{"id":14731,"date":"2015-02-24T00:16:12","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T00:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ipromo.com\/?p=14731"},"modified":"2015-02-24T00:16:12","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T00:16:12","slug":"unleash-brand-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.ipromo.com\/unleash-brand-advocates\/","title":{"rendered":"Unleash your brand advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We typically look at promotional gifts as a way to build our relationships or gain brand exposure, and that\u2019s great. However, the more powerful reason to give promotional gifts it to create another opportunity for your best customers, supporters, employees or students to share their stories with their friends &amp; peers. \u00a0Promotional marketers\u2019 biggest mistake is overlooking the opportunity to create a reason for their most vociferous advocates to tell their story about their experience with the brand. Word of mouth remains one of the most powerful tools, we need to look at promotional items as a way to foster that engagement.<\/p>\n<p>Seek the unexpected. We talked about<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipromo.com\/ipromo-strengthening-relationships-promotional-gifts\/\"> trade shows and how to differentiate our treatment of key customers <\/a>vs the walk ups.\u00a0It is not about an expensive or flashy item (although that may be warranted). It is about treating key customers differently, letting them know you value the relationship. The way you present a gift can create as much positive residual impact as the item itself. You\u2019re really looking to give the person something to talk about.<\/p>\n<p>As we look at promo items, we have to take a step back to see how we can foster the conversation. When PPIA did research, there was a focus on how recipients feel about the company that gave them the item, that it was positive. The idea is that you give an item and the person likes you more. Our take is that you look for the people who like you more and give them a gift. We <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipromo.com\/you-gave-them-logoed-shirts-now-they-love-you\/\">explored the strategy with logoed shirts<\/a>\u00a0but the opportunity is pervasive. The ideas stems from the realization that promo products don\u2019t make someone love your brand, but they do give those who love your brand a reason to talk about it.<\/p>\n<p>As you consider promo gifts, you must consider the way you are going to give the gift as much as the gift itself. Let the gift and\u00a0experience be the catalyst for conversations. Your brand advocates are looking for reasons to talk about you and will enthusiastically display your brand. You just need to give them a way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We typically look at promotional gifts as a way to build our relationships or gain brand exposure, and that\u2019s great. However, the more powerful reason to give promotional gifts it to create another opportunity for your best customers, supporters, employees or students to share their stories with their friends &amp; peers. \u00a0Promotional marketers\u2019 biggest mistake [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-14731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-promotional-marketing-strategies","tag-brand-advocates"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Unleash your brand advocates - iPromo Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your brand advocates want to brag about you. Give them more reasons with promo products.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.ipromo.com\/unleash-brand-advocates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unleash your brand advocates - iPromo Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your brand advocates want to brag about you. 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