When you're approaching promotional marketing investment, how much thought do you put into understanding the location of your target audience? How do you determine where you need to take your business or brand to grow?
True story. As I sit to pen this opening series of paragraphs to welcome you into the Spring edition of marketingedge magazine I’m surrounded by the reverberating percussion and hard hitting beats of a tap dance classs. Spring is the season of recitals, and I am a Dance Dad (we have four wonderful performers in our house). So while my head begins to throb along with the bass, I will try to get on topic and host a short one-sided conversation about Place in the marketing mix, and how it relates to your promotional product planning. This was not the best Place to write.
Place in promotional products is understanding how you’re going to deliver your brand experience.
What I love most about the role of a promotional products professional is the conversation. Buying online is so cerebral. It’s an internal monologue weighing cost and benefits, relying on the written words of strangers to guide your investment.
Isn’t it better when you have the opportunity to engage an experienced professional who knows their industry, has experiences and insights to share and is invested in your project as a partner?
I still rely on real estate agents, car dealers and the hardware store clerk for major purchases; and when you get into larger ad campaigns and promotional programs the dollar figures are reasonably comparable to these other major buying decisions. Insight, expertise and experience are immeasurably helpful added value to navigating purchase decisions. And if nothing else, at least there's someone to point at and question if the result is less than ideal.
How you source your branded solution is only the start of your journey in determining the Place for your promotion. What is the process by which you physically connect your solution with your target audience?
You can add a personal touch to any gift or giveaway with a note card. Sometimes referred to as 'romance cards,' these small scripts can prepare your recipient by providing context for your offer, brand story and/or message.
What I enjoyed most about the features prepared for this issue was the underlying theme of under-standing where your audience is, and developing a strategy to reach them.
The Auto Motives feature about Detail Garage and the Chemical Guys brand is a wonderful contrast to modern rhetoric. Here is a company that looked at the marketplace and said,
"Our future is in brick and mortar. "
Discover how they are growing their brand and franchise by taking online to in-store.
I loved the comment in Alex Morin’s feature about silent auctions that said,
“The worst case isn’t being forgettable; it’s being memorable for the wrong reasons.”
If you provide premiums for fundraising, award and gift tables, this write up is a must-read to understand the importance of recognizing the surroundings your brand will be part of at an event, and how not to stand out.
Talking golf in the spring is pretty cliché, but learning about the evolution golf events experienced when faced with pandemic closures and restrictions was inspiring, and refreshing. Find out how event organizers changed the terms of tournaments to find a better fit with their audience.
And speaking of fit, the bold patterned fashions of summer look pretty fantastic too!
After a couple years of being restricted to home-delivered brand experiences it appears that the trend of the season is to get back out to events and reconnect with people in a shared space.
Where you go, how you get there and the experience you provide are all part of understanding your place in the lives of consumers.