One of the most expensive components of marketing is not the coming-up-with-an-idea process, but it’s the actual materials needed to produce the campaign. Business owners, however, make the mistake of looking at the budget first before the end goal of the marketing campaign. Although marketing strategies tend to be expensive, that is nothing compared to what you are going to lose—your whole business—if you don’t learn how to market your business.
That being said, marketing is not about how much you spent on coming up with the strategy and executing the campaign. It’s about the sincerity of the campaign, and whether the target market believed your message. It’s about being natural because if there’s a no-no rule in marketing, it is being fake. No market will ever believe you again.
Gauge the Impact of the Marketing Materials
Just how successful were the promotion of sending shirts, mugs, and other stuff with your company name and logo to your customers? Do you still see them wear the shirt around town? Do you see your company logo on their trucks and cars? If your marketing materials are catchy enough, your customers are going to reuse them.
One of the most successful “office stationery” is the shirt with the company logo. In fact, there are businesses that specialize in designing and making shirts with company logos and slogans on them. It’s a highly profitable business, too, using only an automatic heat transfer machine to get things going.
Once you know the impact of the marketing materials, you will determine which of these you should invest in. Is it time to buy your own engraving machine? Did your customers respond well to personalized company giveaways with their names engraved on a pen, mug, and other stuff?
Order in Bulk
The reason why it’s important to understand the marketing materials that have been a success in your company is because you can buy those in bulk. If you’re ordering them from a third-party company, then use the leverage of bulk orders to get discounts. Just make sure you are partnering with a provider that you trust and have worked with for years. Otherwise, ordering in bulk is not advisable. You need to make sure first of the quality of the products.
Hire an In-house Designer
You have loads of ideas for your office stationery and souvenirs. You’re even thinking about future holiday giveaways to your loyal customers. But to make these all into reality, you need a designer. Hiring an in-house designer might be the best way for you to save on costs now. It might cost you more upfront, but in-house designers will be at your beck-and-call. They can create exclusive designs for you, and they’ll update these designs as you go along.
While freelance designers are often credited for being more affordable, they also suffer from not knowing your organization. The message is sometimes lost. It takes them a longer time to get a feel of who you are as a company. Sometimes, there’s a seeming disconnect between what design they create and the message of the brand.
Work Only with Professionals
Yes, you’d like to give amateurs a chance, but should you take that risk for your business? You can always check out the works of newly graduate students, as well as college students who already have a flair for designing good logos, t-shirt designs, office stationery, and the like. However, what you should look into is their professionalism. What do their past customers say about them? Were they easy to work with? Did they meet the deadlines?
While the quality of the design is important, you can only really save on your budget if it is done in a professional way. If you have to keep revising the designs, you’re wasting time, money, and energy. You’re also wasting the opportunity of executing the marketing campaign already. Make it a point to value professionalism when choosing a designer to work with. Aside from one’s skills and talents, this might be the most important factor in hiring a designer.
Regardless of the size of the organization, make sure you have a solid marketing campaign to back it up. Your brand and its reputation can suffer massively if you do not know how to reach out to your target market with effective marketing materials. These marketing materials are not mere fluff. They are the heart and soul of your business strategy, often highlighting the huge difference between a successful and failed business endeavor.
