3R strategy for promotional gifts

Promotional gifts, refers to the printed company name, logo or advertising words practical or decorative items. Specifically, it can be roughly divided into four categories.


1, Advertising products: advertising special products are complimentary, mostly printed with the advertiser name, trademark, address and telephone number of cool keychains, pen, desk calendar or calendar, T-shirts and other items.


2, Business gifts: Commercial gifts are usually more expensive than special advertising products, the purpose of giving is to develop and maintain friendly relations with important customers. Most of these gifts are engraved with the recipient's name.


3, Commemorative prizes: Commemorative prizes are used to commemorate the winners' contributions, experiences or business activities, mostly clocks, trophies or medals engraved with the name of the winner. Commemorative prizes are also used in public relations activities within the enterprise. Some large companies usually give employees five or ten years service medals.


4, Preferential products: Concessions are often free or low-cost sale has been purchased or expressed willingness to buy a product of the customer. Contrary to the usual practice, customers who receive a discount do not assume the obligation to purchase the product.


Promotional gifts affect many consumers. Promotional gifts play an increasingly important role in today's ad campaigns. According to statistics from the International Promotion Association, the world's promotional gifts cost 17 billion U.S. dollars in 1994, an increase of 12.6% over 1993. Although most consumers love promotional gifts, it is not easy for business owners to achieve the ideal sales promotion.


American advertising scholar said that the three "R" strategy is the elements of success to the use of promotional gifts.

The first "R" is Relevance. The promotional gifts and terms chosen must be closely related to the promotion of the product or service. Such as the United States Traveler insurance company in the TV ads with umbrellas as the company logo, and the distribution of umbrellas offerings, it has become a classic case of marketing. Another example is to send calendars, the screen can use the local scenery or the city's star photos: If you give preferential products to new customers, you can choose the local specialty household products. Such promotional gifts help strengthen the company's positioning and image in the minds of consumers.


The second "R" is Repetition. Only to consumers often witnessed promotional items and advertising words contained in order to continue to deepen the impression. Therefore, the selection of promotional gifts, should take into account how consumers will use them. The higher the frequency of use or exposure, the greater the "repeat" effect.


The third "R" is Reward. Due to promotional gifts or free or low sale, customers always feel is a reward. However, if the most suitable products can be selected according to the characteristics of customers, the customer's benefit may be enhanced. In this sense, the goodwill given to the housewife should be different from the goodwill given to the company's buyer.


The practice of using promotional gifts in the United States provides us with some lessons to learn from. The International Association for Promotional Gifts and Research found that:

(1) Consumers who receive promotional gifts attach great importance to practicality (98.3%), good quality (71.8%), attractiveness (61.5%), elegant appearance (59.8%), ease of use (45.4%) and uniqueness (43.7% ) And durability (28.2%).

(2) Although customers often have good impression on their advertisers after they have been given special advertisements, their impression will be more profound if they are given in person by a company salesman or company representative.

(3) If there are many companies operating similar products, consumers tend to use promotional gifts better company rating.

(4) Some promotional gifts, especially premium ones, are more likely to be saved and used by consumers if their advertising words are more implicit  or not obvious.


 In short, promotional gifts have become an important part of today's advertising campaign. For business owners, the problem is not only whether to adopt, but also how to choose promotional gifts to achieve "more with less" effect.