Promotional products are a crucial part of any business growth strategy. They are deployed in such a way as to attract more customers, increase the scope and reach of your brand image, and can be used to test potential future products and gather consumer opinion and reaction. Businesses from across a range of sectors make extensive use of promotional products to both expand their offering and evaluate the market.
While using promotional products may prove more cost-effective than some traditional advertising and marketing methods, they can still come with a rather hefty price-tag, and it’s important to be able to properly assess whether your investment has been worth your while. We’ll be looking at various methods from a selection of industries and discussing how best to measure the return on investment (ROI) for promotional products.
Set Your Goals
Establishing clear goals and objectives when considering implementing a promotional product campaign for your company is essential for ensuring your making a return on your investment. Are you looking for increased brand awareness, or are you looking to test drive a new prototype or product line? These are factors you’ll certainly need to consider, and your goals will ultimately determine the best course of action to take. For example, online casinos may release trial versions of their games, offering free spins that give customers the chance of high winnings without risk.
This can be an extremely efficient strategy and can work to ensure customers retain the knowledge of and return to your brand. Trial or demo versions of products are also effective for measuring ROI, giving customers the option to upgrade demos to fully paid versions can give you immediate conversion stats.
By defining and clearly setting out what you hope to achieve through a promotional product campaign, you can specifically tailor the strategy and methods you use, and effectively assess and evaluate the results that come in.
A/B Testing
While a promotional product campaign might see your business attract new customers and generate further revenue, sometimes it can be hard to definitely pinpoint the promotional strategy as the source and origin of this new business. Using an A/B testing method can help you isolate the results of promotional products and help you determine their true effectiveness and value to your company.
One common A/B testing method is through geographical localisation. Launch your promotional product in only one specific location, such as a state or city, while carrying out your standard marketing campaigns elsewhere. After comparing the results and assessing any potential sale increases for your target area, you’ll be able to draw up accurate conclusions about the strength of your promotional strategy.
Use Unique Links
Tracking the sales and impressions generated through promotional products can be tricky. One of the simplest ways to do this is through the use of a unique link or URL. Include a link or on with and unique to your product that takes the customer directly to your website. In doing this, you will be able to use analytic tools to get detailed insight into how many consumers followed the link, visited your website, and how many were converted into sales.
Include a call to action with your promotional product to urge and motivate consumers to follow the link you’ve included. Using this method can give you an immediate idea of the ROI of your promotional product campaign.
Increase ROI On Promotional Products
While brand awareness and image reach benefits offered by a promotional product strategy might be your primary goal, it is also worth knowing how to increase the ROI of a promo campaign as well.
First, identify your target customer. Are they loyal customers that you’re looking to test a new product, or are they a prospective consumer that you are hoping to convert? Defining a target demographic will allow you to tailor your approach and optimise your campaign.
Create the opportunity to follow up potential customers. For example, ask them to exchange their contact details in return for access to your promotion. Use sales reps to follow up these leads, or use them to form the basis of a targeted marketing campaign.
Return On Impressions
Return on Investment isn’t the be all and end all of measuring a promotional product’s success. Evaluating return on impressions can be a viable method that allows you to assess a campaign’s effect on customer opinion and brand awareness, giving you an insight into metrics outside of hard sales and revenue.
Costs per impression are significantly lower for promotional products than for traditional advertising in newspapers, magazines, and on TV. According to research, the average consumer will keep a promotional item for between one and five years, which makes for the potential for your business to make repeated impressions over an extended period of time and long after your original promotional campaign has ended.
While implementing promotional product strategies can boost revenue in the short term, it is the slightly less tangible but just as important return on impressions that could work to offer the greatest benefits to your company in the long run.
Conclusion
Promotional product campaigns are proven to both increase sales and improve brand awareness and image. However, measuring your return on investment for these strategies can prove difficult, and it can be hard to evaluate a campaigns true effectiveness. By following these tips, you’ll ensure that you’re maximising your company’s promotional strategy.
