And now, the video to follow up the actions taken for $5 Starbucks Gift Card:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GshKagsVmk
At least he is not giving his mother-in-law a foot massage for a Klondike bar...see recent ads for that!
The Archives of Internal Medicine published a comprehensive research study May 11, 2009 entitled "Effect of Exposure to Small Pharmaceutical Promotional Items on Treatment Preferences." They wanted to know: Does exposure to promotional products produce a more favorable attitude toward marketed pharmaceuticals? The findings: Yes they do. The controlled experiment involved 352 third- and fourth-year med students at the University of Miami School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (where restrictive policies are in place limiting drug marketing). They were all exposed to branded Lipitor promotional products without knowledge that they were part of a study. Fourth-year students at Miami had a more favorable attitude (by a score of 0.66) toward Lipitor compared to the control group (0.47). The effect was reversed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine where restrictive policies are in place limiting pharmaceutical marketing. The scores were derived from an Implicit Association Test.
What does this mean to the marketer using promotional products for a campaign? That your customer is 40% more likely to use your product or service if you have marketed to them using a pen with your product or service on it!!!
There are three main components to Email Marketing:
1. Connect - build your contact list - get permission from your contacts. Have them sign up or ask them.
2. Inform - build and send your email campaign with informative content but provide links for more comprehensive information
3. Grow - evaluate the results and refine the process - target your emails to different audiences
Email marketing is about staying in front of your customers by providing valuable information. On average it takes 2-3 "touches" for an existing customer to purchase again. Staying in front of them through email is part of the "touch" process.
Promotional products also allow you to stay in front of your customers. They can be one of your 2-3 "touches". Consider using both mediums in your marketing efforts. Emails disappear once they are read. Check out this article on promotional products. They have longevity.
“Meg, you are absolutely right. Statistics show the shelf life of emails is VERYshort -- specifically, 67% of all responses occur within the first 24 hours; 92% within the first 48 hours and virtually all within 72 hours.
While I am no expert in promotional products advertising, in my own experience I have had substantial business development contacts come in YEARS and nearly a continent away from some items I distributed. Since I am a fanatical marketing research type, I found that some items actually passed from 2 to 3 hands over their life span -- all the while developing business for me.
It seems to me that intelligently combining email marketing and promotional products should prove to be a marriage made in heaven for most businesses as this would satisfy the need for both immediate impact and long term marketing needs. I certainly intend to give my theory a try!
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written on 06/02/09 at 06:17 pm