TEXTILES.ORG
By Roy Katz
How would you like to own a small—but prime—piece of real estate on your best customers’ desks? You can with the creative use of advertising specialties, premiums, and giveaways. “Advertising specialties have lasting impact and help reinforce a connection with your audience,” says Timothy M. Andrews, president and CEO of the Advertising Specialty Institute in Trevose, Pa. “They are difficult for people to throw away since they are gifts, and it’s even more appreciated if an item is personalized with a recipient’s name or a greeting.”
Andrews also maintains that advertising specialties are a positive investment. “The lasting connection from a gift strengthens relationships with your clients, prospects or staff,” he says.
If you think advertising specialties are just pens handed out at trade shows, think again and look around your own desk. What about the calculator you use several times a day? Or the large mug that holds your endless cups of coffee? Advertising specialties are hard at work and taking up important space on your desk right now.
“Send advertising specialties on a regular basis to your best clients to thank them for their business, or to your prospects as part of a marketing campaign,” says Andrews.
He offers the example of a company that will print messages or corporate logos on chocolate bars. “If a sales representative knows that their prospect enjoys chocolate, can you imagine what kind of impression will be made when a customized box of chocolates is delivered to the prospect’s offices with your company’s logo on each bar? That would be a great investment and a way to strike up a conversation during a follow-up sales call,” he says.
Andrews recommends that a buyer find a reliable distributor that can fulfill its promised delivery time, provide excellent customer service and offer ideas for creative advertising specialties.
“More companies are using [advertising specialties] as a way to break through the information clutter,” says Andrews. “According to the annual industry sales estimate from the Advertising Specialty Institute, more than $19 billion worth of advertising specialties were sold last year. That’s a new record and it is more than marketers and businesses spent on cable TV ads, outdoor billboards, or Internet display ads during the same period.”
In other words, advertising specialties deserve a place on your customers’ desks.