Better Promotional Merch With The B-R-A-N-D-S Framework

Does the responsibility of organising promotional products for your company fill you with dread?

What will your team think about the products? What if people don’t like them? What if they reflect poorly on the brand? This task has been dumped on your desk and the brief is vague at best.

These doubts are normal – and it’s why we have developed the B-R-A-N-D-S framework to remove the question marks and help you to create awesome merch – every time!

Read on to find out what it means and how you can start using it today.

(B) Brainstorming

All good ideas have to start from somewhere.

The two things you will want to be thinking about are:

• Who are the recipients of your Promotional Products? What are their hobbies, what is their life situation, and what other psychographic information do you know about them?
• Next start listing products based on the above that might be valuable. Consider things that are practical, would get seen often and if possible tie them back to your brand.

With AI assistance it’s now easier than ever to come up with some awesome ideas. You can also ask your team and go straight to the source and ask people what kind of products they would want to receive.

(R) Relevance & Resonance

Now that you’ve got some ideas in place it’s time to start thinking about matching your merchandise to your brand and target audience. Having a good understanding of your recipients is key here.

For example, a company that sells boats and fishing/marine equipment might use a floating keyring to promote its brand.

• It’s easy to associate the brand with the product.
• As customers are frequently on the water this item is very practical in case a set of keys ever go overboard
• It matches the recipient’s identity – as many will love being on the water

Think about how you can increase relevance and resonance with product selection and design.

(A) Artwork & Aesthetics

You can make better promotional merch and it won’t cost you a cent more. How you ask? One word, design.

If you want your merch to be used (and seen) more make it look better.

I know that sounds obvious but we frequently get requests to “make the logo bigger” even at the cost of a product’s presentation.

It can be easy to fall into the trap of making your branding too intrusive which can feel offputting to the recipient as they become very conscious of looking like a walking advertisement.

Here are some quick artwork tips (keep in mind most suppliers can help you with this step as well):

• Sometimes a bigger logo isn’t better
• Simple is sound (think about how the design would look when viewed from a distance)
• Don’t be afraid to give your logo a back seat to engaging messaging that your recipient resonates with
• Colour matters – for inspiration look at the colour wheel and consider how much contrast there is between your artwork on the product.

(N) Name Recognition

While we said it’s important that your design looks good – it’s also important that you can create name recognition with your brand.

So it’s generally a good idea to also include your company name somewhere on the product.

And I know what you’re thinking – but you just said simple is sound, so why can’t I just show my brand emblem? Unless you’re a recognised brand like Nike or Apple your logo/emblem alone typically won’t be enough.

Before you approve any artwork I want you to do an exercise.

Pretend this is the first time you have come in contact with your brand. If you saw the product can you:

• Name the brand/organisation
• Infer the industry/what they do

Remember a big part of what makes Promotional Products so effective is their ability to increase brand awareness.

And if you can’t answer both of the above questions it might be time to go back to the drawing board.

(D) Durability

To put it simply, quality products are better products.

This is especially important because people associate the quality of your promotional items with the quality of your brand. This is known as the Halo Effect.

So do not skimp on quality to save a few bucks!

With consumer trends moving towards “less but better” this is only going to become more important with an increased focus on sustainability in the future.

We’re not saying you need to go straight to the top shelf. But it’s a good idea to invest in quality and to check samples before purchasing.

(S) Sourcing & Sustainability

With a greater focus on sustainability and supply chains, it’s important to know that your promotional items are produced in a way that reflects your brand values.

Is the product you are looking at produced ethically? Are there more eco-friendly alternatives that could be used instead?

When choosing better products look for suppliers and products that have positive environmental properties.

For example, at Promotion Products we are ISO:9001 and ISO:15001 accredited. Have a number of positive environmental policies in place and will even plant a tree with each order.

Summing Up

Thinking about promotional merchandise through the prism of the B-R-A-N-D-S framework ensures you are ticking all the boxes for creating awesome promotional items.

And yes this can feel like a bit much. But the great thing is by partnering with a promotional merchandise partner like Promotion Products you can have an expert do all of the hard stuff so you can focus on some of the other important stuff and enjoy the end result!

We’ve been around for over 20 years and have worked with thousands of brands across Australia. Get started by saying g’day below.