Awareness! 

Whether brand, or product, your marketing’s purpose is to get the message out to the right people at the right time.

Top- and bottom-funnel strategies benefit from creative merchandise because promo that stands out gets the impressions and attention you’re looking for.

Additionally, your merchandise can create conversation with something your audience has never seen before. Like the racer-back wine cooler we created for ASICS, for example.

Unique merch works because it cuts through the mundanity of your competitor’s campaigns with a laser focus on your unique brand and message. 

Print-ready artwork measurements are in dpi, or “dots per inch”.

The perfect resolution for your artwork is between 300dpi and 450dpi shown at its original size, or 100% zoom. This ensures your final product has a high level of detail, retains the original artwork’s quality with a sharp and clear print.

As the above describes what makes winter apparel cheap, the opposite can be applied to demonstrate what makes it expensive.

Made from high quality materials, like wool, linen, down, leather, recycled, weather-proof and tech fabrics – expensive winter wear can last longer and keep your audience warmer in the cold months. These fabrics cost more, but return more in brand perception and perceived value.

This is particularly important for your teams who are out in the field. Exposed to the elements year-round it is vital that your people are comfortable. In these cases, it’s your branded apparel that can affect the effectiveness of your teams.

This is where the quality is put to the test.

Branded winter apparel also has the opportunity for decoration types not seen in other merchandise. For example, custom jacquard patterns in knitted products, leather patches, and custom zip pulls.

Every detail accentuates your brand, but each can add to the cost of your winter apparel.

Adding your logo, values or message to a product creates a powerful tool that gives your brand dimension. What makes promotional products effective is their ability to cut through all the noise of advertising and connect with your audience. For example, APPA reports that 85.4% of people would rather receive a promotional product than a promotional e-mail. And while a freebie is always appreciated, branded merchandise does so much more for your brand.

Calendar-based events provide your brand with opportunities to align your marketing efforts with specific dates or seasons relevant to your target audience. For example, Boxing Day, Mother’s Day or International Literacy Day may be important dates for your customers. By engaging meaningfully with them around these events, you can create timely and relevant marketing campaigns that resonate.

Top these campaigns off with creative branded merchandise to facilitate lasting connections that increase brand loyalty. You might consider giving away a natural product pamper pack to your contacts in the education industry for International Teacher’s Day. Or perhaps you’d add a free full-colour neck gaiter or cooling bandana into your fitness club membership for National Hiking Day.

On-brand promotional products amplify your brand values and communicate them to your customers. By showing that you understand the dates significant to them, you demonstrate compatibility that results in greater conversion and target market engagement.

Calendar-based events create a sense of urgency. Optimise that with limited edition branded merchandise. When customers know that a product is only available for a limited time or in limited quantities, it heightens FOMO. Which, in turn, drives customers to make a purchase quickly before the product is no longer available. Additionally, putting a limit on products also raises its perceived value. When something isn’t easily accessible to everyone, it’s exclusive and special, leading your customers to pay more for it.

Your limited-edition merchandise could include premium cocktail sets for the festive season, or a full-colour sublimated shirt to commemorate the key day.

Apparel – like these hoodies we created for the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service NAIDOC Week march – makes for effective calendar-based event merchandise. Their low cost is budget friendly, and they are highly repeatable. Change the design each year and you could build a fan-base who engage with you each year just to get the whole set.

Conversely, limited edition promotional products can also serve as a way for you to test new product concepts without committing to a full-scale incorporation right away. By releasing stock in a limited quantity around your calendar-based events, you can gauge customer interest and gather feedback before deciding whether to add the merch into your general product offering.

Forbes reports that the number one reason customers switch brands is because they feel underappreciated. That being said, while your gifts with purchase goals may be more sales-related, a happy follow on is that your customers feel like you care. From a marketing perspective, your sales rate increases, but from a customer care perspective, customers feel like they’re seen and appreciated. Particularly if your gift is branded and on-brand. That is, it brings your brand to life for the customer.

Branded gifts for your gift with purchase campaign ensures that your organisation is remembered long after the purchase. Useful products, like drink bottles, duffle bags, key chains and coffee mugs are constant reminders of you, your generosity and their positive on-brand experience.

Promotional products do their best work in the hands of your prospective clients. In other words, branded merchandise generates more impressions out in the world. Rather than in your storeroom or in the box under your desk.

With every use your customers and prospects flash your brand. As a result, brand awareness increases among more of your target audience and creates curiosity. These micro-impressions build on each other until those prospects research, interact with and engage with your organisation.