How is it so far?

It is now six months since we published the first Promotional Merchandise newsletter. Back in November, in the first issue, I gave you some of my unashamed initial impressions of the industry. Now, after what has been a pretty intense learning curve, I offer you an update on those thoughts.

The first thing to say is that I have very quickly grown to understand the huge contribution the industry makes to the marketing mix. This may seem like an obvious thing to say, after all, that is what promotional material is all about. However, until last November I hadn't completely understood the importance of companies putting together marketing campaigns that embrace all kinds of different media. It is clear that any firm that wants to get its message across needs to carefully consider what it is wanting to achieve, what media channels it is going to use to carry this off and what proportion of each of these channels it is going to use in this campaign.

Unfortunately it is here that we come to the first obstacle. It seems that so many marketers don't really have much idea of how to balance their product promotion. When I worked in magazines I used to talk to the salespeople about the problems they encountered and one of the regular complaints was clients who didn't want to spend any money. Again, this sounds like a daft thing to say, but, unless you have a product that is so revolutionary that national press and TV cover it for free, you are going to have to pay to get the message out. After all, how else are you going to tell people? Like it or not you are going to have to pay, for newspaper or TV advertising, PR, a presence at an exhibition or promotional merchandise.

wonder how many merchandise suppliers have the same problem as my colleagues from years ago? They carefully put together a considered package for a client only to be told that the cost is too much and that the client is going to investigate other ways of promoting the product. It must be soul destroying to offer people a solution based on years of knowledge accumulation for them to decide they know better.

This expertise is something I am impressed by. Over the last six months I have spoken to many people who are deeply passionate and knowledgeable about the promotional merchandise industry. Certainly they want to see their own companies flourish but they also have an eye on the good name of the industry and the excellent support it can give its customers.

They do this even to what may appear on paper the detriment of their own profit and loss analysis. A serious supplier will question the client's desire to send out several thousand items willy-nilly and will suggest other more cost effective alternatives that may do the job in an altogether more efficient manner. Now that is customer care.

Having said all that, you can understand how the promotional marketing scene can seem to be a minefield to the client. Until I got involved with the industry and started looking at a few catalogues, I didn't realise just how many thousands of different products and possibilities there are, anything from chocolate bars and t-shirts to paperweights and pens.

With such a huge amount of choice you would think that marketers would have no problem in picking the appropriate item to support their campaign. And yet, it remains a mystery how many of them manage to get things so embarrassingly wrong. Perhaps they think that it is enough to send out some kind of gift, the fact that you have sent something in the first place is indicative of your desire to attract the right customers. Nothing could be further from the truth, however, as what you send to prospective and existing clients says so much about, not only your company, but also what you think about the people you are trying to entice.
A gift that has clearly been thought about will surely leave a far better impression in the recipient's mind than something that has been hastily bundled into an envelope as part of a monumental direct mail campaign.
Again, the promotional merchandise industry is able to help.

It would be foolish to suggest that a strategically placed promotional item will be the answer to all your marketing prayers, however, it certainly can help make an impact. This is what I find so exciting about the medium. I am looking forward to getting to know it even better.

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