How to Build Brand Awareness With Specialty Advertising

For years small business owners have been putting their names and logos on Advertising Specialties and Promotional Products such as calendars, notepads, ball-point pens and key tags and giving them to customers and prospects. Not intended simply as an act of business generosity, this is promotional products advertising to be exact. The problem is that many small business owners don't know the fine points of the advertising specialty form of advertising and don't maximize the advantages it offers. This guide explains why advertising specialties works and provides illustrations of how small business firms have applied this targeted medium to specific promotional objectives achieving some remarkable results.

An industrial film studio once ran an ad headlined: It's more important to reach the people who count than to count the people you reach. That is a handy maxim for business owners to keep in mind when they plan their advertising, because money spent on reaching the people who don't count-non-prospects-is money wasted.

This fact is acknowledged by your life insurance agent who gives you a calendar each year or by your bank that gives you a ball-point pen with the bank name on it. As a policyholder and as a depositor, you count with these businesses, and they give you these promotional items-properly called advertising specialties-to let you know it.

The fact these items are given away shouldn't be misinterpreted as purely an act of business charity. There is a reason for presenting specialty advertising gifts. When used properly, specialty advertising can be one of the most effective means of promoting a small business. The trick is to use it properly. But first business owners must understand what it is and what it can and cannot do for their companies.

Why Advertising Specialties and Promotional Products

Advertising specialties are defined as useful articles of merchandise that are imprinted with an advertisement and are given to customers and potential customers without any strings attached. Unlike premiums, they are not earned or awarded in exchange for a purchase. Sometimes the ad on these specialties is no more than the name or logo of the sponsor. Every day one comes across cigarette lighters, ashtrays, paperweights, ball-point pens and T-shirts that meet this description. These are just a few of the estimated 15,000 different types of merchandising items that are used in the medium called specialty advertising.

All advertising media offer users specific advantages-and all media have their limitations. You must be familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the various media in order to make the right choices for your business. Let's look at some of the advantages offered by promotional products.

Unlike newspapers and television, which are mass media, promotional products are one of the targeted media. Newspapers and television are fine when you want to deliver your message to the most people you can possibly reach. But in this mass audience are many people who are not interested in what you have to sell. Consequently, you must also look for promotional efficiency. This is provided by the targeted media-direct mail, trade press and specialty advertising-because they can deliver your message only to prospects, thereby saving you the expense of buying non-productive circulation.

Notice that advertising specialties products are defined as useful articles of merchandise. Because they are useful, at least to varying degrees, they are kept and used by recipients. Each time the items are referred to, the advertiser's name and message get exposure. The recipient doesn't always consciously note the ad, of course, but the message is entered into the individual's memory and can be recalled at the appropriate time.

Advertising recall is important, but so often advertisers don't achieve this sought-after benefit from the media they use. What good does it do when the TV viewer chuckles over a clever commercial but can't remember the name of the sponsor?

When it comes to ad budgets, small businesses obviously cannot compete with corporate giants. Budget limitations severely restrict the small entrepreneur's use of some of the costlier mass media. Fortunately, specialty advertising comes in a lot of price ranges. There are, remember, 15,000 different types of specialties, some costing several dollars and some only a few cents apiece. So there are specialties available to any advertiser, regardless of how small the budget.

How consumers react to your advertising is important. If they are offended or indifferent to it, you have not gained from your promotional investment. Specialty advertising, however, carries with it an ingratiation factor. People like to get something for nothing, regardless of how inexpensive the item may be. They tend to look favorably on companies giving them free specialties. There is statistical evidence that people prefer to patronize businesses giving specialties as opposed to those that do not, all things being equal.

Another unique attribute of advertising specialties is that it permits advertisers to personalize the message. Suppose out of all your customers and prospects there are a hundred or so key ones you want to concentrate on. Because you probably can identify them by name, you can give added value to the advertising item you send them by imprinting their name on it. The favorable reaction to this kind of message enhancement can never be overstated.

As you can see, there are several advantages offered by advertising specialties, some of which cannot be found in other media. Specialties also have some limitations. One has to do with the amount of copy space available. On a ball-point pen, for example, there usually isn't enough space to imprint more than the advertiser's name and address. To overcome this deficiency, advertisers often distribute a printed companion piece with the specialty, and this flyer or brochure contains the reasons to purchase.

Another liability is the comparatively long production and delivery time sometimes required to implement a specialty advertising promotion. Even stock items ordered right out of a manufacturer's catalog sometimes take four to eight weeks for delivery. Consequently, the business owner who plans to hold a clearance sale the following week may find his or her purpose better served by using newspaper ads and TV or radio spots.

Prior to opening your business you Need to decide upon the general Cost Amount you expect to maintain. Will you appeal to
individuals buying in the large, medium, or low price range? Your choice of location, look of your institution, quality of
merchandise handled, and solutions to be offered will depend on the customers you hope to attract, and so will your prices.

After establishing this overall price level, you are ready to cost Individual items. Generally, the price of an item must cover
the price of the item, all other expenses, and a profit. Therefore, you will have to markup the thing by a specific sum to cover
costs and make a profit. In a business which sells few things, total costs can easily be allocated to each product and a markup
immediately ascertained. With a variety of things, allocating costs and determining markup might require an accountant. In retail
operations, goods are often marked up by 50 to 100 per cent or more just to make a 5% to 10% profit!

Let's work through a markup illustration. Suppose your company sells 1 product, Merchandise A. The provider sells Product A for
you for $5.00 each. You and your accountant determine the prices involved in selling Product A are $4.00 per item, and you want a
$1 per item gain. What is your markup? Well, the selling price is: $5 plus $4 plus $1 or $10; the markup consequently is $5. As a
percentage, it is 100%. So you need to markup Product A by 100 percent to produce a 10% gain!

Many small business managers are interested in understanding what Industry markup norms are for a variety of products.
Wholesalers, distributors, trade institutions and business research companies publish a massive assortment of such ratios and
business statistics. They're useful as guidelines. Another ratio (in addition to the markup percentage) important to small firms
is the Gross Margin Percentage.

The GMP is similar to your markup percent but whereas markup Refers to the percent above the price to you of every item you have
to set the selling price in order to cover the other expenses and make profits, the GMP shows the association between sales
revenues minus the expense of the product, which can be your gross margin, along with your earnings earnings. Exactly what the GMP
is telling you is that your markup bears a certain relationship to your sales earnings. The markup percent and the GMP are
basically the same formula, together with the markup speaking to individual item pricing and GMP referring to this product prices
times the amount of items sold (quantity ).

Maybe an illustration will clarify the point. Your firm sells Product Z. It costs you .70 each and you decide to sell it for $1
each to cover costs and gain. Your markup is 43%. Now let up state you sold 10,000 Product Z's Last month thus producing $10,000
in earnings. Your cost to purchase Product Z was $7000; your gross margin was $3,000 (earnings minus cost of goods sold).
Additionally, this is your gross markup for the month's volume. Your GMP would be 30 percent. Both these percentages utilize the
exact same primary numbers, differing only in branch. Both are used to establish a pricing method. And both are published and can
be utilized as guidelines for small firms starting out. Often supervisors determine what Gross Margin Percentage they will need to
make a profit and just go to some printed Markup Table to find the percent markup that correlates with that margin requirement.

While this discussion of pricing might seem, in some respects, to Be directed only to the pricing of retail merchandise it can be
applied to other types of companies as well. For solutions the markup has to pay for selling and administrative costs in addition
to the immediate cost of doing a specific service. If you're producing a product, the costs of direct labour, supplies and
materials, parts purchased from different concerns, special equipment and tools, plant overhead, administrative and selling
expenditures have to be carefully anticipated. To compute a price per unit requires an estimate of the amount of components you
intend to produce. Before your mill becomes too large it would be wise to consult a lawyer about a cost accounting system.

Not all things are marked up from the average markup. Luxurious articles Will take more, staples less. For instance, increased
sales volume from a lower-than-average markup on a certain thing - a"loss leader" - can bring a greater gross profit unless the
purchase price is reduced too much. Then the resulting increase in sales will not raise the entire gross profit enough to
compensate for the minimal cost.

Sometimes you Might Wish to market a particular item or service in a lesser Markup in order to increase store visitors with the
hope of increasing earnings of Regularly priced merchandise or creating a large number of new service contracts. Competitors'
costs will also regulate your costs. You Can't sell a Product if your competitor is greatly underselling you. These and other
reasons May make you change your markup among items and services. There's no magic Formula which will work on each product or
every service all of the time. But You should keep in mind the overall average markup which you want to make a Gain.robotics roll-off-dumpster roofing salvage-yard sandwich-shop sausage-making scrap-metal screen-printing scrub-uniform scrunchie self-storage semi-truck sewing shipping Container sign-making silver sip-and-paint skateboard skating-rink skid-steer skin-care-products skip-bin slot-machine small-bbq small-eatery smartphone snack-food snake-breeding sneaker sneaker-cleaning snow-plow snow-removal social-media-marketing sock sound-system spare-parts specialty-food spiritual sports sportswear spray-tan sprinter-van-expedition stationary sticker stock-market storage-unit stucco subscription-box sunglasses swap-meet sweepstakes sweet-shop