Marketing planning….are you ready for 2019?
Happy New Year! We can’t quite believe its 2019…time flies when you’re having fun.
Along with a New Year is the requirement for a new marketing plan; putting your strategy together for the year ahead is essential and the earlier it can be done the better – get organised now to ensure your business and sales objectives can be achieved!
Including promotional merchandise within your plan can be difficult, if you’re not sure how exactly branded giveaways can help you achieve your overall objectives, this is where we come in to offer our expertise and advice…
A well-chosen piece of promotional merchandise, aimed at the right target audience can remain with the recipient for a lifetime. Not only will it prove to be the hardest working form of advertising you can find, it will also increase your brand awareness by putting your name in front of your customer – all day, every day.
The key to achieving this is choosing the right product, so here are our 7 ‘Top Tips’ to ensure you make the right choice and gain the best return on your investment:
1. Objectives
Define your objective; are you aiming to promote a new product, incentivise customers or increase traffic to your website? Clear objectives will ensure you select the right product to achieve that ever important ROI.
2. Target audience
Know your target audience and keep them in mind when making your decision. Think about your own experiences; maybe you have a favourite key ring, t-shirt or even the golf brolly in your car. These items were intended to advertise a message and create a bond between you and the brand; if you’re still using them, they have succeeded in their purpose.
3. LTV
Think about who you’re targeting. Think about the ‘lifetime value’ of your client and that should dictate your budget!
4. Message
What message do you want to portray. Mugs can be a great choice for office-based companies, but if you specialise in outdoor clothing, you might want your customers to associate you with a like-minded item such as a thermal travel mug or sports bag.
5. Functionality
Make it useful and worth keeping. A ballpoint pen ticks the first box but is it worth making space in the desk tidier for? If not, your ‘brand ambassador’ will quickly find itself out of sight, and your brand out of mind.
6. Budget
If budgets are tight, take a more targeted approach. Instead of trying to satisfy 500 clients on a £500 budget, just look at your top 50 clients, i.e. your biggest spenders. This will allow you to buy something far more in line with the long-term value of that client.
7. PLAN AHEAD!
Don’t restrict your choice of items because you left it too late to order. Your choice of product should be just as high on the agenda as designing your exhibition stand, choosing your venue or planning the entertainment!
If you’d like help making your marketing objectives a reality in 2019, we’d love to help. Either give us a call on 01200 450 005 or contact us at sales@love.tobrand.co.uk – We hope to hear from you soon!