Does this sound familiar? You’re a project manager tasked with sourcing promotional products for your company’s latest event, onboarding process, or corporate gifting. The only problem is, sourcing promotional products was never in your job description, yet you find yourself frantically piecing together promo products and crossing your fingers that they’ll be a success.
The thing is, scouring the internet into the great abyss of promotional products sets you up for sourcing the same products as your competitors. It’s truly a shot in the dark where you, the project manager, have very little control over the outcome.
However, the number one goal (as your title suggests) is to create project efficiency, and the way to do that with branded product sourcing is by hiring a promotional product agency to manage the entire process on your behalf.
Why outsource promotional product sourcing? Well, because an agency will already have a database of products that can be refined to your project goals enabling your brand to stand out from competitors. A promotional product agency can also help you create a unique combination of branded products while ensuring production and delivery stay within your timeline.
So, where do you start? You’ve seen some of your favorite brands create exceptionally cool promotional products for their marketing efforts, yet where do you even begin to start?
We’ve created a quick 4 step guide to take the guesswork.
1. Outsource your promotional product search:
DO: Work with a Promotional Product agency such as B-BAM with in-house designers and project managers that can curate the ideal products for your project while staying within budget and within your timeline.
DON’T: Try to DIY research yourself. Why? Because there’s an endless amount of promotional product options out there. Filtering this type of content by Quality + Price + Product+ Freight requires insider knowledge; otherwise, you’ll find yourself sourcing the same products as your competitors with little to no quality control.
2. Curate a fresh concept of promotional products
Identify your demographic and create content tailored to their needs. Sending promotional products that are irrelevant to your recipients will leave a negative impression on your brand. A few questions to ask yourself while brainstorming your promotional product project is:
- Are the promo items useful? How will they be used? If they are a single-use product, what impression will that leave on your recipients?
- Are the promo products exciting to receive? Although you want your promo products to be useful, remember that memorable brands create memorable moments. Creating a successful promotional product should be no different.
- Is it well branded? A quality promotional product or t-shirt is a great place to start, but if your branding or slogan for your event gets lost in translation, your promotional products aren’t doing their job. At B-BAM! We have an in-house design team to help to clarify your final design and make sure it suits your messaging.
3. Play with Themed Promotional Products:
Your promotional products should be a curated extension of your brand but don’t shy away from stepping outside your brand’s image slightly to create buzz.
4. Automate Your Promotional Product Project:
Take the hassle of sourcing custom branded products off your plate entirely and work with a premium promotional product agency that can manage the process from start to finish. B-BAM also features a drop-shipping service and offers a free re-ordering website that stores a history of all your past orders, eliminating the need to search for old invoices. They even build FRESH complimentary web stores that put your customers in the driver’s seat by letting them order their promotional products on your behalf.
Conclusion:
Get back to doing the project management tasks in your job description and outsource your promotional product sourcing to an agency that knows cool swag. They’ll save countless hours and help you deliver a final product that is on-brand and successful for your unique project. We know you can’t do it all, project manager, so why not delegate your promo product project to B-BAM! And feel confident that the result will be a marketing success!