We’ve all received branded products that wound up buried in the back of a junk drawer. But there are also those rare pieces of merchandise that stay in our rotation of favorite hoodies, useful productivity tools, or meaningful mementos. Merchandise marketing has the power to leave a lasting impression that results in increased customer loyalty and brand awareness. You just have to go about it the right way! That means saying goodbye to useless junk and a disorganized process and hello to a strategy (and a brand partner like us) that truly works.
Need to Skim? Key Takeaways:
- Merchandise marketing uses tangible branded merchandise to build brand awareness and customer loyalty.
- Efficient inventory management, campaign insights, and awareness of your audience’s needs are key elements to a successful merchandise marketing strategy.
- Imprint Engine can help create an optimized budget and cohesively blend your merchandise marketing in with the rest of your marketing efforts.
Table of Contents
What Is Merchandise Marketing?
Merchandise marketing is a strategy that uses branded merchandise to build brand awareness and customer loyalty. Branded merchandise includes any tangible product that represents your brand, such as t-shirts, gadgets, bags, thank-yous, and much, much more. Read why we think tangible branding is just as impactful as your digital marketing.
[Related read: Why Branded Merchandise is Important]
The Signs of an Ineffective Merchandise Marketing Strategy
It’s one thing to have cool merch. It’s a whole other thing to know how to leverage it. Here are a few signs that your merchandise marketing strategy may not be working to its fullest potential.
Your Office Closet is Your Storage Strategy
Inventory management is arguably the most important element of your merchandise marketing strategy. If you’re still storing your merch in boxes stacked up in your office closet or break room, you’re wasting your time and your money. When your inventory is stored and managed effectively, you’re able to optimize your budget, stay sufficiently stocked, and deliver your goods on time.
You Aren’t Measuring the Success of Your Drops & Campaigns
Measuring the success of your merchandise marketing campaign allows you to adjust your strategy based on facts. By regularly collecting sales data, customer feedback, and engagement insights, you know which product type, drop timeframe, and distribution method works best for your particular audience.
You’re Not Meeting Customer Preferences
Let’s think outside of the pens and coffee mugs. A common mistake companies make in merchandise marketing is investing in the wrong products. Knowing what items would be most memorable and impactful for your audience is the key to a successful merchandise marketing strategy. We always say that the best way to boost brand awareness and stay sustainable is by selecting apparel or products that people actually need and will use over a long period of time.
Why an Effective Strategy Matters
Merchandise marketing can be a cost-effective way to boost brand awareness and increase customer loyalty, but you have to have an effective strategy. The true value of high quality, memorable products that you distribute to your audience lives on for years after you make the initial investment. However, poor inventory management and undesirable merch will result in your investment being discarded and forgotten. Read more about the benefits of promotional products.
Components of Successful Merchandise Marketing
Merchandise marketing is so much more than a box of t-shirts or holiday trinkets. It requires an ongoing strategy in order to achieve the brand awareness and customer loyalty you’re striving for. Here are 4 signs you’re on the right track…
You Know Your Audience
When you truly know your audience, it’s easier to choose and design merchandise that will stay in their home and at top of mind for years to come. Whether you’re factoring in the latest trends when designing apparel or considering people’s day-to-day tasks when choosing tech gadgets or productivity tools, keeping your audience’s needs and preferences at the forefront of your strategy will lead to success.
You Know How To Manage Your Merchandise
Optimizing your inventory through a management platform like IEX minimizes logistical headaches by storing customer data, providing real-time inventory status reports, and sharing, shipping, and tracking merchandise anywhere in the world right from your desktop.
You’re Combining Physical and Digital Branding
Your merchandise marketing should cohesively blend into the rest of your marketing efforts. Merchadise marketing naturally supports word-of-mouth marketing, and your digital efforts such as email and social media campaigns can help support merchandise marketing through paid and organic promotion.
You’re Making the Most of Your Promotional Budget
Creating a realistic promotional budget is no small feat. You have to factor in tedious logistics like design, production, inventory storage, and distribution on top of the products themselves. However, an optimized budget will help you stand out from your competitors and increase the quality of branded merchandise you can offer.
Read about the different promotional budget methods and how we can help you get the most out of your merchandise marketing spend.
How We Handle Your Merchandise Marketing
At Imprint Engine, we take an all-in-one, localized approach to merchandise marketing. Whether our client is a small startup or an enterprise with headquarters around the world, we have plans and capabilities to support their unique goals and needs. Plus, we come with a team of real people, from creative designers and developers to dedicated project managers, customer service reps, and logistics experts. We work as an extension of your time, because we only succeed if you do!
Not Sure How to Start? We Can Fix That
Creating memorable merchandise that gives you a worthy return isn’t as hard as you may think. You just need a comprehensive partner who knows which direction to guide you!
Quick start by filling out this form!
We can’t wait to connect with you.