How do you build up momentum in the marketplace for your new product or service? You could organise a launch event, but how can you ensure that you create sufficient excitement and interest once you have got people where you want them?
The corporate gift is an ideal means of making your launch event more memorable, and focusing your audience’s attention on your brand and what you can offer them.
Like all marketing, this requires planning and forethought, and a strategy to maximise the benefits.
Brand Consistency
“When you launch a product or service, you are telling your audience something about your brand, whether intentionally or not,” Chris Rigby, MD of Invogue Incentives, says.
This means that everything connected with your launch must be on-brand, that is, consistent with your brand values.
This extends to the promotional gifts you include in the event. They must be appropriate to what your brand represents, so, for example, if you have a luxury brand, the gifts should reflect this.
“Choosing to giveaway promotional items is a commitment which you must follow through,” explains Chris. “If there is not enough care involved, it can reflect badly on the brand.”
“If your gifts appear shoddy, or the tone is inappropriate, then they are more likely to generate negative publicity”
“In other words, by choosing to do this you are making the most of a marketing opportunity, but you must also be aware of the risks of getting it wrong,” warns Chris.
The same degree of care should go into the planning aspect. This means ordering gifts in time, and ensuring you have enough of them for the event.
“Running out of stock of promotional items halfway through an event is likely to create negative feedback and, potentially, undermine all your marketing efforts,” Chris warns.
The Strategy of Giving
This reiterates the point that all aspects of a product launch requires careful planning and a clear understanding of how the launch, and any promotional gifts, will work as part of an overall marketing strategy.
“It’s not a case of turning up on the day of the with bags full of goodies. The point is to make your brand and what you’re launching the focus by using the gifts to enhance the launch”
If the gifts are inadequate or inappropriate, or, conversely, if they overshadow the product or service, then they are failing to work effectively.
“Gifts can boost a sense of excitement and anticipation, but only providing you get the strategy right,” Chris concludes.
To enhance your next launch with the right style and level of promotional items, please call Invogue Incentives on 01772 751175 or visit invogue.co.uk/for-your-launch.
