Small Business Marketing Strategies – Promotional Items
When launching a small business, it is often wise to have some promotional items which help your potential and past clients, so that your business is the one they go to once a need presents itself. Here are three tips to ensure that you win their business using promotional items:
1. The item should be used when a customer might need your product or service
Although it requires some understanding of buyer psychology, it is worth the effort to employ promotional items which keep your business at the top of your customers’ minds when they have a need for your product or service. Determining how, when, where, who and what other factors might be involved in influencing your customers’ purchase decisions enables you to choose promotional items which tip these odds in your favor.
2. The item should make it easy to do business with you
Good promotional items can also help by preventing common objections, especially those which occur when new customers are not as familiar with your offerings. If nothing else, each and every item should have a web address or phone number where your business can be reached. This is especially important when the web address is not obvious, or if the phone number is difficult to remember. You can certainly give an item as a gift, but if there is no contact information provided, then that will be the only purpose they ever serve. You might even consider having this vital information engraved, in cases where it can rub or wear off.
3. The item is best if it is also restrictive
A restrictive promotional item is one which has enormous benefit to people in your target market, but which is less likely to be used by other groups of people. This ensures that you are getting the most value out of your marketing dollars. For example, a tutoring company might print the name of its firm and contact information on pens to promote itself. However, it would be better for this company to print the name and contact information on pencils, as these are more often used by students, and less likely to be used by other groups of people.
Accordingly, by offering promotional items which influence the buying process at the right time, which make it easy to do business with you, and which are restricted to your target market, it is more likely that your promotional items will have a positive impact on the sales process.
Copyright 2010, by Marc Mays