For a fleeting appearance of their product or logo in a movie or TV show, companies spend big money. It’s worth it to them to increase their brand recognition in front of a large, captive audience.
You may say your marketing budget can’t bear a hit like that, and that may well be true. But did you ever think how promotional merchandise, like calendars or pens bearing your business brand, work a lot like product placement in movies?
The difference is that promotional merchandise makes daily appearances in real life. These items are like props that are always in view in the offices of your customers' key decision makers. They're sitting on desks or up on a wall where they serve as a constant reminder of you and your products. And you can place these items in these key locations for a lot less cost than a few seconds of screen time.
Mouse pads, calendars, sticky notes, USB flash drives, pens and countless other promotional products displaying your business identity, or brand, will keep you at top of mind. Business printing items, such as presentation folders, also keep you out in front of key decision makers.
For a minimal cost -- especially when compared to product placement -- promotional merchandise gives you a big bang for your buck.
Research by the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) shows that promotional merchandise is far more cost effective than other forms of advertising in terms of cost per impression (CPI) -- that is, the number of times an advertising image is seen by your intended audience.
The average per impression cost of an advertising specialty item is $0.004, according to the study. That makes promotional products less expensive per impression than nearly all other media. For instance, Nielsen Media reports that the CPI for a national magazine ad is $0.033; a newspaper ad, $0.0129; a prime time TV ad, $0.019; a cable TV ad, $0.007; a syndicated TV ad, $0.006; and a radio spot, $0.005.
The study doesn't offer a comparative cost for a product placement, but it's safe to say you're money will go further when you purchase promotional products that you carefully target to your most likely sales candidates.
There's other evidence of the value of business printing or promotional items in attracting business clients. ASI reports that 84% of respondents in a study said that they recall the name of the business printed on a product they receive. In addition, 42% say they have a more favorable impression of an advertiser after receiving a promotional gift with the business's name on it.
So, unless you have more marketing money than you know what to do with, skip Hollywood and take care of your own product placements with promotional products.