Custom promotional items are an easy and effective way to market and brand your company. They can also be an effective delivery system for promotions, create repeat business, and potentially increase your customer lifetime value (CLV).
Branding is by definition “The creation of a name, symbol, logo, or design which identifies and differentiates one product from its competitor’s products.” Making your brand visible, memorable, and useful through customer experience and promotional materials is an effective brand strategy that can attract new business and entice repeat business.
If your marketing strategy does not include the use of branded give-aways and promo items, you may be missing an opportunity to be seen and remembered when your customer needs your product or service.
In this article, the team from Clash Graphics offers valuable insight on how attracting new customers, the customer experience, and the CLV can be greatly influenced by the use of custom branded promotional materials.
Perfect Promotional Products for Your Customers
In any field of business, knowing the demographics, habits, trends, routines, and tendencies of your customers is fundamental to building an effective marketing strategy.
To illustrate how promo materials can be incorporated strategically, we will act as if we are marketing a local taco shop
TACO SHOP PROMO EXAMPLE -
Let's imagine this taco shop is in a busy business district, and the majority of their customers work in an office environment at a desk. Here are a few branded promotional materials their strategy could utilize:
Pen & Sticky Notes - Every Friday, all lunch deliveries would include a branded pen and pad of sticky notes. The majority of their lunch deliveries will be to offices, so including functional items that can be used every day is a no-brainer that keeps their brand in plain sight and on their customers minds.
Mouse Pad Monday - One Monday each quarter, everyone that orders to-go gets a branded mouse pad. The taco shop logo, lunch menu, and a compelling discount code is printed on the mouse pads. This incentive encourages repeat business, while allowing you to assess and track the effectiveness of the campaign using the promo code.
Punch Five Card - The customer carries a branded punch card (similar to a business card) and gets a punch with each entrée purchase. Once the card is full, it can be redeemed for a free entrée and another punch card. Numerous studies show this strategy is effective because humans want to complete incomplete loops, especially when it leads to a reward.
Taco Tuesday Office Kit - On Tuesdays, ten random lunch deliveries leave with an office kit (packed in a branded tote) including a pen, pad of sticky notes, mouse pad, note pad, coffee mug, lanyard, silicone wristband, and keychain, all branded with the restaurant’s logo, website and phone number. Also in the tote is a hand-written card from the manager thanking the customer by name.
Coffee Shop Placemats - The taco shop courts a nearby and popular coffee shop and strikes an agreement to print placemats for the tables of their coffee shop.
Printed on the placemats are product and strategic branding information for both the coffee and taco shop; include a fun game, puzzle, and a free item from the menu that is claimed using a promo code and their cell phone number or email address. Direct customer contact info is the best way to stay in touch and nurture a long-term relationship. Done properly, and this leads to repeat business and an increased customer lifetime value.
If the coffee shop needs more convincing, include a branded “free coffee” coupon in the delivery bag of every to-go order. This example shows how two non-competing companies that share a customer base can work in partnership to increase repeat business and reduce the expense of their marketing campaigns.
The following video shows statistics on a variety of promotional products.
How Give-Aways Can Promote Repeat Business
The message you are leaving with your customers after giving them relevant and useful promotional material (swag) is, “Thank you! Enjoy this token giveaway, and we welcome you to please come again.”
By using these materials, the customer has your brand in their hand, or within sight as it’s creating an impression. As long as their experience with your staff and product was pleasant, the grader the chances of them returning to your business.
When those items are interactive, like the “Punch Five Card” mentioned above, you have successfully added “renewable” incentive to the marketing formula. This is a vital component because of acquiring a new customer can cost you a magnitude of order more than the cost of encouraging an existing customer to return.
Watch this video to see how this restaurant attracts both new and repeat business.
Acquisition and Retention Statistics Prove the Value of Repeat Business
Customer acquisition can be far more costly than customer retention. According to research by Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company a 5% increase in customer retention produces more than a 25% increase in profit.
Simply put, returning customers feel more comfortable purchasing from a company they have already done business with if they had a pleasant experience. They are willing to spend more, try new products, and when impressed, they refer their friends and family.
Consider acquiring new customers typically involves a much more expensive and involved marketing campaign including advertisements, billboards, digital marketing, direct mailers, etc.
Depending on the market and demographics you are targeting, a new customer can cost anywhere from 5 times to 25 times that of a returning customer.
Best Practices for Customer Retention
Return business can be inexpensively fostered by perfecting the following:
Customer Service - From from your business’ first contact with a patron, customer service must serve and exceed their necessities. Listening to them and getting their order or needs handled right, the first time, is a key factor to their subsequent return.
Staying Connected - For customers that have provided you with contact information, drop an email or text message ever-so-often - just to say hello, thank them, and reward or encourage them to provide you an open channel of communication to them.
You can sell them on a promotion or discount another time. This initial contact is to further the connection and forge a more personal interaction.
Once a deeper rapport is initiated, you can invite them to follow and engage on social media. Through your social media platform, engage, offer incentives, invitations, discounts, and reminders for upcoming events and invites to exclusive experiences.
Promo Strategies
There are several methods for generating sales, but capturing customer information and creating loyalty are also goals very important. To get the most from each promotion, ensure that your campaign is strategic and optimized. Here are a few promo strategies to accomplish this:
Promo Code Incentives for a New Account - By offering promo codes for your customers to access exclusive discounts and pre-release products, you create an exclusive appeal where they feel part of something special and compelled to return to your business.
To join and claim the deals, required that they create a new account. In doing so, you have the opportunity to gather their contact information, sales data, and buying habits.
Promotional Events and Customer Appreciation - Organize a customer appreciation event in which custom promotional products and branded merchandise are given away or raffled.
For the event, incorporate a “Bring A Friend” component where your existing customer is incentivized with a free product or discount, when they bring their friend.
This is a very efficient, low-cost new customer strategy that you can depend on to deliver. The idea is that everyone tries something new, has an enjoyable experience, and equally as important, leaves with something branded that will keep your company visible and in your customer’s mind.
BOGO - The “Buy One Get One” promotion can be used as a powerful tool to draw in both existing and new customers, because who doesn’t like free stuff?
However, have a purpose to the promotion, and use the offer in a way that will allow for deeper future communication. Capturing social media profiles or Mobile devices is the most direct and meaningful contact information.
What Is the Lifetime Value of Your Customer?
Known as the Customer Lifetime Value or CLV, this is the predictive sum of the net profit from the entire relationship with a customer. Knowing the CLV allows business owners to adjust their marketing campaigns to either generate more repeat business, attract new customers, or increase the sales of returning existing customers.
Research by market experts like Shopify have shown that the average lifespan of a customer with an establishment or service is 1 to 3 years.
However, before calculating a customer’s lifetime value, you must first know a customer’s single transaction value. For this example, we will take the average transaction value and multiply this figure by the average number of transactions of a customer in a year.
In our simple example, we would then take that customer value and multiply it by 3 to attain a net customer lifetime value (CLV) for that individual.
The above is a simple equation to aide in the understanding of the importance of CLV. For a more comprehensive look at calculating CLV, Harvard Business School has a downloadable Lifetime Customer Value Calculator tool
Watch this video to further understand how a customer's lifetime value is defined and calculated.
Customer Experience and Promo Materials Can Promote Repeat Business
When your customers are given a reason to return, they will. In some cases, it is the rapport that is built with your team. In others, it is the convenience of the location in combination with the quality of the product or service.
Incentives like punch cards, functional and branded promotional items, BOGO’s, give-aways, etc. all serve the same purpose. That purpose is to create an environment in which your customer feels appreciated, rewarded by their loyalty, thus returning frequently, and adding to their CLV and your bottom line.
Sources:
https://blog.smile.io/easy-way-to-calculate-and-increase-customer-lifetime-value
https://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymyler/2016/06/08/acquiring-new-customers-is-important-but-retaining-them-accelerates-profitable-growth/#5838b20f6671
https://www.invespcro.com/blog/customer-acquisition-retention/
https://hbr.org/2014/10/the-value-of-keeping-the-right-customers
Clash Graphics Print Shop Atlanta Flyer Printing
2233 Peachtree Rd NE Ste 202 Atlanta, GA 30309
(678) 235-3464
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