How Cheap Promos Can Damage Your Brand

First impressions are important regardless of how vane or petty it may seem. You've heard it time and time again that you have 7 seconds to make a good impression. This not only applies to your person, but also for your business. The cold and hard truth is that people will size up your entire business within a matter of seconds. That means they will determine your trustworthiness and your competence to get the job done, likely before you've ever spoken to them. Once a person has formed an impression (especially a negative one), it's extremely hard to change their mind.

In a First Impressions Study, subjects made judgements about the trustworthiness of strangers in just a tenth of a second! If people will make judgements about other people that quickly, imagine how much easier it will be to judge a business - which has no emotions or feelings. That's why it is critical your brand makes a positive first impression. An often overlooked area of your brand image is promotional products. So many companies opt for cheap and low quality promotional products simply because of the price point. The thought is the more people exposed to their branded items, the better.

Wrong. If people are exposed to a crappy product, your brand will instantly be declared "Crappy." It's as simple as that. I've maintained for many years that it's much better to reach less people with high quality promotional items than it is to reach a high number of people with low quality promotional products. The key is to strategically target the recipients of your giveaways for the best results. Putting your best foot forward is always best when buying promotional products. Bargain Buyers don't make the best choices when it comes to promos. What type of buyer are you?

A Little Strategy Goes A Long Way

Promotional products are excellent tools to build up relationships with your clients. You can use promos to thank customers, reward them, entice them, surprise them, delight them, or grab their attention. Promotional items can reach more emotions than any other advertising medium. With the right promos and clever methods of delivery and packaging, you can keep your company at the top of their mind.

There are 7 basic steps to ensure a successful promotional products campaign. By following these steps, you'll be sure to make the right impression with the right people. Within those 7 steps, choosing the right promotional products is among them. This is a critical step in protecting your brand image. Shortcuts don't work for promotional products. In the same way you would spend time perfecting your print or radio ad, the same should apply to your promotional product campaigns. These incredibly effective and useful items have the power to generate unbelievably big returns on your investment.