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Programs |
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Phone: (519) 279-4835 |
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The Power of Promotional Products Promotional products should be a valuable and integral part of your advertising mix. An effective promotion is designed to help you generate leads, convert sales, improve customer satisfaction, improve employee performance, strengthening the image or help with just about any business challenge. Our goal as your partner is to help you develop innovative tactics to address all of these challenges. We position ourselves as your promotional advisor, focused on your needs, rather than the typical distributor that focuses almost exclusively on products. We approach you first as your marketing and business advisor and secondly as your product supplier. Advertising versus Promotion You might say advertising opens the sale, whereas promotion closes it. Advertising creates awareness and positions a product or service in terms of its image, benefits and uniqueness. Promotion encourages direct action through motivational tactics, from discounts to bonus offers to sales incentive programs. Ideally it also reinforces the brand and advertising. Typical business marketing expenditures break down to one-third for advertising, one-third for promotional marketing and one-third for trade promotion. Having a Purpose for your Promotion Does your company use promotional products as “giveaways”? While this is adequate for many companies and does serve a purpose at times, we would like show you “The Power of Promotional Products”, and quite frankly, giveaways are not where the power lies…..The popular view that promotions and giveaways are the same thing, likely costs businesses untold millions of dollars each year. A good promotion has a purpose and is designed to encourage a predetermined action by your customer or prospect. When planning a promotion, begin with your purpose in mind. The following questions will help; 1. What is the purpose of the promotion? What am I looking to accomplish? Do I want to create awareness? Or do I want to accomplish more? Am I interested in rewarding performance? Motivating someone to do something? If so, what specific action do I want them to take? 2. Who, specifically, do I want to impact with my promotion? 3. What exactly do I want to communicate to my targeted group? As you think your promotion through, consider including a strong, compelling benefit statement. 4. Where do I want to reach my targeted group? Where will my prospect be most receptive to my message? At work? At a trade show? At home? In the car? Does my prospect work in the office, at a desk, in a cubicle or on a tractor in the middle of a field? 5. How will I get it into their hands? Presenting the recipient with a gift wrapped present in person creates a completely different experience than if the same gift arrives in a corrugated UPS box. 6. When do you want to start getting results from your promotion? |
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Promotional Programs New Sales Acquiring new customers is an important process in maintaining and growing your business. Customer turnover is a fact of life for every business and in this economy more so than in the past. Therefore it is important we have an effective process for developing new business. Promotional products are a great tool for customer incentives and sales person performance programs. Customer Appreciation Showing our customers we appreciate their business can be as simple as a heartfelt thank you. Promotional products can play an important role in providing the best customer experience. Design a program that demonstrates to your customers your appreciation their business. Customer Loyalty Customer loyalty can be categorized with customer appreciation however when a customer returns again and again you need to recognize this maybe a little different. Loyalty programs gives your customers a reward (points system, gift, etc) for be loyal to you. Customer Service Once we have a customer it is important that we recognize how important they are to our success. We should do everything to ensure their experience is nothing but exceptional. Customer service is part of your corporate culture and every employee plays a part in the customer experience. Design a program that offers incentives and rewards employees who meet your expectations for customer service. New Product & Services Innovation is a key strategy for growing and maintaining your business. Companies who remain stagnant with their products, services and business processes are at risk of dwindling sales. Innovation means change and we all know how difficult change can be. Design a program to encourage/ reward your employees for innovation. Trade Shows For many companies trade shows are a significant part of their marketing budget. Given their cost, the amount of time and effort they require, and their ultimate importance in reaching prospects and clients, it is vital to ensure an impressive return on investment. Promotional products, in conjunction with relationship marketing, are one of the most effective methods to boost your trade-show ROI. Design a program to use imprinted items before, during and after the trade show. Corporate Image There are several ways in which to increase awareness and build on your corporate image including your company signs, your company logo, your company slogan, your corporate apparel, the teams you sponsor, and marketing materials. All of these say who you are and determine how you are perceived by your customers, prospects and the community. Design a program to turn your staff into live, branded ambassadors for your business. Have them stand out in a crowd and get your brand in front of more prospects and clients with a walking, talking, human billboard. Collections Collections are difficult even in good times, but when the economy stalls; customers have to make hard choices in order to make payments. Many companies have adopted the strategy/ policy to extend payables as long as possible to help with their cash flow. Design a program that offers incentives (discounts, gifts, points) to customers who pay on time or even early. Recruiting When recruiting new employees, experts recommend developing a thorough screening process to improve your chance of securing the best people. However getting the attention of the best people can be a challenge. Develop programs to support your recruiting process such as incentives for employees to bring in prospects. Employee Performance Improve employee productivity and you will generate more revenue, create higher market value and higher shareholder return for your company. Even in a difficult economy performance programs should be a key strategy for most businesses. In order for these programs to be successful they must be fully interactive. These are not programs which you hand out literature about improving performance. These are well documented performance goals and objectives that include performance metrics. The performance process must include a regular performance review and you must be willing to train employees who fall short of expectations. There are several employee programs that will help drive improvement in your business. They include performance incentive, reward programs and recognition programs. Health & Wellness If rising health care costs are affecting your overhead consider a well planned wellness program. An effective program can reduce absenteeism and increase productivity. A 2007-2008 study showed that companies with the most effective health and productivity programs saw 20% more revenue generated per employee; a 16% higher market value and 57% higher shareholder return than companies without programs. According to this study these companies also have seen a 26% reduction in direct healthcare costs ($3,302 less per family and $1,222 less per individual) The average return on investment for health and wellness programs is $3 for every $1 spent. However, just as with any program, before you throw money at this initiative you need to access the current state. Safety/ Quality A safety or quality incentive plan tends to be used by companies with factories or manufacturing sites. The goal is to reduce the amount of mistakes made on the factory floor and to ensure the safety of all employees. Ultimately this can mean big savings for a manufacturing company. Cost Improvement Cost improvement is on the agenda for every business these days. Develop a program that encourages your employees to reduce costs. Maybe a points system that gives employees 10% of every cost they save. When the employee accumulates enough points they can redeem them for gifts. Change Management All of the programs I have discussed require a change in attitude, processes and procedure. However, change is typically a difficult task so create a program that encourage/ rewards your employee for adopting the change. Event Promotion Every company hosts at least one event whether it is an annual meeting, open house, a Christmas party, an employee communication meeting, a new product launch, a charity event, company picnic, or even a business meeting. Make your events more memorable through the design of notifications (banners/ signs) and decorations. Give your attendees an incentive to attend. Reward the attendees for their involvement in the event. |
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Branding Your Image |
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Aikins Promotional Products |
