In reality much of a company's promotional activity takes place in a compartmentalised space. This has more to do with the nature of human social structures than it does the correct way to manage a communications strategy. While a market can be segmented and the people within it categorised according to an almost endless list of parameters it's important not to let statistics govern the final allocation of resources. Statistics, or indeed any historical numbers are an approximation of the real world. Running the percentages or living in a spreadsheet alternate reality can only describe to you the percentage changes that something may occur. Business reality is defined by direct observation, not by probability.
It's important to define the value of statistics in preparing your business promotion plans. Are the figures you generate the focus of your campaign or are they clues to the truth about your company's interaction with its clients?
All the elements of a marketing campaign must come together as a whole. Not just timing, not just following the statistical lead, but each must work as part of a greater whole to ensure the maximum return on investment and to reduce the likelihood of the different components wasting energy through friction.
Think of your promotional products use as you would the observation of a mountain range. From a distance the peaks tend to merge into a single elevated two dimensional "range", much the same way as a statistician or a back room marketer would study a line graph. As you get closer the individual elements begin to assume dimension and the divisions and detail between the parts of the range start to become apparent to the observer.
Each peak or geographic reference has definition in itself and as part of a greater whole. the same way successful marketing is about management and recognition of the different levels of scale within a program which come together as a cohesive whole when observed from a distance.
One of the peaks in your marketing mountain range is promotional products. Be sure when you're observing the company activity as a whole that you understand the individual elements of your campaign, but most of all take time to step back and look at the big picture so you can make sure all the individual pieces of the puzzle are working towards the same significant whole.