Why does giving away free promotional gifts work?
There’s been a lot of articles written on the benefits of giving away promotional products such as pens, bags or custom memory sticks. With a quick search, you’ll be able to find pages upon pages of statistics that prove the effectiveness of a free gift in terms of increasing likeability, brand awareness and ultimately sales.
Here are some of my favourite statistics…
1. Promotional gifts are less expensive but more effective for brand recognition than print, radio or TV adverts.
2. 90% of people currently own or possess a promotional product.
3. 66% of people surveyed could remember the name of a company or brand that given them a promotional gift in the last 12 months.
4. 58% of respondents said they kept a promotional product for between 1 and 4 years.
The statistics that are most important to me….
5. 84% of people stated that branded merchandise increases brand awareness.
6. 79% of promotional product recipients are likely to do business with that company.
These statistics come from a report put together by the British Promotional Merchandise Association. Established in 1965, the BPMA surveys recipients of promotional merchandise, to evaluate the effectiveness. Their research is published to help companies understand the potential power of promotional products in their marketing campaigns.
So we know promotional gifts work, but why do they work?
Builds trust
Offering them something without wanting something in return will help instil trust. It can also make your company more ‘real’ to your clients. For web-based companies, you’re no longer just an online entity. They have physical proof of your existence.
Brand awareness
The most obvious reason, you’re increasing brand awareness. People are seeing your logo and branding, maybe daily, on your promotional gift, keeping it fresh in their mind. Is your promotional gift a bag or a travel mug? Not only is your client seeing your brand, so are all other shoppers in the shopping centre when they use your tote bag, or all the other commuters on the tube when they use their travel mug!
Likeability
Who doesn’t like a free gift? Who doesn’t like the person that gave them a free gift? Enough said.
Gift = excitement and happiness
Not matter how old you get, everyone gets excited when they receive a gift. It doesn’t matter how small it may be, being given a ‘present’ makes you smile and gives you little butterflies. You want to be the person who makes your client smile.
Makes a client feel valued
I think this is incredibly important! We all want for a company to say ‘thank you for choosing us’, ‘we care about you’ and ‘we appreciate your business’. They may be sending the same gift and message out to thousands of clients, but at the moment of reading the message and opening your gift, you feel it’s a sincere thank you for your custom. It’s less about the gift itself, but what the gift means that company thinks of you.
Example.
I saw a great deal for Gousto recipe boxes and thought, it’s worth a try. The product was great but the third week, the recipe box arrived with its normal price tag and I was unsure as to whether to continue. Is it just a little too expensive? Week 4, my box arrives with a little gift. A little wooden spud brush with the Gousto logo on it with a little note that said, Thank you for ordering your fourth box with us, we really appreciate your custom – here’s a little gift to say thanks! It made me smile; it made me believe in the quality of the company, the product and their customer service. I still order Gousto every week!
Want to explore the range of promotional products that you could be giving to your clients? We can offer you advice on the right products for you at your budget. Just contact a member of our team.
USB-Flashdrive specialise in branded and custom made memory sticks. View our full range of promotional flash drives & usb sticks
