Small Business News Update - Jacksonville Businesses Use Promotional Products To Advance Their Marketing Strategies

Many companies will make an off-the-cuff decision to use promotional products or advertising specialty items to give to customers without really thinking about why they are buying and giving out these items. Someone in the company will come up with an idea for a note pad, a pen, or maybe now, a mouse pad. And with no real reasoning behind the use of the items, they end up in the back of a desk drawer or in the kids’ toy box.

When used correctly, promotional products can be a powerful marketing tool. Unfortunately, many businesses view ad specialty items only as a way to promotion name identification. But there are several Jacksonville companies that have taken a more strategic approach, using promotional items to help sell specific products or services.

Without violating the confidentiality of various companies’ marketing programs, here are some of the ideas used by unidentified Jacksonville companies:

Promotional Item: Key Chain (Featuring a Radio Frequency Chip)      

Company: Industrial Product Manufacturer

Situation: This company just introduced RFID Chips (Radio Frequency Identification) embedded in their industrial products so customers can easily monitor the history, features, maintenance schedule and repairs of the product.

Strategy: A key chain with an embedded RFID chip was produced and given to manufacturers’ reps and distributors so they would be aware of the new feature and they could even show their customers what the chip looks like.

Promotional Item: Protractor Wheel (Matching Surgery Microscopes With Sterile Covers)

Company: Surgical Supply Company

Situation: This company manufactures surgical drapes (coverings for microscopes used for microsurgery in hospital surgery rooms). They want operating room nurses to use their surgical drapes line.

Strategy: The protractors were mailed to operating room nurses all over the country. The feedback was tremendous because the tool made it easy for nurses to identify which drape matches with which microscope.

Promotional Item: Birdhouse (Painted With The Development’s Name In The Red/Black/White Design Like The Rock City Birdhouses)

Company: Residential Developer

Situation: This developer had some high-end lots in North Florida, located in an unusual Florida terrain of hills and valleys, similar to the Tennessee/North Carolina area.

Strategy: The birdhouses, containing sales materials explaining the unusual features of the lots, were distributed to local Realtors offices. In addition, some of the birdhouses were posted in the wooded lots like you would find with the Rock City houses. The lots were sold in a short time.

Promotional Item: Humorous Safety Posters (For Manufacturing Plant Facilities)

Company: Industrial Product Manufacturer

Situation: This manufacturer is constantly developing ways to promote product safety with the use of its product. So a series of humorous safety posters was created, printed and provided to distributors to give to their customers. The posters provided the distributors with a free give-away for their customers; they provided additional safety advice for use of the manufacturer’s product; and, with the manufacturer on the posters, factory workers were exposed to the manufacturer’s name. As a result, the manufacturer has difficulty keeping posters on hand for request.

Promotional Item: Acrylic Paperweights (Featuring Small Surgical Implants) 

Company: Medical Device Manufacturer

Situation: This company manufactures several small medical implants products for the ear, nose and throat field. In order to introduce their line to ENT Specialists, the company sent them a paperweight with their products inside. The physicians could use the paperweight to show their patients the actual implants and they could see how small the implants are. The company had a big demand by physicians for additional paperweights.  

These businesses experienced impressive results with their promotional product strategies. They knew exactly what they needed to promote and they found a unique way to do it. Specialty advertising can be effective once extensive thought and planning are put into the process.