The marketing agency has a lot on its plate these days. There’s growing diversification of social media outlets, sales channels, and customer demographics, plus the ever greater expectation to increase client ROI.
How do marketing agencies continue to innovate and provide clients with impactful solutions?
For years, providing any branded product with a company logo on it has got the job done. However, as the the world of marketing has become more competitive, traditional promotional products don’t carry the same level of impact they once did during activations, trade shows, product launches, etc. The solution to this dilemma? Custom produce your next marketing product.
Here are 5 reason why this method will solidify your company as a client’s go-to agency:
1) Impact
Will the marketing product you’re offering leave an impression? Or is it only being selected because of a client’s limited timeline? Will it be looked at as another low brow advertisement and be easily forgotten, or will it be the golden product that sets a new standard?
To increase ROI, the product must carry a higher perceived value. To truly align with a client’s marketing objectives you must integrate at a deeper level within their business and learn the pain point the marketing team is aiming to overcome. This not only makes you a valuable asset to their business. Additionally, you will unlock a longer timeline to work within, giving you an even greater opportunity to produce a product that makes an impact.
A survey issued by PPAI asked, “Are more expensive gifts perceived differently than inexpensive ones?” The answer, “If a logo-imprinted promotional product perceived to be expensive was handed out, the majority of respondents say they would believe the item was given to them as both an advertising medium and a gift”.
Furthermore, that same group surveyed answered “if a logo-imprinted promotional product perceived to be inexpensive was handed out, the majority of respondents say they would believe the item was given to them as an advertising medium”.
This key distinction between gift and advertising brings us to the next reason to custom produce your next promotional product, share ability.
2) Shareability
Marketing products existed long before social media and therein lies the problem. It’s time to adapt. Expectations have never been higher and will only continue to grow as our technology becomes more advanced. If you aren’t delivering a product worthy of sharing digitally, then you are leaving the majority of marketing ROI on the table. This is no secret, as every agency has specialized digital marketing teams whose sole goal is promoting brand messaging into the web of social networks.
Marketing products now need to activate and engage with the recipient so deeply that they need to share it across their social platforms.
The upside to the millennial generation is that when you actually connect with them, they will go out of their way to share the experience with friends and colleagues. It is because of this hyper-connectivity in social media that it becomes essential to deliver a product worthy of sharing.
3) Retention
We won’t even get started on the difficulty and cost of winning the attention of new customers…
Any coincidence that attention rhymes with retention?
Attention spans have never been shorter and because of this, it has never been harder for brands to keep customers looking in their direction.
Creating loyalty and retention takes more than a screen-printed $0.99 promotional product. Keeping customers loyal is exponentially cheaper in the long run, as opposed to attracting new ones. This makes it essential that your team is able to deliver a wide range of capabilities in custom products. This will again resolve a major pain point for most of your clients and reaffirm that you are invaluable to their marketing objectives.
4) Experience
The evolution of promotional products carries the great burden of staying ahead of the curve…
One of the fundamental goals of marketing is to create an experience. The evolution of marketing products carries the great burden of staying ahead of the curve and providing assets that will fuel a memorable experience.
When done correctly a promotional product will elevate an experience so it lives on in the minds of customers long after the interaction has ended. Just look at what music festivals and Las Vegas nightclubs have grown into in the last 5 years. They have figured out the level of experience needed to connect with modern music fans and custom promotional products play a heavy role in this.
Look no further than the music festival Coachella. Fully customized giveaways and freebies are delivered by festival sponsors and the festival itself when you purchase a ticket, excuse me, a “welcome box“.
5) Margin
At long last, the holy grail of custom promotional product manufacturing, the increased margin.
Along with the increased value you are able to provide clients, custom marketing products bring increased margin as well. The traditional sales commission on promotional products has long been the industry standard, but what about when the volume allows for overseas production? By working directly with factory partners you gain access to full product margin and eliminate 3rd, sometimes even 4th parties in the supply chain.
In Summary:
One aspect of marketing that has stood the test of time is promotional products. However, expectations have increased and those that stay ahead of the curve will see the biggest success.Millennial social media networks unlock unlimited potential for brand exposure if approached strategically and promotional assets carry a higher perceived value. Think “gift” not “advertisement”.
A custom product will always deliver a greater impact and exponentially increase overall ROI. It has never been more important to offer increased promotional sales solutions to your clients. Increased margins are achieved when products are built directly with the factory and not purchased through 3rd party platforms.