasis on quality rather than quantity
Quality is everything with regard to branded promotional products. The last thing businesses ought to do is go for cheap products of poor quality and attempt to produce more of them, with the aim of saving on marketing budget. The quality of promotional merchandise will reflect upon the reputation of the brand when presented to clients, so they deserve to be of the best possible standard. This is why companies consult experts to control the quality of their promotional or branded items. This will ensure a happier target audience, even though there may be fewer items to distribute.
Think out of the box
The focus of branded merchandise should not only be the product. Other important factors to consider include the packaging and wrapping. To remind people that this is company merchandise, the packaging must align with the corporate brand identity. This is because the exterior is one of the first elements to be noticed when a customer, or other stakeholder, receives a product.
Consult experts
It is wise to consult an expert while designing a promotional product strategy. This is especially true if doing it for the first time. Professional and personalised advice can help save much money in the trial-and-error phase.
Don’t Be Invasive
All promotional merchandise should aim to be an enticing, subtle and creative product. Certain companies make their promotional items available exclusively to those who engage with events, visit their stores, take part in promotions or purchase via their retailers. For long-lasting impact, the promotional activity should be fairly non-invasive, if it’s too aggressive it can turn the intended audience off. Impactful, yet subtle, publicity items create a deep impression of your brand and on those who already have buy-ins for your services or products. A great way to maintain the appeal of a promotional collection is by creating an element of limited edition or exclusivity.
In sum, the above are valuable tips when designing a branded product strategy for business promotion. Strong brand merchandising can engage loyal consumers, clients and potential buyers in a way that is not possible with traditional marketing. When done correctly, this can serve as a most effective advertising strategy that delivers high sales and a great return on investment.