The holiday season is approaching fast and everyone is looking for gifts for their loved ones. The same goes for businesses, which use this time of the year to strengthen bonds with partners and customers by offering promotional products and corporate gifts. Are you considering offering promo products too? Keep on reading to find out how to nail your perfect promotional products… it is simpler than you think!
What you Need to Know
Promotional products are a very effective tool for attracting loyal customers, keeping your brand top of mind, and increasing its exposure to potential customers.
However, this branding tactic only works well when you offer the right type of merchandise at the right moment. Your promotional products should be of top quality and provide real value to recipients; otherwise they will end up at the bottom of a drawer or at the bin.
This article will make it easier for you to organise your promotional product orders and will help you focus on what you need to know before ordering. It will also inform you on the most popular printing methods available so you can choose the one that works best for you!
Establish your Brand
Promotional products are a worthwhile part of your brand marketing and should be integrated within your brand message. When, for instance, the colour of your merchandise does not match the colours associated with your brand, you are sending contradictory messages to your audience. Suppose your brand colour is red, offering merchandise in a different shade or font style doesn’t make sense and is confusing for customers, causing them not to trust you.
So, before thinking about promotional products for business, you need to make sure your brand is well-defined. You need to have a colour scheme, a logo, a tagline, a mission statement, and a clear idea about the kind of experience that your brand provides to customers. Without merchandise that aligns to the brand message you are sending, the effects of this marketing tactic will be limited.
Branding Guidelines
Building a powerful brand for your business takes time and effort and should include the following elements:
- A logo that is easy to recognise and memorable. Logo size and placement should be considered as well;
- A colour scheme that makes people instantly think about your business even when the logo is not visible;
- The fonts you want to use with your brand content;
- Photography style;
- Web-specific elements;
- Tone of voice;
- All these should be included in a brand style guide, which should be consulted anytime you make business decisions such as purchasing promotional products to offer to customers and partners.
Define the Purpose of your Promotional Products
How do you want to promote your brand with promo products? Is it for trade shows or to sell, or to give away with services? For each of these instances, you will need to determine the profile of the recipient so you choose the right merchandise.
If you want to offer them at trade shows to a specialised public, you should go for something more specific than stationery or umbrellas. When you give merchandise away with services, objects that are being used every day, like drinking bottles or memory sticks are an excellent option. If you want to sell them, make sure promotional products are complementary to your other products or services. Selling tech products like computer accessories can be unusual when your business is a beauty salon and can dilute your brand message.
Ordering and Planning Promotional Products
Popular Printing Methods
There are multiple types of printing used for promotional products, with the most common being:
- Pad Printing
It is used for decorating glass, plastic, metal, ceramic, silicone, and wooden products. Ink filled etched images are transferred to the part to be decorated using a silicone pad. When the image is transferred to the object, the silicone pad wraps around, even taking the shape of the item and keeping the image intact. Pad printing is seen in ceramic mugs, pens, stress balls, and water bottles.
- Silkscreen Printing
A porous mesh screen with an ink blocking stencil transferred onto it is being used. The stencil creates open and blocked areas in the screen so the ink is only allowed to flow on the part at certain points. This method uses pre-mixed ink colours and can be used to produce almost any image, logo, or design. Apparel and tote bags are the best applications of silkscreen printing.
- Digital Printing
Digital or full colour printing is recommended for designs that contain multiple colours and gradients. This method does not use screens and is also found under names such as colour burst, 4-colour process printing, and CMYK. Buttons, banners, and posters are usually branded using the digital printing method.
- Heat Transfer
Have you ever used an iron to place a sticker on a piece of clothing? Heat transfer printing works pretty much the same, with printers using high temperatures to press the ink into the material. You will see images obtained with this method on hats and mugs.
- Laser Engraving
Used for products made from acrylic, stainless steel, textiles, and glass, laser engraving has the advantage of not needing ink. It is mainly used for stainless steel products and acrylic awards.
- Debossing
Debossing consists of imprinting the design to create an impression on the item. It is mostly suitable for silicon bracelets and leather products. The method requires the construction of your design from metal and applying heat and pressure to obtain the desired impression.
- Embroidery
Would you like to have your logo on a piece of garment? Use embroidery to obtain a sophisticated look. Today’s embroidery methods consist of transforming your design into a digital image comprised of stitches and assigning colour threads. The embroidery machine executes the digitalised design into the garment.
Artwork Requirements
Ultimately the printing method is dependent on the look you are going for and the product you have chosen. Once you’ve selected your desired product and print method, make your life ten times easier (and turnaround much quicker!) by having your original artwork ready to go.
In order to produce high quality promotional products it is essential that the art work and design provided meets a certain standard. VMA Promo has in house graphic designers to help you with this if you lack the necessary time and resources (although this will incur an additional fee for work done), otherwise check out our easy to follow guidelines regarding file specifications.
Why VMA Promo?
Picking the right promotional products provider is vital for the success of your marketing campaign. A reliable promo products company will offer a variety of products and printing methods, will ensure excellent customer service, and offer consultancy on what merchandise to choose to support your branding. VMA Promo Products is a trusted supplier of promotional products also having the support of an experienced digital marketing agency.
Reasons to choose VMA Promo Products for your corporate gifts include:
- We provide the same standards of customer service we have been ensuring at VMA for more than a decade;
- We offer quality products that your clients will be able to use for a long time; if you receive defective products, we replace them or give you the money back;
- You get your promotional products at the lowest prices while enjoying the best quality on the market. This is possible because we are able to source products directly from the factory instead of working with Australian wholesalers. You will reduce your costs with promo products while still being able to collaborate with a legitimate Australian business and you get discounts when you order a larger number of products.
- We are here to offer the best advice on what products to choose, quantity and printing method, and we can add related marketing services anytime you need them. You can call us for promotional products exclusively or you can hire us for your entire marketing campaign!
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