In the age of Internet advertising and social networking, it may surprise many business leaders to learn that one of the most powerful marketing tools are often perceived as toys. The power hitter in reference: promotional products.
Promotional products are the pens that feature a company name on the side, the coffee mugs that showcase a firm’s logo or the branded polo shirts at a golf tournament. Statistically speaking, one in every four people is likely to have one of these items on their desk at work or in their kitchen at home.
These advertising specialty products are often seen as benign trinkets, viewed as silly toys or maligned as ineffective gimmicks. A closer examination of this $18.1 billion (with a “b”) industry reveals promotional items are in fact highly productive marketing mediums if used properly.
Aside from their perceived image, promotional products are one of the essential “M’s” in the business development equation. Six Sigma CRM, a leadgenaration 1-1 multi Step Marketing Automation service for entre-preneurs, notes that if a company has a clear, viable mission and message that resonates with their targeted prospect but lacks the marketing and merchandising effort to connect both with their end user, then the selling effort is destined to fail. Promotional products are the surprising superstar that enables organizations (start-up to Fortune 500) to effectively take their mission and message to the world. And does so in a way that is memorable, affordable, customizable, flexible and amazingly successful.
A 2009 study of the advertising purchasing habits of end buyers, ranked promotional products as their top advertising choice over mainstream media including television, newspaper and internet. (Source: t Louisiana State University and Glenrich Business Studies.)
A second study, “Effectiveness Of Promotional Products As An Advertising Medium” conducted by MarketTools, Inc. evaluated the action, reaction and relationship of products and their recipients. The study found that:
• 94 percent could recall a promotional product they had received in the past two years
• 89 percent could also recall the advertiser
• 83 percent reported that they liked receiving promotional products
• 48 percent would like to receive promotional products more often
• 69 percent generally keep the promotional product
“The MarketTools study,” notes Steve Slagle, president of Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), “validates what we communicate every day about our industry: promotional advertising items are the only media that consistently shows staggering results in end user recall and reaction. Specifically, the study found that 80 percent of the study participants could clearly identify the type of promotional product; 74 percent could recall the company/brand, the product/service and the message advertised.” “Further,” adds Slagle, “when consumers were asked which particular action they took after viewing and/or receiving the promotional product, the study revealed that consumers made a purchase (20.9 percent) more often than after viewing a print ad (13.4 percent), TV commercial (7.1 percent) or online ad (4.6 percent).”
Just as a superior recipe can be an epicurean flop in the hands of an inept cook, promotional products can be ineffective in the hands of marketers that lack the knowledge to optimize their value. Working with a seasoned industry professional can ensure the selection of the best product and the best campaign strategy that will produce results that can be substantive and exciting.
A recent campaign conducted by Erich Fischer, national Creative Technology guru, is a perfect example. His client was struggling with the diminishing traffic at their public workshops, down to as few as few as five attendees signed up for the last event. By incorporating Six Sigma CRM type tactics (a tube mailer with a simple promotional item inside), the same client sold out (filled every seating space) at their next workshop.
Misunderstood and underestimated, business owners and marketers mustn’t be so obsessed with the flash of social networking or the sex appeal of Internet-based advertising that they forget the tremendous power of promotional product-based marketing tools. Promotional products, often perceived as just toys, are in fact power tools loaded with desired advertising clout.
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Ask Not What Your Sponsorship Can Do For You …Think you’re ready to sponsor a team, event, organization? IEG Inc., an organization dedicated to sports, art, cause and entertainment marketing, says you should ask yourself the following questions first:
1. Who are your most important customers? Don’t try to cast your net over everyone, Find your target market and aim for it.
2. What do they care about most? Don’t assume the tie in is going to be sports related. In 1999, 850 million people contributed to charity and attended arts events.
Compare that to the 200 million people who paid to go to a minor/major league sporting event. Look at national, regional and local angles as well.
3. How can your sponsorship address clients’ needs and interests? You want to go beyond merely communicating the value of your brand and actually provide something of value. Develop a plan of action.
4. What’s your measure of success? It’s up to you to decide the sponsorship’s goal, whether it’s twenty five new customers, a 20% increase in sales, etc. By designing the measure in advance, you’ll know whether your sponsorship met or exceeded the objective and whether you should change your strategy.
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Is traditional advertising giving you the return on investment you want? No? Well then you might want to think about diverting some of those precious ad dollars to the fourth arm of marketing (alongside advertising, promotion and public relations) – a corporate sponsorship.
Think sponsorships aren’t for you? Consider this: In 1992, York International Corp. (a maker of air conditioning and refrigeration equipment) generated over $20 million in sales from a $1 million sponsorship of the Winter Olympics.
We’d call that a pretty good ROI!
And if you think that was a one time fluke, how about sneaker-maker Vans, which quadrupled its sales in just eight months after it started sponsoring skateboarding, snowboarding, and wakeboarding events.
It’s numbers like these that are making sponsorship the world’s fastest-growing form of marketing. In 2002 alone, corporations worldwide spent an estimated $9.3 billion sponsoring sports, arts, entertainment, causes and events.
And – what a coincidence – promotional products are generally part of the sponsorship package.
Good Corporate Citizenship
There are many reasons for companies to get involved with a sponsorship. If nothing else, being a sponsor of an event is a public sign of good corporate citizenship. It’s largely thanks to sponsors that youth sport leagues get uniforms, art festivals come to town, charitable events get recognition, walkathons raise money for medical research, and so on.
It’s not just community, organizations, and events that benefit from sponsorships. Sponsoring companies reap the rewards too.
Many times, consumers are more apt to buy the products and services of sponsor companies because they want to align themselves with organizations that demonstrate their concern for worthy causes.
And there’s the added advantage that companies can often claim a tax deduction for activities. After all, business is business.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using a sponsorship solely to increase a firm’s market exposure and sales within a specific area or to a particular consumer group – sponsorships are really just another form of marketing and advertising.
And The Sponsorship Goes To…
So how do you get started on the sponsorship super highway? Think: research. Your initial research might begin on the Internet by going to IEG’s Web site (www.sponsorship.com), where you’ll find pertinent sponsorship information, discussion groups and forums, a glossary of terms, sponsorship links, and information on upcoming conferences.
You might also try using a search engine to find organizations in search of sponsors.
Locally, check with your city’s chamber of commerce and Rotary clubs to find groups that might be seeking a sponsor. However, if you desire a relationship with a larger organization, such as a college or professional sports team, go directly to the source.
After you gather a list of potential opportunities, decide which one you’d like your firm to be associated with.
Find a good fit between an event or organization and the products and services your company offers.
A word of caution here: Selecting the most popular event or cheapest sponsorship available may not be in your company’s best interest.
Lots of times, common sense is all that’s required when choosing a sponsorship. For example, a tobacco company or liquor firm probably wouldn’t be a good choice to sponsor a children’s music festival, but these kinds of firms might be an absolutely perfect fit with a jazz, blues or rock festival.
What common sense won’t help you do, however, is narrow down the remaining range of sponsorship opportunities.
Categories include sports, arts, festivals, music, cause-related, and cultural events. Each appeals to a wide array of people who may or may not frequent other events in other categories. Can you reach them all at once? No way. It’s generally best to stick with one organization or one event.
Many times, the longer you sponsor the same event or charity, the more ingrained your involvement becomes in the public’s mind. As with the Ronald McDonald House, for instance, your company could conceivably become synonymous with a cause, celebration or annual event.
Considerations And Criteria
Here are some criteria to consider that may help you select a “good fit” sponsorship for your company:
1. Do the participants represent your target market? If you’re looking to target a specific ethnic group, seek out events that have meaning to its culture. If your products and services are age- or gender-oriented, do likewise. For instance, a new line of hair care products that appeals to younger people might sponsor Students Against Drunk Driving events or outreach programs.
2. Do the participants regularly buy your type of products and services? Athletic apparel manufacturers often sponsor 10K runs and other fitness-related events. Businesses such as dry cleaners and service stations frequently sponsor little league and high school sports teams and/or adult bowling leagues in an effort to reach out to customers in their local market.
3. Is the event located in an area where you want to increase or maintain sales? If you want to bump up your sales in Los Angeles, for example, you’re not going to sponsor an event in San Francisco. If your reach is in fact more national, then events with high-visibility and larger scope would make more sense.
What Will It Cost?
Small organizations (e.g., check your local Boys and Girls Club) can charge anywhere from $125 to $175 for sponsorships of its soccer and baseball leagues. Sponsors get their names placed on the back of team jerseys and a plaque of appreciation to hang on their wall.
On a larger scale, a title sponsorship of a national event like a college football bowl game can cost upwards of $1 million. However, the sponsor’s name becomes a key part of the event; consider the FedEx Orange Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl complete with logos on the 50-yard line.
Today, sports arenas have sponsors for practically everything. At the First Union Center in Philadelphia, for example, “fan-a-vision” replays are sponsored by local radio stations and cable companies, and PECO Energy sponsors the Philadelphia Flyers’ “power plays.”
There may be other opportunities and costs associated with a sponsorship. For example, if you participate in trade shows, ask about sponsoring the exhibitors’ lounge or an educational event.
This can give you a chance to showcase your company literature –and have specially chosen imprinted products for visitors to take with them.
Some Are FAN Tastic
Right now, the biggest area of sponsorships is within sporting events. Sports take in 68% of all sponsorship dollars, and more and more companies are looking to get on board.
Take Chick-Fil-A as an example. The company spent about a half-million dollars upfront for the privilege of having the event called Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl.
The exposure Chick-Fil-A received was tremendous. Every mention from the pre-game hype to the telecast to post-game media coverage included Chick-Fil-A’s name.
Not only that, but a special bowl logo, incorporating the Chic-Fil-A name, was created. It appeared not only at mid-field, but also on a commemorative patch on each player’s jersey. Merchandising prior to the game and during the event was a major part of the hoopla.
NASCAR is another example of merchandising gone wild. Look no further than the decals and logos of the various Fortune 500 companies that adorn everything from the tracks to the cars to the drivers’ and pit crews’ uniforms.
NASCAR fans have deep pockets and are extremely brand loyal, so it’s truly a winning situation for everyone involved. Participating companies are finding it more effective than other sports because they get to put their name right on the racing product.
NASCAR has done wonders for other types of activities riding its coattails. The popularity of NASCAR is allowing other motor sports to come in, which means more opportunity for sponsorships and partnerships.
Support Your Local . . .
Gone are the days when sponsoring an event was limited to an ad in a program. In the 21st Century, the abundance of ad messages vying for peoples’ attention requires an additional step: participation.
The feeling is that if you’re spending the money to sponsor an event or organization, you should promote your involvement as well. You have to go out and support that effort. But how?
Use special letterhead and imprinted products to promote your sponsorship to your customers and vendors. Just to advertise on a sign or have a program ad isn’t going to be enough to get you noticed.
If you’re going to effectively maximize the sponsorship opportunity, it’s going to include some type of promotional usage outside of the setting.
Get the word out about your sponsorship through signage, in-store displays, pre-event marketing opportunities, hospitality suites, invitations, merchandise tents, etc. Promotional products run the gamut from balloons to bumper stickers to beanbag animals to sports bottles. Logoed wearables are also a popular choice.
Entire sponsorships can be centered on promotional products. Circle K, for example, routinely offers people the chance to buy coffee and soft in a Detroit Red Wings-logoed mug. They were able to increase their coffee sales and traffic because of that,” Brenner says.
Some groups depend on sponsorship money for survival, while others appreciate and use product donations. Many times, you can place your firm’s logo on the products.
Recently, an association raised money and donated 500 beanbag bears to a local charity that assists families in crisis. The bears will be used to comfort traumatized children. Close communication with the organization you’ve chosen to sponsor will help determine the best type of sponsorship support you can offer.
Taking Action
Sound interesting?
Here are some things to keep in mind as you proceed:
• Pinpoint and target events that work for your organization. For instance, if your company is small and reaches a limited amount of customers, look for sponsorship opportunities in and around your community.
• Decide how much money your company can spend. Not every organization has thousands (or millions) of dollars to put into sponsorships. Decide how much you’re willing to leverage, then sit down with your counselor and work out a program that’s cost-effective. But be careful not to pick an event or organization based solely on the fact that it’s affordable.
• Pick an organization that provides the best vehicle for your sponsorship. A manufacturer of camping gear shouldn’t sponsor a tennis tournament. Put your money with an event or organization that targets your audience or ties into your firm’s business.
Find appropriate promotional products to use with your sponsorship. Picking appropriate items means considering the recipients’ age, gender, culture, and interests. For example, baseball caps might not be the best giveaway for a charity event that sponsors the arts.
• Work the PR wire. Send out press releases that announce your sponsorship. This gets the word out to people who might not otherwise attend the event.
• Remember there are sponsorships at various levels, from smaller community organizations to highly visible national events. If you’re a local pizza shop that wants to build business, sponsoring a local youth sports team can often be the way to go. It’s cost-effective, you get your establishment’s name in front of the buying public and they see you as doing something useful for the community.
If traditional advertising isnt giving you the return on investment you want?
Well then you might want to think about diverting some of those precious ad dollars to the fourth arm of marketing (alongside advertising, promotion and public relations) – a corporate sponsorship.
Call me so I can help
Warm Reguards
Nye
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I’ve got a really great article for you today that takes you on the inside of what it feels like to have a powerful promotion.
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An Analysis of A Winning Promotion
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Nye Ohrberg
888-778-7135
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