Business Marketing: Year-Round Promotional Items to Consider

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Marketing is becoming more important as industries become saturated with competition and customers become more selective about their financial decisions. Therefore, year-round marketing campaigns should go hand-in-hand with year-round promotional items.

Go Local
The best ways to increase customer loyalty and raise brand awareness is through products that have a strong local flavor. Handing out locally themed products to customers will establish the company as an essential part of the community. For example, a clothing store can continually give customers clothing or accessory items that match the current season. For example, during the hot summer they can offer wide brimmed hats and during the winter they can give out gloves. On the other hand, a restaurant can easily follow the seasons as they offer samples of dishes made with locally grown ingredients. An office supplies company won’t be able to offer seasonal promotional items, but they will be able to offer standard, useful office supplies such as notepads or mouse pads.

Online Rewards
Not all promotional items are tangible things because online consumers prefer non-tangible items, such as online coupons or rebates. For example, any company that sells their products or services online will be able to take advantage of offering online rewards all year long. For instance, a customer membership program can reward consumers with points for spending that can be traded in for store credit. On the other hand, companies should coordinate their sales and marketing efforts so that customers receive monetary discounts before big campaigns. However, it is very important to elicit feedback from customers in order to understand their preferences. Entrepreneur magazine recommends customer satisfaction surveys for customers who have recently purchased items.

Social Media Rewards
According to Forbes magazine, social media marketing allows the company to increase brand loyalty, recognition and popularity. It also increases conversion rates and develops new conversion opportunities. Companies with social media sites should consider offering game-like social rewards such as collectible pins, medals, badges, stickers or trophies. These will create a game-like online experience that encourages users to compete and collaborate with each other. On the other hand, customer driven content creation is one of the new marketing tools that companies prefer to use. In this way, customers are encouraged and rewarded to share engaging and informational content on the company’s blog, website or social media platform. As a result, the company receives positive publicity, free content and builds an interactive online community. The winning customers will also be happy with their prizes.

In retrospect, year-round promotional items are an excellent marketing tool that companies need in order to remain competitive and profitable. Companies should consider going local, offering online rewards and hosting social media reward campaigns.