My father used to tell me (too often) that if I was going to do something, then do it right! Too many marketers miss that advice when it comes to the most fundamental promotional opportunities. As we head into 2024, pay attention to these simple tips to help you get ahead.
Invest in cool swag: Printing your logo on junk results in branded junk. If you want people to see your logo hundreds of times per year, then put it on something they will see. If they shove it in the back of a drawer or put in their donation box, it’s a useless investment. As for what’s cool, you decide. How many thermal mugs do you already have? Or note pads? Should I go on? Know this: VI’s backpacks have been seen and photographed across the globe.
Activate your sponsorships: If you invest in the ‘Gold Package’ and don’t make it work for you, then it’s a donation. A sponsorship allows you to associate your brand with other sponsors, create relevant content, appeal to board members and supporters of what you’re supporting, acquire email addresses, and a lot more. Sponsorships should be win-win-win. A few minutes of brainstorming will provide you with a good ROI.
Shitty stationery makes your brand look shitty. If you’re still using business cards, that matters too. Same for your mailing labels, invoices, bathroom signage. If it represents your brand, make it a good representation.
How hard is it to really publish a newsletter? Once the database is put together and the design is done, you just need a few pieces of relevant content. That means, relevant to who you send it to. Keep it simple, pertinent to the audience, and on a regular cadence. And never stop publishing it.
Publicize your business. If you’re a company with relative success, you’re doing things that are newsworthy. Reporters might not be clamoring to tell the world about every award you receive or hire that you make. But, a regular cadence of news releases will help you build relationships with the media, AND will always improve your search engine ranking (SEO) on key terms when you publish them on your website.
Bonus: Include staff in your promotional efforts. Your marketing department shouldn’t have all of the fun or do all of the heavy lifting. Including your entire organization in various tactics is great for your internal culture. And when culture improves, everything improves. HR most certainly wants to be involved when you go outside of your team. But, don’t sleep on operations, production, and certainly the service team. You have brand ambassadors just waiting to be engaged. Don’t just do it. Do it right!
