The Questions I Hate Most

There is a question that I really hate being asked. I get it in networking meetings like BNI. I get it on sales calls and I get it at social events. I hate being asked ‘What is the hottest promotional item out there right now?” I don’t hate it because I don’t know the answer. I hate it because it does not matter what the new, hot, gotta-send-one-now promotional product is. The question that everyone should be asking is, “What advertising specialty would be most effective at achieving my business goal?”

By the way, the new, hot gotta-send-one-now item is probably anything which can claim to be an environmentally friendly promotional product - recycled pens, biodegradable bags, organic cotton or bamboo shirts and the like. Second to that is anything USB related - flash drives, hubs, fans, rechargers, etc. Both of these may or may not be of any use in your advertising campaign, but there, I said it. We will talk about environmentally-friendly promos in future entries.

The second question I get asked all the time is, “What is the best promotional product?” There are lots of answers to this question because the effectiveness of a product is best measured by how it achieves it’s intended goal. In order to correctly answer the question we need to know what the goal is, who the target is and what the price range, delivery method and time frame is.

On my list of “Favorite Promotional Products”, I would probably have to list mugs, promotional shirts, Sticky Note pads and calendars as among the best. Mugs because ceramics last forever (Can you say Ming Dynasty vase?). Golf and tee shirts because their perceived value is usually higher than their actual cost, which means people will hold onto them. Sticky Notes because no one throws a pad of sticky notes away. Calendars because they last at least 365 days, most people need more than 1, they are looked at multiple times every day and when placed properly, they are seen by more than just the person you gave them to.