You can grow a business in all kinds of ways. For instance, you can expand into a national market if your customers only know you in a particular geographic region. You might come out with some new products are start offering some additional services.
You can start a new marketing initiative or develop a presence on social media platforms that you haven’t used up to this point. You can also hire employees that better align with your creative vision if your current staff doesn’t meet your needs.
However, some companies get ahead of their competitors when they come out with branded merchandise. It’s something you might want to consider if you don’t have any yet. Let’s talk about a few specific ways that you can help your business with branded merch.
Contents
It Gets Your Name Out There
A branded merch initiative can help your company if not enough people know about you yet. Think about products like sweatshirts with your company logo on them, or coffee mugs, or pens. Every time someone looks at one of those, they’ll see your logo and your company name.
When they do, they’ll probably want to know what your company does. If you can position the merch in a place where the most people possible will see it, that maximizes the chances that you will attract some new customers who otherwise would never hear about you.
You Can Create Brand Loyalty that Way
Brand loyalty is one of the most crucial factors if you want your company to succeed. Think about families who buy Coke or Pepsi products every time they go to the grocery store. Maybe the kids grow into adults who also consume those products, and they pass that tendency on to their own children.
That loyalty means more money for you. You can achieve that partially through excellent services and products, but you also need brand visibility if you want to instill this longtime strategy.
Branded merchandise is one way to do that. When you create products with your name on them and either sell them or give them away, you’ll remind someone to buy your products every time they use or look at that item.
Sometimes, jogging their memory is all it takes to get them to buy from you again and again. If someone wears a sweatshirt with the Coke logo on it every day when they go running, they’re much more likely to buy Coke over Pepsi when they go to the store. Your advertising will have a subconscious effect on them that they’ll probably never fully recognize.
You’ll Generate More Leads
If you have merch and an evocative company name or logo, people will probably ask about it. You can wear the merchandise yourself or use it in your daily life, and when someone asks about your company, you can talk about your products or services. Your merch works as a natural conversation starter.
If you give your merch away or sell it, it will have much the same effect elsewhere. If you only serve a regional market, you might attract potential buyers from much further away if you distribute that merch as far and wide as you can.
If you can create as much merchandise as possible with that logo and name on it, you stand a great chance of getting customers who will look for you should they need a product or service within your niche. They might seek out your website or app if they see people with your merch. They’ll realize that you have a well-established company that’s worth their time to investigate.
You Can Increase Employee Morale
Branding and visibility matter just as much to your workers as to your potential customers or clients, though they might not always realize it. If someone works for a faceless entity that doesn’t capture their imagination or excite them at all, they won’t want to talk to anyone about it. They’ll see your company as just a paycheck instead of a cause they’ll want to champion.
If you create a great work atmosphere for them, they should feel differently. However, you can also excite them by distributing merch that they can use both in a workplace setting and outside of it.
To that end, you should try to come up with genuinely useful branded merch. Clothing always works well, since someone can wear it often. You might also try paperweights, tools, keychains, earbuds, backpacks, or anything else you can afford.
It’s a Cost-Effective Marketing Strategy
You probably know if you either operate or own a business that you need to constantly market your products and services. The more you do that, and the more creative your methods, the more likely you’ll stay ahead of your competitors.
You might have limited ad dollars, though, and if so, you need to think carefully about how you’ll use them. You can always try social media campaigns, TV commercials, radio spots, billboards, and more. Branded merch adds an entirely new dimension to your marketing.
If you get your branded merch out there into the world any way that you can, you are creating visibility that often costs considerably less than other marketing initiatives. For instance, coming out with some new branded merch will likely cost a lot less than hiring a marketing firm or professional SEO team. You can give away merch at conventions, street fairs, or any event where it seems appropriate.
Branded merch acts like a business card for your company and can help your business in ways you never imagined. It’s a way to physically represent your brand that moves through the world.
If you see people belonging to different demographics wearing clothing with your logo on it or using branded merch that you created, you’ll know you’re getting market penetration that creates sales. You should see better profit margins with each new merch wave that you initiate. Branded merch might make your company a household name.
