Promotional Products Reach Efficiently, Don’t Annoy: Survey
A survey of marketers who buy promotional products found that the channel scored especially well as a way to reach targeted audiences with a single campaign spend and without annoying them.
The survey, conducted in November for the Promotional Products Association International, asked 1,000 buyers of promotional items to compare the medium against such other promotional channels as TV ads, direct mail, newspapers, consumer magazines, trade publications, the Internet and social media on a number of key attributes.
These included the ability to earn long-term memorability with a single exposure: flexibility of spend: encouraging loyalty or repeat business; reaching audiences without annoying them; driving traffic in stores, at trade shows and events; the best cost per thousand (CPM) for reaching specialty or niche audiences; best CPM for mass audiences; and the best possibilities for message customization to the individual.
The survey conducted by Glenrich Business Studies and Louisiana State University, found that respondents said promotional products led the other media in five of those eight categories, losing out only on the two CPM attributes and the ability to customize messages.
Asked to rate all the media considered with a one- to five-point ranking, the buyers polled gave the highest marks to promotional products as a way to make the most memorable impact on an audience with a single promotional spend, giving the channel a mean 3.8 points out of 5 on that score. They also gave promotional products a 3.9 rating for reaching an audience without risking offense or becoming a nuisance.
Asked to choose the most important from a list of attributes commonly linked to using promotional products in campaigns, the buyers said they considered “important” or “very important” the ability to reach target audiences efficiently, the flexibility to fit a medium to a budget, and the ability to promote loyalty or repeat business.
