How to Create Buzz with Custom Products for your Online Business

When a company is on the lookout for innovative marketing ideas, they often overlook custom printing on usable items. Some business owners assume that this type of marketing is too expensive or that it is a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, both of the assumptions are inaccurate.

Using innovative means to advertise your online products is a great way to maximize the advertising dollar.

The reality is that customized marketing and advertising is still very much vibrant in business to consumer relationships.

Here are a few tips to make your online business stand out with customized products and create buzz

1. Promotional Items Relevant to Modern Living
If a company gets 25 boxes of pens customized with the company’s name and contact details, it is usually a waste of advertising dollars. Those pens often find their way into dark places, and they never emerge again.

However, there are other items that are customizable that are useful for promotion, are of high quality and can hold better imagery than what a pen can.

Look for innovative products to market your brand. Products that are relevant and appeal to your users. You can use QR codes on T shirts or mugs to promote your blog or website.

2. Get innovative with design
People are quite visual and associate certain imagery with specific things. This is why companies spend a lot of money on logo and brand design. Apple is a great example of marketing innovative design related products.

It is important to choose items for customization that are relevant to modern living. Rather than customizing a pen, have portable iPod speakers or charging stations branded.

3. Don’t Be Afraid of Redundancy
This is the reason cell phone companies have almost every device they sell stamped with their logos. That small brand is easily recognizable.

It isn’t always a conscious choice, but people will seek out those carriers they see most often when shopping for cellular service. While most companies can’t get cell phones branded, they can get popular devices like MP3 players branded.

4. Don’t Discount Traditional Products
More traditional items like plastic cups, ball caps and clothing are also still relevant when promoting events. For instance, if an event planning business organizes a free concert, the event organizers will take the opportunity to distribute small ticket items that are relevant to the concert audience.

Traditional products work well at times.

5. Look for Giveaway Opportunities
Staff members wearing ball caps or handing out beverages branded with the company logo and event name provide even more visibility and recognition.

In terms of social media and increasing traffic to a website, nothing works better than a giveaway promotion. These promotions are even more effective when the giveaway items are customized with a company’s logo or brand.

6. Look for Quality and Provide Value
A company that sells custom products, such as Ink head, which can be found at www.inkhead.com, is a good place to take a look at what kinds of products are available for customization.

Products and apparel from manufacturers like Nike, Dickies, Champion, Post-It, Zippo are some of the companies that offer to customize their products.

Each of these brands makes well-made products that people associate with quality.

Custom products for promotional purposes are a huge buzz right now with many companies and they are talked about from one end of the Internet to the other. They are useful for businesses that operate both online and offline.

Again, it is imperative that promotional items are relevant to the modern world. Buy 5 MP3 players for a giveaway on a Facebook page instead of 100 pens. It provides more value to potential customers and makes them more likely to buy in future.

Have you promoted your blog using custom products or give-aways ?

Image Credit: TwisterMC

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13 comments

Link Building Services September 12, 2012 - 8:22 pm
Every internet marketers wants to create the kind of buzz which will send large amounts of traffic, and build loyal repeat visitors and fans, to their websites. As such, they hold a contest or give free service just to gain their interest.
Jasmine September 13, 2012 - 1:51 am
Good tips, ZK. I think it's still worthwhile to spend some advertising budget on getting some innovative products to promote your brand... but the key here is to get products that are relevant and useful to your users.
Sam@Goa Trip September 13, 2012 - 3:09 am
When you are getting help with these kinds of tactics then one thing is sure you will get good response in your work which you did for your site.
Anton Koekemoer September 14, 2012 - 2:11 am
Great tips – As branding products (especially promotional products and give away’s) are great for building relationships and promoting your brand, especially when it comes to B2C.
B24 esolution September 14, 2012 - 3:26 am
Nice one it is useful to spend some advertising budget on obtaining on branding products to public your brand…
Felicia September 14, 2012 - 3:53 am
Hi ZK, The tips you mentioned are really useful and simply clever when trying to promote your business with custom-made products. I agree pens are usually not a great idea to give away for this kind of purpose. Most adults like to have a mug, a tumbler, or voucher, or a discount from a well-known store.
ZK September 17, 2012 - 3:44 am
I love mugs and t shirts ...but you need to see a fit with your audience
ADT Security System September 16, 2012 - 8:39 am
it is useful to spend some advertising budget on obtaining on branding products to public your brand
Jasmine September 17, 2012 - 1:07 am
Great tips, ZK. Taking your advice, I was thinking... perhaps, I should create a 100webhosting mug or something so that I can promote my website offline (or even online) whenever I go to functions, parties or just a friends-meetup. What do you think? ZK, do you have a webtrafficroi mug or cap?
ZK September 17, 2012 - 3:42 am
Mugs, magnets and T Shirts should be great :) you can send us a few
Alicia September 17, 2012 - 1:55 pm
I have never thought of doing custom products in order to promote my website! Although this may need some budget allocation, but it certainly is a great idea! This is gonna be my target for this year!
Nanvy @ CRM Software Solutions September 19, 2012 - 3:07 am
I think #6 is looking the best tip here as there is a talk of providing quality and adding value, these are the best factors which can work a lot for your online success.
Quality Seo Services November 28, 2012 - 7:22 pm
Developing a successful internet marketing strategy for small business needs a solid online product to market with. In fact, this is the most important step to establish a successful business online.
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