How Your Company’s Swag Can Define Your Brand

In the 1980’s Wendy’s catchphrase “Where’s the Beef?” had families across the nation laughing at sight of a little old lady erratically asking, “Where’s the beef?”  as she poked an oversized hamburger bun.  This commercial did more than just send people flocking to Wendy’s instead of McDonalds or Burger King.

It had people across the nation dressed in “Where’s the beef?” t-shirts.  Wendy’s swag was defining its brand. Even today, Wendy’s can’t keep enough of its free t-shirts in stock.

Giveaways or swag speaks volumes about your brands.  But why?  What does your swag say about your brand?  And even more importantly, how do you design a giveaway that helps customers engage with your brand?

Here are three questions to ask yourself when deciding what type of swag to use to market your brand.

Will people use it?

When picking swag, you need to make sure that it’s not just junk that potential customers will throw in the trash.  If you are going to spend money on something, it should be spent on something that is useful.

Ultimately, you want your swag to enter the homes of potential customers so that they remember to contact you and to use your brand when the time comes.  In order for them to take it home, it has to be useful to them.

What colors should I use?

This may seem trite, but color is important.  The color of your swag needs to reflect your brand.  Keep in mind, if you are using your logo and you choose the colors of your company, the logo might blend in with the color of the swag.  If you use white, it may not pop enough to make people remember you.

Color is a huge component of your giveaway.  One of the easiest ways to prevent ordering 100,000 screen cloths in the wrong color is to order a proof.  That way, you are making sure that what you are giving away helps to actually define your brand.

It may mean waiting an extra week for your order.  But, business is about being dime smart, not penny stupid.  If you have to pay a few extra bucks and wait a few extra days so that your message is sent correctly—the ROI will be worth it.

Is it a valuable investment?

Like everything in business, you need to make sure that you have a measurable goal so that you can measure effectiveness.  If your swag is working, then great.  If it’s not, you need to modify.

Start by asking yourself, “What do I want my swag to achieve?”  Do you want it to generate brand awareness so that people know you are out there, or do you want it to define your brand like Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” t-shirts did?

Fore example, if you want to use your swag as a lead generation tool, you need a database. The easiest way to measure your ROI is to have people fill out an information card before offering them a giveaway.  Then, you can use any type of lead nurturing technology to measure ROI.

Another way to measure ROI is to use your swag for brand awareness.  Then you can just calculate impressions from your web traffic to see if people are visiting your webpage.

As long as you set a goal and measure it, then adjust as necessary to meet it, your swag will eventually go a long way in helping to define your brand.

Conclusion

Today, Clara Peller, the famous “Where’s the beef?” actress, is not going to drive around cities and towns shouting out phrases for your business.  But, that does not mean that your swag can’t do the job that it did for Wendy’s.  Use the tips and the advice of experts, and make sure you are taking the steps to let your swag define your brand.