6 Ways Branded Merch Can Help Rocket Your Business Throughout the New Year
Every January, there’s a clean slate. A new start for the new year. A chance for setting fresh goals to grow your business, improve your processes and make a positive contribution to the world. It’s exciting to chart new directions. To help you set a smart course, here are our top six ways you can rocket your business throughout the new year—with a little help from branded merch.
1. Focus On Customer Retention & Expansion
It costs six to seven times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, so why do most marketers spend merely 18% of their time on retention and 15% on expansion? They’re clearly missing the boat. Top-producing marketers spend 23% of their time on retention and 25% on expansion, and they allocate 30% of their budget to the task rather than the average 20%.
It pays dividends to focus on keeping customers happy and loyal so you can dive even deeper into their purchasing needs so they only consider you and not your competitors. Branded merchandise can play a key role in thanking and rewarding customers for their business, and it can easily be implemented into just about any marketing or branding campaign on any budget.
2. Enhance Customer Experience
Many factors go into customers’ purchasing decisions. Your products or services must fill a need, solve a problem or make life just a little bit easier—all at a competitive price. But if all tangible attributes are equal, how do customers choose to do business with you rather than your competition? For many, it comes down to the experience.
Today’s consumers have much higher user experience standards than ever before. The bar has been raised, and regardless of company size, you must reach if not exceed these expectations—else you risk losing customers to competitors who develop and execute better and more memorable experiences.
Merch is one of the most effective ways to enhance the customer experience because it appeals to the five senses. Depending on the promotional product, you can see, hear, smell, taste and feel the item—all things that can develop positive associations, impressions and memories associated with your brand.
Food gifts are a perfect example of tapping into the five senses, (Check out some delicious options here .) The only problem? They quickly disappear without a trace!
Want a gift with a bit more staying power? Tech items such as Bluetooth speakers, power banks and even programmable robots give an audio/visual experience that will make your brand rock. See our curated collection here.
Eco-friendly products are also top-sellers, especially for organizations with environmental and sustainability initiatives. Check out our roundup of favorites here. And to see all the hand-picked products you’ll love, click here.
3. Create Brand Advocates
What’s one thing all brands want? Die-hard followers. Those evangelists who support your company and not only buy what you’re selling but also tell everyone they know about you.
To begin developing those deep connections every business covets, send new clients a customer onboarding kit with a selection of your branded merch. To keep the momentum going, create a loyalty program, send hand-written notes from time to time and personalize everything you do.
The more touch points you can create to keep your brand top of mind, the more successful you’ll be. Unlike traditional advertising, promotional products can deliver this continued attention because they build connections.
4. Increase Brand Awareness & Recall
Fact: Reliance on the internet and less on our own memory not only changes our lifestyles but also the actual structure of our brains. People who have access to search engines tend to remember fewer facts and less information overall because they know the answers can easily be found online—and this means they may not easily remember your brand.
So how can you help build brand awareness and recall? Repetition is one way to remember things more easily because the more you do or experience something, the thicker the neurological pathways become. The thicker that pathway gets, the more implicit recalling the information becomes.
When it comes to creating this much-needed repetition, branded merch gets the job done. People love merch—so much, in fact, that 58% keep logoed items from one to four years. Additionally, 73% use promotional products at least once a week, and 45% use them at least once per day. No other advertising medium puts your brand in your customers’ hands—literally—more often.
5. Reward & Recognize Employees
Employees crave recognition…and many are not getting it. From simple peer-to-peer rewards to more formal awards programs, adding recognition to your annual to-do list is imperative if you want engaged employees who aren’t looking for greener pastures.
When creating an employee recognition program, the most important aspect is making the recipient feel valued and appreciated—and it doesn’t take a lot of money to accomplish this. Rather, it takes being thoughtful and sincere.
Cash and gift cards, while easy to give, don’t make great employee recognition gifts because they are most often used to pay bills and/or buy living essentials that are quickly forgotten. A better strategy is to create recognition programs based on branded merchandise. Click here for seven tips to reward and recognize outstanding performance without breaking the bank.
6. Make A Difference In The Community
What do buyers really want? The list can be long, but one thing is sure: They want companies to give back. In fact, 85% of consumers want companies to be engaged on global issues, but only 22% think they’re getting enough. Additionally, more than half (51%) of consumers want to reward responsible companies by shopping there, and 53% would pay a 10% premium for products from a responsible company.
One way to give back to the community—all the while improving team building within your ranks—is by having a charitable volunteer program. Whether building houses with Habitat For Humanity or serving lunch at a local food kitchen, providing merch that serves as a uniform—t-shirts, hats, work aprons or gloves—not only unites the team but also commemorates the event.
Launch Into The New Year With Confidence
Whether you call it promotional products, swag, branded merchandise or merch, logoed items are one of the most influential, enduring and cost-effective ad mediums available today. By tapping into their power, you can make the most out of your business objectives for the new year.
Got big marketing goals for the new year? Let’s chat. Our concierge service can work with you to create campaigns that not only kick off the new year but also keep delivering all year long.
Contact us at hello@corporatespecialtes.com or book an appointment at https://meetings.hubspot.com/corpspec/chat-about-swag for a quick chat to get started today.
Corporate Specialties. We Do Merch Right.