Difficult Economy Drives Business Budgets To Promotional Products

Oct. 13, 2010 - PRLog -- Tough economic times have placed hard limits on advertising budgets. Along with other forms of 'non-essential' spending, marketing budgets are shrinking as businesses deal with lowered sales and high unemployment. Logo printing on promotional products is a way that many marketing departments and ad managers are using to cope with fewer dollars to spend.

Marketing departments must try to achieve to biggest impact and return possible for their company. Advertising budgets must cover planning, design, and other stages of development in addition to the cost of running an ad campaign. Most companies will run multiple ad campaigns. Television ads, promotional products, print advertisements, logo printing, and word of mouth campaigns are all examples of what a business may choose to utilize.

Television advertisements are very expensive. While they reach a considerable market, higher rates of Internet viewing and DVR recording provide diminishing returns for a high cost item. This cost must be spent periodically to maintain a presence in the market. While a few unique ads are memorable and enduring, most are easily forgotten with time without constant exposure. Television is only economical for companies setting a large ad budget for high margin and/or high volume items and services.

Radio and print are still the bread and butter of many mid-sized to large companies. The variety of print and radio options suits a wide range of budgets, but still requires a significant investment. Professionally designed ads are essential to produce good returns. An expert is used to determine the right vendors. Blindly running advertisements, especially if poorly designed, will produce terrible results.

Word of mouth, logo printing, endorsements and promotional products are proving to be popular marketing venues during the current economic slump. They provide a low cost alternative, while delivering a high return for the dollar.

Logo printing and endorsements are a tried and true method of branding. Building brand awareness is a keystone for most marketing methods and theories. Endorsing charity events, logo printing on partner materials, and so on provide a relatively inexpensive way to expose more potential customers to company names and brands.

Promotional products and company gear have long been a part of business. They provide a cost effective way to boost employee morale, given small gifts to customers, and provide higher brand awareness. They are often partnered with word of mouth campaigns, using employees and existing customers to give away items and/or coupons and promotional codes.

“Many of my customers have been increasing their orders of promotional products,” says Bill Matthis of http://www.CustomShirtsNow.com, a custom printing company. “Custom printed shirt sales have been through the roof, but it is not just volume. My clients are putting in for a wider variety of items at the same time as ordering more. Many of them tell me that logo printing for corporate gifts and promotional items is a bigger part of their marketing now.”

The use of low cost alternatives is further driven by greatly lowered development costs. Word of mouth, logo printing, endorsements and promotional products require a much lower level of research and investment. Logo designs are much more inexpensive than full advertisements and can be reused in many contexts. In addition, it is easier to select promotional products with general appeal and popular charity events, in comparison to selecting good ad markets.
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