You’ve been invited to participate in an event or asked for a door prize or auction item for an upcoming fundraiser. Do you write a cheque? Do you send someone to buy a prize or gift card at the shop down the street? Or do you open your PROMO cupboard and provide something great with your logo on it?
If you’re not giving something with your logo on it, you’re missing out on an opportunity to make the connection between you and the organization hosting the event, ensure the recipient remembers who gave them the item and having more people see your logo making you more memorable to them.
Solidify Your Connection with the Organization/Charity
Chances are, you are donating an item because it’s a great cause, event and/or you know there’ll be a lot of your customers or potential customers there. With most events, there will be multiple sponsors who have contributed. Tables full of prizes and silent auction items, boards and programs covered in logos, and a variety of giveaways. So many items, so many organizations, how do you become memorable?
When you send participants home with something branded, that connection continues after the event. And while people are perusing the table of goodies, they’ll see your logo and we know, the more they see your logo, the greater the connection.
Consider co-branding something with the organization hosting the event or including event information on the item(s) you’re giving away (with permission from the event organizers of course). Here are a couple of examples we’ve done.
The first is a co-brand with the FSJ & District Chamber of Commerce. As a small business, we love being involved in this series of events that celebrate the impact of small businesses in our community and are proud supporters of the work the Chamber does to support business. And bags have one of the lowest costs per impression (I’ll talk about this more later) for advertising, they are a useful and economical giveaway, especially with the single use plastics ban coming into effect.
The second is a prize donation for an online silent auction run by North Peace Ride for the Disabled. And this item always goes for more than the actual retail value because supporters love the item AND the NPRD logo enhances the value of it to those participating in the auction.
Ensure the Recipient Knows Who Gave Them the Item
When you provide goods or gift certificates that don’t carry your branding, many recipients won’t know or, if they do know may not remember, who donated the item. They may attribute it to a different organization. For example, maybe you donate $200 in gift certificates to a local restaurant. Chances are that most participants at the event will assume the restaurant donated the gift certificates. You can still do this but consider putting them in a branded mug or attaching them to another one of your branded items.
When you provide a retail item with no branding, you hope the organization has identified you as the sponsor in some way but whether that “sticks” for the recipient is anyone’s guess and when it doesn’t, you miss out. Whether it’s one of your current customers and it reinforces why they like to do business with you or a potential customer who may now look you up and consider doing business with you, when surveyed, 83% of people said they are more likely to do business with the brand on a promo product they receive. It has a lot to do with the Law of Reciprocity, but that’s a blog for another day.
Before you tell me that you give to support the organization and not to benefit your business, consider this, event organizers rely on the fact that their sponsors receive benefits for supporting them. It’s how they can continue to get support. If there were no benefits to the companies supporting them, donations and sponsorships would drop off. Also, if your support benefits your business and generates sales or other benefits, you’ll be more inclined (and able) to support in the future.
Be Memorable
There are two things at play here. The first is how advertising is generally measured, by the number of impressions your advertisement gets. The more times it is seen, the greater the benefit and that’s why most advertising options talk about the cost per impression. And promotional products are unmatched when it comes to cost per impression.
Most events have multiple sponsors and so the more times the participants can see your logo, the better. Also, as the promotional products are used and shared, the recipient sees your logo but so do hundreds of other people over the time they use the product.
Secondly, promotional products enhance the experience of an event by helping to hold on to memories or recognize an achievement. Whether it’s a race bib, event t-shirt, mug or the yearly Hospital Foundation Angel pin, these memorabilia can become collectors’ items and every time they are used or displayed generate positive feelings for the recipient and generate conversations about the event for years to come. Consider connecting with organizers early to see if you can help provide something to participants that can enhance the experience.
But Don’t Do These Things
I would be remiss not to also provide some advice on what NOT to do, because your attempt to support with branded merchandise can go very, very wrong.
1. Don’t give them the stuff nobody else wanted.
Having organized many events in the past, you always get a couple of companies who offload the PROMO that nobody wanted, the stuff that just went wrong – the XS, 3XL or 5XL hoodies in colours no one liked or sizes that don’t fit most participants at an event, the cheap hats or t-shirts that nobody will wear, or those $10 speakers you ordered 5 years ago. You will devalue your brand, create a negative impression with the recipient and leave the organizers struggling to figure out how to include your item in their event.
What will work for organizers for door prizes or goodie bags may not work if they’re trying to auction off or sell tickets to win the items donated. While someone will appreciate that Flexfit® hat with your leather patch logo as a door prize, they are not likely to buy tickets or bid on your hat. Make sure you understand how the organizer wants to use donations to select the best items to donate.
2. Don’t devalue your PROMO with bad decoration or large billboard-like logos.
Let’s be serious for a minute. Unless you’re a beer company, popular sports brand or designer label, people do not want to wear your logo like a billboard. If you’re giving out apparel, consider very retail oriented decoration – smaller logos, logo variations, tone-on-tone, leather patches, etc. Be creative with decoration, if you’re getting custom towels that allow all over, full colour decoration, consider using a photo, saying or something related to the event rather than just a big version of your logo. Keep the logo subtle and classy on higher end items.
That said, for low to mid range items and items people aren’t wearing, you can really make your logo pop and be more audacious.
3. Don’t just show up with your PROMO.
Make sure you communicate with the event organizer about whether your giveaway fits with the nature of the event and their sponsorship program. For many events, sponsors have paid a premium to be able to give out branded products at the event. The organizers may already have a sponsor for the type of item you’re giving out and you can create issues with the organizer or between the organizer and their other sponsors.
I once organized an event that had the same water sponsor for many years and as a small business, it was quite a big thing for this small business based on the cost and time they put into it. One year, a company unexpectedly dropped off a skid of higher end, professionally branded water and was giving it out. Needless to say, as the organizer, I was very frustrated with the company and they almost ruined my reputation with the long time supporter of the event. Where it might have been a generous donation with positive intent, it backfired dramatically. And depending on the venue, it could also have been in conflict with food/beverage contracts at the site.
To make the best impact with your donation, talk to the organizer about what they need. Ask them about whether smaller giveaways or co-branded products would work for them. The more you communicate with the organizer, the better your PROMO fits with and supports the goals of the event increasing the impact for you and the organizers.