Getting your merch strategy right

Branded merchandise strategy: are you getting it right?

In this article we’ll look at:

• Merchandise strategy and planning
• Branded merchandise dilemmas
• Solving merch dramas
• Merchandise and the senses
• How can you use branded merchandise?
• Top tips for choosing the right merch

At the start of your new financial year, you have a lovely full-budget line for promotional merchandise. What comes with a full budget line? Expectation. Is this budget line based on what you spent last year? Did you spend a bunch of money at the very end of the year to make sure you got the same budget again this year? Did your budget get cut and you’re wondering how you can get as much merch for the same number of events last year, as you would, in theory, need this year? You need a plan, a good one to get through the year with the right merch for the right reasons.

Let’s start with a few basics, we’ll get these out of the way first.

Merch related dilemmas

1. You’re having a rebrand – all the stuff you currently have is going to be useless very soon.
2. You’ve got less swag than you thought thanks to those pesky salespeople pinching your branded pens when you weren’t in the office.
3. You haven’t got the time available to spend hours combing the internet for new merch ideas, looking at costs, lead times and MOQs, investigating multiple suppliers and getting them set up on the preferred supplier and accounting systems.
4. You need merch ASAP for last-minute events.
5. You’re being challenged on your merch spend and the value it holds in marketing.

Does any of that sound familiar?

Your merch problems solved

We’ve got you. Here are a few suggestions for managing your merch, processes can make all the difference:

1. Stocktake – keep on top of the numbers. Any items which can’t be used anymore for branding reasons – donate or recycle them, you’ll be surprised what can be recycled these days!
2. Don’t store the swag at your offices – send an allocation to remote sales team members or to branches, store it with your supplier or in a location which you can protect like the King’s treasures in the Tower of London!
3. Have a cost-centred ordering system – like a redemption store, staff can order items as and when they need them direct from your supplier (we can do that for you).
4. Have merch codes – clients and customers can choose and claim their own merch from a redemption store, so no need for it to enter staff hands, it goes straight to the client or customer.
5. Allocate stock to events and projects – not to people.
6. You can buy branded merch online these days – yep, early birds can order at 5am, and night owls can order at midnight. Over on our online catalogue, you can choose the item, upload the logo and pay with your company credit card (no PO numbers, raising invoices and supplier forms going back and forth slowing everything down).
7. We have an Express range – items can be turned around in 5 working days – so if you’ve got the need for speed when it comes to your merch, get over there now!

Your branded merchandise strategy

We challenge you to get through a weekend, even a day without coming across branded merchandise. You’ll never do it, it’s everywhere! We bet a pen or notepad will get you, then a coffee cup or water bottle, even your car keyring if you’ve got the manufacturer’s keyring still on there or a trolley keyring! Merch is everywhere – if it performs a useful function what’s not to love?

How does promotional merchandise fit into your overall marketing strategy?

Can you touch an email? Can you touch something in a social media post? Do you get tonnes of emails – is an email very often a nice surprise? Branded merchandise offers a few things that much of your marketing strategy won’t and can’t. Yes, you can make people feel emotions or part of a community via online tools, and yes you can raise awareness and build loyalty with digital conversations, and yes, both of these can be reinforced by merchandise, but there are senses and emotions you can’t reach without a physical item. You’re following us?

Merchandise for the senses

Take a scented candle as an example – do you really know what it smells like without smelling it? If you are offering a relaxing event experience via online meetings a scented candle can change that experience – what a great gift to send ahead of the event.

Touch, taste and smell – three of our five senses that cannot be satisfied by an email or social post.

Why else do we give flowers? They stimulate so many of our senses (please don’t eat your daffodils). Why do we love to receive a cosy blanket or scarf, perfume, music, a nice bottle of wine or box of chocolates, we could go on…. it’s all sensory.

Merchandising with your emotions

A written down joke can make you laugh, a thank you email can make you feel humble, and this can all be said without using a word. Branded merchandise can stimulate…

• Joy from a surprise
• Gratitude – someone is grateful for your support
• Feelings of recognition and appreciation for the recipient

We don’t gift emails and social posts for Christmas and birthdays, do we?!

It’s the thought that counts and putting a smile on someone’s face will make your interaction memorable, which is why, word to the wise, choose your branded merch carefully, disappointment is another emotion that sticks.

How can you use branded merchandise?

Here are some examples of ways to get merch working for you:

External marketing: B2C and B2B

• Visibility – brand awareness
• Recognition and reminder – become a familiar face to your potentials
• Loyalty – thank you’s and loyalty rewards – hold on to your existing customers
• 71.6% of potential customers will remember the name of a company that gave them a free promotional product (marketingsherpa.com).

Tactics:

• Sign up to our mailing list and receive a free *insert branded item here*
• Competitions and giveaways to obtain contact details
• A surprise thank-you gift for clients to build loyalty and remind them you’re still here
• Attention-grabbing takeaways from an event to start a conversation
• Gifting a useful item which conveys your mission
• Seasonal celebrations with a long-term gift

Internal marketing: staff advocacy

• Reward and recognition for team members
• Branded items for them to show how proud they are to work for the organisation
• Team and community building

Tactics:

• Performance-related awards for individuals, teams and companywide
• Business anniversaries and celebrations
• Staff welcome backs
• Remote worker packs
• Useful gift e.g. for safety if staff cycle to work – show you care

Don’t forget you can also collaborate with other brands to create something special.

Merchandise planning

Like everything it’s all in the planning…

• Set SMART goals for your campaigns which include swag – do you want the swag to start the chat? Do you want the swag to get you noticed? Are you planning to reward customer loyalty?
• Do your research – what do your consumers want? What would they use?
• Do you plan to sell your merchandise?
• What processes do you need to have in place? E.g. if you’re sending a code for redemption via email – you need email addresses! Or post? You need addresses.
• Find the right supplier to work with you and support you to achieve your goals.

Choosing the right merch – our top tips

Keep it simple! Don’t start by scrolling through pages on Google or branded merchandise supplier websites, start with what you need to fulfil and give this brief to a supplier.

• Keep it on brand and on message – if you’re all about fun, make it fun!
• Make sure the items align with your values
• Usability – useful items are kept by your ideal client and for the long term
• Go for quality every time
• If it’s an option, give the recipient choice – have a look at redemption sites (we mentioned them further up the article)
• Choose the sustainable option
• Allergies! Be aware of them if you’re going for food items (also think about expiry dates)

What’s next for your membership merch?

Talk to one of our branded merchandise experts – get ideas, and recommendations and see examples of membership projects we’ve worked on

Take a look at our swag catalogue online – see what we’ve got to offer.

Order online – you can order your branded merchandise online right now.