Advertising Specialty: An Emerging Industry

Advertising Specialty Institute describes promotional product as “any time imprinted with a logo or slogan and given to promote a company, organization, product, service, special achievement or event”. There are different fancy names for the professionals who sells promotional product but the industry standard term is known as Advertising Specialty.

As the industry is growing, now there are over a million advertising specialty products like pens, mugs, key chains, t-shirts, base ball caps as among the most popular items.

According to Advertising Specialty Institute, promotional products sales increased in 2010 by 9.1% to $17.4 billion from the previous year. The sales for the first quarter of 2011 were approximately 3.7 billion.

Weather this industry started with the election of George Washington in 1789 or in 1904 when twelve manufacturers of promotional items got together to found the first trade association for the industry; it is clear that the demand of promotional products has now reached worldwide and it will continue to grow exponentially every year.

Emerging companies like SF Promos is a proof that this industry is getting more efficient and sophisticated due to emerging technological developments. SF Promos that specializes in Custom Imprints corporate gifts and promotional products also specializes in superior customer service. Such companies have online web stores which allow an easy selection and shopping cart. However, for custom imprinted items ideas, it is still recommended to explore various options by contacting the Promotional Products companies via email or speak on the phone.

In order to understand Promotional Products business and model the companies like SF Promos, it is critical to know its key components. In other words, what Custom imprinted Promotional Products can do for a general business, regardless of its size and nature?

Retention Value: Business should know that it is one of the least expensive ways to promote any business. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on traditional advertising, now we see business like to alternate that spendingwith promotional items. It is unlikely that a person will throw away a decent pen or a nice polo shirt with a company logo; on the other hand,we see the traditional advertising ina dust bin frequently, creating environmental issues.

Perception:Author Jessica Cumbie related a fascinated 2005Georgia Southern Universitystudy where the researcher wanted to see the reaction of consumers who received a business gift. They concluded that those who received a promotional product had a significantly higher positive image and perception of the company than those who did not receive a promotional product. In addition, those who received the promotional items were inclined to recommend the business to other than those who did not receive a promotional product. It is critical to note that the promotional product itself must have positive image to promote positive image of the organization.

Profitiability:What is the use of promotional products if it does not generate sales and profitability? Author Jessica Cumbie relates another interesting study in her article, “the benefits of promotional products”. She describes that in 1993,Baylor Universityconducted a survey involving 20 Mary Kay representatives. Among twenty reps, ten were given promotional products to give to their customers and the other ten were offered no promotional products to their customers. Results showed “that 13.3% of customers who received a gift referred Mary Kay products, while only 11.7% of those customers not to receive a gift referred Mary Kay products. Also 44% of Mary Kay representatives referred Mary Kay products, while only 35.8% of representatives made Mary Kay product referrals and 40% of Mary Kay consultants who handed out the promotional products commented on how well the products were received”. It is no surprise that we often get the free promotional items from Mary Kay representatives. A Baylor University study concluded thatsales people who gave promotional gifts to customers received 22% more referrals than those who didn’t. Same study also found that Promotional products can boost response rates by as much as 75%.

Due to these important benefits of promotional items, companies like SF Promos see their business thriving in a tough economy.