Got swag? Tchotchkes? Are giveaways part of your marketing strategy, in hopes of creating an enduring impression?
I will make a public confession: I like swag. On the (now rare) occasions that I go to tradeshows, I love picking up interesting toys, tools, office supplies, and other goodies given away by vendors. And some of them make quite an impression – I still get regular comments every time I go to the gym in a Freshbooks t-shirt that has a blue tie screen-printed on the front!
I also like giving stuff away that, hopefully, will stand out. Recently, I sent clients and business partners jars of a particular BBQ sauce that I love, as part of a mini-campaign. It was memorable because it’s different – not merely another pen, hat, or post-it note.
Not long ago, a vendor gave away little earbuds with a retractable cord, perfectly suited for use at the gym. I used those things (and saw the company name being reinforced) multiple times every week. That’s effective swag-ger.
What about you? What have been the most effective giveaways you’ve used, or received? Let’s share some of the best ideas and resources we’ve seen for great swag in the Comments – I’m always looking for better ways to market, and I’ll bet you are too (otherwise you wouldn’t be visiting this blog)!
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Tags: Branding, swag, tchotchkes
My question: What are the results to giveaways? Although I readily accept them and have given away copies of my book, giveaways have never moved me to become a buyer of a business’s products. Admittedly, the exception is an author’s book. Why? Because what that author says and believes represents his or her brand. And that is important to me. Although I might like the BBQ sauce, it tells me nothing about a business.
We’ve had a lot of success with small sewing kits (pre-threaded needles, buttons, safety pins). Customers may not use them every day, but the kits stay in their purse/suitcase and are saviors in a wardrobe emergency! We get lots of compliments.
@lewis – in my thinking, the value is the creation of positive feelings, and name recognition. That’s why I gravitate toward “enduring” giveaways (such as mentioned by @sfowler) – it’s a step of faith, of course, that downstream, people will turn to you and/or talk about you partially because your “stuff” is in front of them, but if their general feeling toward the company is positive, then I think swag “memorabilia” can be valuable.
We’ve only had luck with one thing: tape measures.
I work for a made to order furniture company. One of the frequent things we hear in our showrooms is, “I have to go home and measure.” When the sales folks hear that, the customer gets a tape measure. I’ve personally seen several come back into the store with their new owners.
Allison,
Now that’s what I’m talking about: a giveaway that matches the wants and needs of your customers. Of course, I already knew you were sharp. Way to go!
Harry London gourmet box of dark chocolate
We recently got back form a show and we had the hit of the show – a small cradle for holding your cell / PDA on your desk at a slight angle so you can see the display.
It was a HUGE hit and now, clients & prospects see my logo and name every minute of every day they are at their desk. See it here – http://140.99.16.198/~silentdi/wordpress/?p=8
I love swag, not only because I like free stuff (who doesn’t?) but because good swag DOES actually help me to remember a company’s name, and good swag from a company I’m actually interested in using or partnering with is super effective for me in helping me to follow up with them once I get home from the trade show.
. So winning $1000 is pretty good inadvertent swag.
The best swag I’ve gotten? Hmm…I don’t think anything specifically stands out as the BEST, but I did win a contest at a conference and totally remember THAT company’s name since the prize money sent me to BlogWorld and bought me a new dishwasher
Received: Tshirts sized for WOMEN. It’s a small gesture that your customers/clients will appreciate. (Well, at least half of them will!)
I too ended up w/ the headphones, which I really like. I also love a set of miniature colored pencils, sharpener, and eraser in a credit-card sized holder from Yahoo. I show lots of people, because they’re so darned cute.
Moleskin notebook with the City’s name on it. It is swag for journalists.
Oh, I’ve got many from my days with an IR agency:
- A gold yo-yo engraved “For the Markets Ups & Downs” / logo on other other side.
- Swiss Army-like knife engraved: All the tools to change thinking.
My hubby was a tradeshow photog and he used to bring home: Reusable grocery canvas bags, stuffed animals for the our daughters, tape measures, lens cleaning cloth.
For a Concours d’Elegance included all sorts of swag in the attendee kit with the logo imprint: Tiffany wine glasses, local wine/beer with custom label, rain slickers, fleece vests, and more.
It’s great to come up with this stuff, call me I’ll give you some ideas.
At our title agency its Javelin Pens. (my other full time job)
Clients are always asking for them. When they are down to 1 or 2 they won’t share! Had a client tell me the other day they didn’t need my fax number for an order – they had my pen!
We always strive for something that will be/stay on their desk – sticky notes, etc. Everything has web, phone and fax on it.
OK, now this is some great stuff! Practical and creative items are the best…MORE!
former employer gave away rubber ducks (which had absolutely NOTHING to do with the company’s business). And no it wasn’t my idea.
Good news is they were incredibly popular – bad news is practically everybody grabbed them ‘for my kids’ so I have my doubts they ever swung a deal our way.
But they definitely brought people to the booth. So perhaps it worked. Hard to say.
Hi Steve –
I distribute swag on random occasions, but one I do annually has long been a big hit: pocket-size professional football schedules. There’s a window that may be moved (sliding card) to highlight each week of the season.
For me, not only am I glad it’s a hit, but it’s not terribly expensive and can be popped into any size envelope; as a publicist, I send it with a postcard with fall story ideas.
For longer lasting swag, it’s again, something simple — pop-up calendars that I’ve sent on a few occasions.
I’ve been looking into red bowtie USB thumb drives. I’d wanted to load my seminar materials on them and give them out at my fundraising seminars.
Unfortunately, the only supplier wants $12 each right now! A bit steep for swagger.
Can’t agree more with Ann Handley’s comment above…..T-Shirts sized and styled/cut for women. Pretty simple, but it makes a big difference. Women like to wear clothing made for women.
Bandanas for dogs are fun and people actually look at the bandana when the dog sports them!
For a recent direct mail campaign to B2B marketers, I used a compact mirror with my biz info on 1 side for the ‘bulky item’. It directly correlated with the theme of the campaign, making marketers look great. Received positive responses, men thought it useful as well as women, as one put it “even guys have to check their teeth after lunch.”:)
I don’t have any favorite swaggies, but I have a swag story to share.
My mom is in the insurance industry, and when she goes to tradeshows she hits every booth and hauls home gobs of crap she gleefully brings over to share with us. (She’s like a kid at Halloween.) About four years ago, when my daughter Kinsey was six, the loot included one of those squeezy stress balls… shaped like a TOOTH, of all things. It was given away by a dental insurance company. Kinsey grabbed it.
Later that night after she was asleep, I noticed something sticking out from underneath Kinsey’s pillow. That TOOTH! I carefully retrieved it, wrote a tiny, tiny note, tied it to the tooth with a lavender ribbon, and placed it back underneath the pillow.
The look on Kinsey’s face the next morning was priceless as she ran into the kitchen with her giant squishy molar, waving the little note which said:
“You can’t fool ME! Love, the Tooth Fairy.”
@Shelley – that is fabulous!
The best swag is helpful. Not like pen or bag helpful. But something with a purpose.
And wether that swag is tangible or not, it should still be helpful.
Stretch this out to how companies function online. What are they giving away?
Is the e-swag helpful, or is all the social media-lizing completely insincere?
The best swag we give away helps our customers understand their communication options better. It makes them smarter. It empowers them.
Our best swag is the gift of knowledge:
http://www.saladr.com/a_saladrpdf/saladr_pdf.pdf
How about carved fruit with your company’s logo?
http://fruit.digett.com/
Rohit Bhargava calls out his favorites from SXSW last spring:
http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2008/03/sxsw-swag-25-ma.html
Someone brought me an umbrella to a meeting when it was raining…
I think it’s more about timing than “usefullness” – since that part can change. An umbrella is a great bit of swag, but if it’s not close to raining, it’s just taking up space.
Hand sanitizer in the winter, mints during a breakfast conference… timing rocks.
Steve -
The real question here is have you done any business to date with the company that gave you the earbuds? I understand the value of brand recognition/awareness, and I don’t underestimate it. But are there hard examples/case studies of anyone who can attribute swag to signing on the dotted line?
@Brett: RoS (Return on Swag)? – that’s going to be a tough metric to produce. Swag is one piece of a multi-pronged approach (which should include advertising, social media in many cases, training, packaging, and lots of other elements) – each of which may be difficult to tie directly to specific sales, but all of which cumulatively contribute to favorably influencing buyers.
We have given away a couple goodies.
1. We made a self promotion DVD that incorporated our office and our portfolio. In the DVD was an animated character that took a journey through our office and into some portfolio pieces.
We sent out the DVD along with a package that included an Old Style Glass Bottled Coke, popcorn, and some candy. Basically, a movie theme that had a personalized ticket for the viewing.
We have received great responses from the package along with a couple new jobs/clients.
2. We send out a postcard every month to let our subscribers know that there is a new newsletter on our website. On the postcard, we ask a question that is relevant to the newsletter and the first 2 correct answers (by email), win a $50 Gas Card.
Purpose is to drive the audience to certain sections of the website.
We have received new contacts from these with a few new jobs.
Earlier this year at SXSW, Zappos.com made itself useful to everyone by giving out Zappos-branded rain ponchos in the hallway of the convention center, just as it started raining.
It had nothing to do with their product – but once again, it had to do with giving someone a useful product at the right time. As if they needed help in that department, they got many more loyal fans that day.
Was it effective? I still remember it today, don’t I?
I’ve had great success with calendars – but not the usual, full-size wall calendars. I went for the mini 4″x4″ 13 month one.
My clients loved them because they were smaller, but still offered a full month’s view per page.
Calendars are great because, if you get the right one, your clients are going to keep them and use them for a full year!
Beats holiday greeting cards which get read and discarded, and can sometimes be even more expensive than a calendar .
My clients find these items successful in getting brand recognition and being useful (note: the items are all 3D and Motion Printing, that’s what I market). Not sure if it would make me buy, but this is what the customers tell me…
- Lenticular Cups (people hang onto them because they are long-lasting and really cool. People even sell them on eBay, and they were intended for a b2b audience so that is impressive)
- Lenticular Mousepads also get good response and people hang onto them a long time.
To speak to the ROI question on swag… I don’t understand why people don’t put a special web landing page or unique 800# on the giveaway/freemium so they can accurately gauge their response? If you have web analytics, this is an easy and cheap way to know what’s working. And swag isn’t cheap. And if it IS cheap, chances are your customer will think so too.
My favorite swag is a coffee cup.
My dad went to a plug in hybrid conference and brought me two cool coffee cups from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The design is okay when the cup is cold but when you pour hot coffee in the color of the cup becomes light and a scene is revealed including trees, a blue sky, and a cool looking plugin hybrid card.
Now, here is swag that I drink out of every morning.
Of course, I meant plugin hybrid car not card. My credit card does not need to be electric…Oh wait, maybe that would be useful if I got a little shock every time I reached for it.
I’ve learned from my clients that the first rule of swag is that it should be small enough to fit into an already overpacked suitcase or garment bag. Anything that doesn’t fit risks being left to the housekeeping staff.
Pens are way overdone, but do get used. T-shirts and baseball caps also tend to stick, but only if they are very creatively designed. Swiss Army knives with your company logo have enduring value, but are not likely to be seen very often.
The most useful items I’ve collected were USB flash drives and a mini-mouse for my laptop. Both very useful items and I see the vendors’ logos every time I fire up my laptop in a hotel room.
As a trade show exhibit company, we’ve given away lots of different promotional items, everything from a watch that cost us $1.80 each, to a trip for two to Hawaii that costs thousands.
What we strive for with each giveaway is not only it something the client would want, but that it ties into our theme or message at the show. So the watches, which were shaped like tubes, were a great tie-in with our Tube System exhibit system we introduced at that year’s show, and the free trip to Hawaii tied into to the theme, “Marooned on an island exhibit?” when dot-bomb exhibitors were trying to get away from their heavy custom island exhibits.
Otherwise, choose giveaways that help clients do their job — like the tape measure example in the earlier post — so you help bring in and reward qualified visitors.
And I have to say, I like swag too. Not only does it bring in attendees, it also helps the booth staffers engage with attendees easier, which makes them worth their weight in gold.