As David Ogilvy, the inspiration for the TV series 'Madmen", once said, "80% of money spent on advertising is wasted. The problem is working out which 80%". This perception gets to the core of the problem which has eternally faced promoters- cost management. Anyone can clear the shelves of a shop if they spend an unlimited amount of money encouraging people to buy. Without cost control marketing is meaningless.

For those considering promotional activity the question which must be top of mind and so guides a program away from waste and uneconomic focus is "who are we talking to?". A surprising number of promotional product campaigns are conducted without considering this basic fact of message targeting. Who is it that we need to speak with and what message do they need to hear? These simple considerations are critical in the early stages of planning to ensure the minimum of waste from any budgetary allocation.

More than any other form of advertising and promotion, promotional merchandise marketing requires great message delivery control and focus. As the individual view cost is far higher than general media promotion the need to target carefully is imperative if budget is to be preserved. While the individual cost of presenting a message to a prospect is far higher so too is the opportunity to convert to action or revenue. The need to manage budget carefully is therefore as much about sensible expenditure as it is about opportunity cost. There is a cost to targeting the wrong people. Other than the cost of the message and it's delivery there is the cost of lost opportunity from those to whom the message should have been addressed.

The other consideration is the cost of physical delivery which can in many cases more than double the cost of a promotional campaign. But for the clever promoter, the "cost" of delivery can be turned into a sales opportunity by using the personal touch and delivering a promotional gift carrying a sales message and presenting it in person.

In promotional product marketing you always need to be asking yourself, "who am I talking to?". So if people look at your strangely and ask you "are you talkin' to me" and you're not sure, have a look at the fundamentals of your project planning.