Tag: business branding
SmartPrint On The Importance Of Branded Materials To Businesses.
There’s a lot of competition in the business world for attention and growth. Branded materials or merchandise has therefore gained prominence in marketing strategies. These materials are a way to increase your reach and brand-related visual identity. The Importance of branded merchandise to businesses cannot be overstated. At their very core, they are a great marketing and publicity tools, but what more do they have to offer?
What Is Branded Merchandise?
Branded merchandise is any product that has a logo or insignia of a company printed on it with an intent to promote the brand and create brand awareness. Companies and corporate bodies use visual elements of their brands to create branded merchandise. The strategically branded products such as t-shirts, face caps, hoodies, tote bags, drinkware, etc for promotions.
These promotions generally involve gifting these items or selling them at discount prices at events or in stores. Nevertheless, it is important to note that these items are not part of the brands main business. They are purely to create brand awareness.
Importance of Branded Merchandise to Businesses
These are some of the importance of branded merchandise to your brand and business.
1. It Introduces Your Business (Builds Brand Identity).
One of the major advantages that branded merchandise gives is its visibility and ability to introduce businesses. It performs all the functions of a business card and more.
Likewise, they are a means of telling people what your brand does at a glimpse especially if they’re unfamiliar with your brand. Handing out these items for free or at a discount price is a great promotional strategy to introduce a brand. It is especially effective for start-ups looking to gain ground and create awareness in a saturated market.
To make such items more effective, add contact details of your company and your website. Also include clear details of your services and/or products.
2. Ensures and Increases Brand Awareness and Recognition.
A rule of thumb when creating branded products is to create items for daily use such as T-shirts, pens, or flash drives. Customers are more likely to use these products daily and see your brand message and logo.
This way, people are prone to recognize your brand even if you’re a small business.
3. Builds Customer Loyalty and A Strong Customer Base.
Statistics show that business that uses branded merchandise or promo products strategically have a higher chance of winning customers’ loyalty. Also, these customers are likely to patronize your brand in the future.
In addition, another survey shows that one-third of consumers will patronize a brand they’ve never heard of before if the company gives free merchandise as gifts.
All these statistics go to show that branded merchandise is an important part of your marketing. But keep in mind that these merchandises must be of the highest quality as customers are bound to judge your brand based on their quality.
4. Branded Merchandise Reduces Advertisement Costs for Your Businesses.
Small business and businesses on a budget can comfortably take advantage of the numerous kinds of branded merchandise for brand awareness. They are inexpensive to make with digital printing and they can be tailored to fit even the “tightest” budgets.
Overall, it is a great alternative to traditional advertising, and it is more effective when done right.
5. Branded Merchandise Can Boost Direct Sales.
When a brand uses great marketing tactics, branded merchandise can boost sales to a great extent. These branded items not only encourage impulsive purchases but also cross-selling and upselling. Cross-selling is the sales of products that go well with products from other departments. For instance, Deodorants and Shaving razors can be paired with branded T-shirts.
In conclusion, branded products offer so much and are very important especially to start-ups and companies. We at SmartPrint offer sweet deals on premium branded merchandise, made with the best digital printing practices and materials. To get your branded merchandise today, visit www.smartprint.ng and get a quote.
Is Your Business Suffering From These Effects of Bad Branding?
The truth is bad branding has a lot of negative effects that may be the reason your business isn’t recording a lot of conversions. It can create a bad business persona and negatively affect the customer’s experience.
Also, bad branding designs can be used to interpret the quality of your service. Why? Because branding is the digital and physical expression of your brand’s personality, values, and lots more. It is therefore important to have the best branding your money can buy as it is a vital component to the success of any brand.
Bad branding designs can especially be detrimental to a brand. It creates a substandard aura around a brand that almost no one would want to associate with.
Examples of Bad Branding
· A poorly designed logo
A logo that doesn’t immediately sell your brand can hurt your business. Logos should be a clear, concise representation of your brand. It should be the first thing a customer thinks of when they see your brand or business name.
Poorly designed logos are a gross misrepresentation of your brand’s mission. Overall, a bad logo is bad for business.
· Poor graphics and prints
Prints and graphics are the major mediums for print and digital marketing. They are used in creating awareness, drive sales, and boost customer loyalty and satisfaction. All these functions are why the graphics and prints your brand puts out should be a good representation of your brand.
All print marketing media must have all the characteristics of high-quality prints and your graphic designs must be professional too.
· Inconsistency and Dishonesty
There are a lot of companies that capitalize on inconsistencies to market their brands. These inconsistencies include click-baiting, dummy discounts and deals, fabricating user-generated contents and much more. While it might seem like a good idea, in the long run, it affects your brand image negatively. Especially when customers start to associate your brand with dishonesty.
· Ignoring social media
Customers yearn for businesses that have responsive social media communities. Your followers across various social media platforms expect engaging content in addition to your ads and campaigns. Not responding to emails, Direct messages or leaving questions unanswered in your comments or reply section is a major turn off.
Similarly, the wrong tone on social media can cause customers to leave. Studies show that the most successful brands have the “human” online presence.
What Are the Effects of Bad Branding?
These are some effects of bad branding:
1. Bad branding reduces trust.
Businesses are built on trust on an emotional level. When your branding is poor, you start to slowly lose this trust and with the trust, goes the customers.
2. Bad branding leads to a negative perception of the quality of your services and products.
Inconsistent branding as mentioned earlier can cause potential customers to associate your brand with low quality. For instance, imagine seeing two cans of dog food on the shelf at the supermarket- one with a clear, well-printed label and the other with a blurry, smudged label. Which would you rather pick?
The one with the professional label of course! Customers judge brands first by what they see.
“Bad branding is like wearing a rumpled, ill-fitted suit. It doesn’t mean you are a bad person, but it might give the wrong impression.”
Smart Print
3. It makes your brand seem uncaring, careless, and robotic.
Poor branding just doesn’t affect how your customers look at you, it also affects how they feel about your brand. You must create a responsive community where customer opinions and queries are genuinely investigated, responded to, and appreciated.
Customers should be able to relate to your online and offline presence. These days, the more human and profession you are online, the easier it is to gain more profitable leads.
Branding goes beyond your business logo, it is the bulk of everything your brand uses to relate with clients and customers. This includes your tone, language, graphics, fonts, etc. Successful businesses have learnt that great business branding an important step towards a successful brand.
We at Smart Print have made business branding as easy as a walk in the park with our team of branding experts, professional graphic designers, expert digital printers, and digital marketers. Visit our website to get the best business branding and digital printing deals.
Remember, it is easier and less expensive to get good business branding than it is to fix the effects of bad branding.
