How to Extend Your Online Marketing Impact with Promotional Products

Here at Delta Marketing Group, we’re huge fans of online marketing. That’s why it’s such a big part of our agency services!

Even with our love of all things digital, we recognize that it can be challenging to make deeper, more personal connections with your prospects—but doing so is beyond important. The more personalized you can make the buying process, the shorter you can make your sales cycle. 

Whether you attract your leads online or knock on their doors, everyone craves a more human buying experience. Promotional items have long been used as tangible ways to build relationships between people and brands. Why not harness that power to extend your online marketing efforts beyond the screen?

Here are 2 robust, powerful, and effective campaign ideas you can steal for extending your online marketing impact with promotional products.  

Pair a promotional item with social media advertising to capture qualified leads 

Targeted social media advertising is an effective way to reach the right audience—but only if you have something valuable to offer them once they see your ad.

Promote your brand both online and in the real world by incorporating promotional items into your social advertising campaigns. It’s simple:

1. Create a custom promotional item that fits your brand’s messaging and helps people remember what you do.
2. Then, create an advertising campaign directed at your target audience that encourages them to request an item be sent for free.

Looking for some ideas? Start with your buyer personas. 

Think: how does your company help solve people’s problems in real life? How can that be translated to a giveaway? If you know your ideal customers are always traveling, maybe a luggage tag would be the perfect pick. If you’re in the construction or manufacturing industry, maybe a safety item would appeal to your buyers.   

Think of ways you can add some industry knowledge to your promotional item. One great example comes from a software company that helps marketers perform A/B tests on their websites. The company produced a custom mini “idea notebook” where each page was pre-printed with an outline for brainstorming test ideas. It elevated a standard giveaway into something truly useful!

Image Source: https://www.convincify.com/testideabook/

Pairing social media advertising with promotional items can be a great way to capture your prospects’ attention. Keep these best practices in mind if you decide to try this for yourself:

• Choose an item with a high perceived value—something your audience will find extremely helpful.
• Promote the giveaway item in your ads, but ensure your messaging makes it clear what your company actually does. You don’t want prospects to be confused and think you actually sell the item you’re trying to give away!
• Use a form to capture lead information. Be sure to ask relevant questions that will help you learn more about your leads, such as asking them to fill in their job title or how many employees their company has—whatever information you need to qualify your leads.  
• Align your campaign budget with your ROI. How much will it cost to mail out these promotional items? Be sure you have the bandwidth to get a good return on your investment.
• Getting your ads shown to the right audience is critical—otherwise you could be wasting your money. Consider running some test campaigns to refine your audience before taking this approach.

How to execute this campaign:

1. Come up with your messaging and promotional item.
2. Build a landing page on your website that promotes the giveaway. Add a form to capture requests for your item.
3. Build your social media advertising campaigns to promote your landing page on Facebook, LinkedIn, or the social platform of your choice. Be sure to target the right audience.
4. Set your advertising budget and launch your campaign.
5. Let the requests roll in!
6. Mail out your giveaway items and follow up with every qualified lead via phone and email. Your goal should be to connect with as many people as possible to start the sales process.  

Drive prospects to your website with direct mail

Instead of using promotional items to generate a list of new leads as you would with social media advertising, start with an existing list of prospects. Then, pull those prospects further down the sales funnel by reaching out to them via direct mail.

Direct mail—especially when it takes the form of a package or oversized envelope—is a personal way to capture your prospects’ attention. Few people can resist opening a package addressed to them.

The direct mail approach is effective when the ultimate goal is to connect with your recipients online. Here are two effective ways to do this:

1. Drive visitors to a microsite. A microsite is a 1-2 page website you can use to create a focused, targeted landing place to capture lead information.

1. Send users to watch a video. Include a link to a video that delivers your message.  

Whichever online channel you choose, be sure you include a way to capture leads’ information. This will help you measure the ROI of your direct mail campaign and pull leads further into your sales funnel. Here are a few ways to capture lead information:

• Use a form
• Create a chat bot or implement live chat
• Gate your online offer behind a code, and include a personal code in each mailing. You’ll know which leads took action by which codes are entered.

How to execute this campaign:

1. Decide on a goal for your campaign. Where do you want to send potential leads?
2. Prepare your online platform, whether it’s a website or a video.
3. Come up with a mailable promotional item to capture leads’ attention.
4. Include a note in your package that directs leads where you want them to go online.
5. Get mailing!
6. Track the results, and follow up with people who take action via phone and email.

With a bit of strategy, promotional items can become part of your marketing and sales strategy both on- and offline. As the lines between the digital world and the real world become continually blurred, companies that make personal connections with their audiences are the ones that stand out. Promotional items are the perfect way to make your interactions more human.