My friend Ken, the toy poodle breeder, called the other day asking about imprinted pens to give away at dog shows to promote his kennel. From previous conversations I remembered something about height restrictions. “Ken, isn’t there a rule that when a toypoodle gets to a certain height, you can’t show it any more?” I asked.
“Sure”, he replied, “Ten inches, then they have to get another dog.”
“So give poodle owners a ruler imprinted with your kennel name. ‘Breeder of Champion Poodles’, phone number and a line that says, ‘Call me when your dog gets too tall.’ ”
“Now that’s a great idea!” he exclaimed.
Developing great ideas to promote your business isn’t that hard. it simply takes a subtle shift in mindset and an understanding of what you really want to accomplish. The shift in mindset comes when you understand the difference between a giveaway and a promotion.
A giveaway is a one way street. A business gives away some cheap “doo-dad” thinking it will create goodwill and effectively promote their business, mindless of the fact that the item is irrelevant to their business. The recipient takes the item hame and; 1) Puts it in a drawer, 2) Gives it to the kids, 3) Throws it away. With a giveaway you cannot measure your return on investment. You gain practically nothing meaningful, certainly nothing you can actively follow up on. And as far as building business? Few will say, “Wow! They have given me a cheap piece of junk wih their name on it! I’ve really got to do business with them.”
 A promotion is a two-way street. You determine what you want your prospect / customer to do, then you figure out a way to get them to do it. Trade shows are a good example.
Most companies “give away” something cheap to everyone who stops or walks by. As a business owner / marketer, you don’t care about everyone – at least you shouldn’t. you should only care about those who are interested in your product or sevice, and can afford to pay for it. Being a smart promotional marketer, you offer something of value to those who will fill out a short “need assessment” sheet. This is how you qualify your prospects and obtain meaningful, actionable data. A financial planner who is giving away pens to everyone, would be better to offer an imprinted booklet about ‘Managing Your Finances’ to those who fill out the form. Sure the booklet costs more than the pens, BUT, the financial planner obtains information to effectively follow up on. The return on investment is measurable andthe prospect has a meaningful item that is relevant to their interest.
Cheap giveaways have their place when donating to “goody bags” or as prizes for contests or token thank you gifts. However, when your goal is to promote your business, secure qualified leads or increase traffic – effective beats cheap!
