Right ‘toys’ build name recognition

There are lots of ways to inspire name recognition for your business, and giving away free stuff with your company’s name on it is a tried-and-true tradition. The tricky part is figuring out what promotional product you want your name on.

Would you be excited about one more pen, mug, or mouse pad in your trade-show goodie bag? That probably depends on the type and quality of the pen, mug, or mouse pad.

Laura Wofford, owner of Colorado Biz Products, makes her living helping businesses pick out just the right stuff for wooing new clients and keeping old ones in their favor. She sees one very common mistake. People come to her and ask for the cheapest thing they can get to put their name on.

 “Every company has a budget they need to stay in and that’s fine,” she said.

Doing it with the “cheapest” thing is not fine, however, and not a wise use of money.

“It represents their company, and if you give out a pen that doesn’t write well, a key chain for people that already have 25 key chains, it’s not making the best use of marketing dollars,” she explained. “You want to be memorable. It’s all about familiarity, getting name recognition.”

And if you give away something that people are just going to throw away or give to their kids, that doesn’t make you memorable.

Not the run of the mill

So, what is memorable?

“You want to get something that is not the run-of-the-mill pen, mouse pad or cup,” Wofford said. “But if you are doing a cup, make it a really nice cup.”

There’s no hard-and-fast rule about what the “perfect” product should be because the best promotional items have been carefully specialized to a specific business, or its market. Colorado Biz Products starts by asking clients to think about the event the product is for, whom they’ll be giving it to, and if there’s a theme they can play into.

In years past, phone cards were a hot item, but cell phones have made those giveaways obsolete. More recently, Wofford had great success with a bendable stress stick for North Colorado Medical Center. “Everybody came up and said, ‘Where did you get these?'”

That’s a sign of a good toy.

Tools are popular, too, because they’re something you can use instead of let collect dust on your desk.

Think about image

TJ Trecek of Advertising Solutions in Fort Collins thinks businesses should be very careful about what they put their name on.

“You’re trying to align yourself with the image or message you’re trying to convey,” he said.

Cheap trinkets, for example, don’t convey the kind of serious image a health-care institution would want for itself. Golf balls might work for just about any business, particularly real estate. The same would go for pens, but not cheap pens. Should a law office give out pens, for example, it should be a pretty nice pen.

“Clothing is always a good one,” Trecek says. “But it really depends on what the business is. You want to look for things that customers might be wearing.”

After you pick a product, don’t forget to pay special attention to color and the imprint area, Wofford says. If you squeeze an illegibly long name onto a small space, you’ve already defeated your purpose.

Barry Stewart, owner of Colorado Heirloom in Loveland, believes that personalization should be the most important aspect of anything any business, or anyone for that matter, gives away. His business, which does engraving, makes a lot of corporate gifts.

“I think any of us that have been in business always need to take time to stop and recognize customers,” he said.

Stewart doesn’t think the age of the Internet has done anything to help business relationships. There may be more interaction, but it’s less meaningful, personal contact. That’s why gifts with personalized messages, in today’s world, are such a nice touch.

“Whether it has your logo, their logo, ‘We appreciate your business’, ‘We appreciate your efforts’, ‘We’re sorry things didn’t go well’, personalization is huge,” he said. “People like to be remembered for who they are, to be called by name. I think it has a lot to do with the age of the Internet. There are not a lot of warm fuzzies going around.”

Memorable sales calls

Unless, of course, you’re around the Livermore office of Colorado Biz Products. Like any good seller of promotional products, Wofford bombards her clients with goodies. Not throwaway junk, but the good stuff they’ll remember her for.

“Who do I give promotional products to? Every one of my clients, my vendors, and perspective clients,” she said.

Throughout the year, she likes to send out boxes that include a catalog, calendar, pens, a “nice, blue 17-ounce latte mug for soups, stews or a big cup of coffee,” a business card holder and letter opener.

“If you go in on a cold call and hand them a catalog and walk out, most of those catalog will end up in the trash,” she said. “They don’t remember you or who you are or what your business is.”

But when she calls back on someone who received one of her boxes, something usually clicks.

“Oh yeah, you’re the one that sent me that great …”

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