Continuing with the theme of the longevity of the promotional marketing message recent research from the PPAI in the United States casts a fascinating light on the long term effectiveness of handing the right promotional product to the right business contact. Over the course of no less than 2 years over 82% of people who received a particularly popular promotional gift idea were able to remember the name and details of the company from which it was received. Now of course, some of this effectiveness could be put down to the general dynamics of promotional marketing, in that it is critical that the name and contact details of your company are included in the branding which is applied. Appropriate branding is the best way to ensure your marketing message is heard and received and this latest US data seems to confirm that the right promotional product will out perform almost any other type of marketing communication and create a cost effective communication channel in the longer term.

It's only the most highly promoted and highly budgeted advertising activities which still have traction two years after they are aired in mainstream media. Small marketing companies are unable to fund these genera messaging campaigns because firstly the cost producing and distributing the advertising spots is too high and the risk is too great in putting all their eggs in one basket. Many times in the past there has been a small to medium sized company which has jumped into the deep end of the marketing pool and staked everything on a single communication message only to see that the money spent does not return as was expected and that the end result is a crippled organisation which has difficulty ever recovering from the mis-investment. There is little danger of this happening with promotional marketing investments because they are highly targeted and able to be rolled out sector and market segment at a time/ This way a message and offer can be fine tuned as it is progressively revealed to the market and early failures of set backs can be rectified or enhanced to ensure that the longer-term effectiveness of the proposed campaign is real.

Can your customers remember your marketing messages two years down the track? Are you able to keep in touch with people and keep them motivated and receptive to your latest communications two years after your initial contact? If the answer to these questions is "no" you should consider transferring a chunk of your marketing budget to an investment in promotional products. As long as the products you offer continue to circulate and attract interest and attention from recipients your name will remain top of mind, as this recent US research proves. It can seem glamorous and exciting to be advertising on TV or to send a large slice of your marketing budget to a a major media outlet, but once the money has been spent the likelihood of continuing returns is rapidly diminished. However with an 82% two year recall rate on promotional merchandise research confirms that it is the winner in terms of long-term effectiveness and return on investment.