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At the age of 69, Toby is a fit and energetic man who’s still heavily involved in the daily operations of his industrial plumbing business.  He calls himself a realist, and he has a self-professed distrust of advertising.  He won’t watch commercial television or listen to commercial radio, and if he spends time on the internet, his wife closes the door on him to muffle the sound of his non-stop grumbling about marketers being brainwashers.

Toby’s not unusual.  People want information, but they want it at their own convenience – more often than not, they’ll hang up on telemarketers, delete spam emails, mute the TV when commercials are on, and pointedly ignore billboards while driving.  It can be really hard for a business to make potential customers aware that it even exists, when so many of those people are determined to close their eyes, block their ears and sing “blah-de-blah-de-blah-blah, I can’t hear you!”  The money you pour into advertising can easily disappear straight down the drain, resulting in very little, if any, return to you at all.

That’s where promotional t-shirts come.  It has any number of advantages, but here are four of the most important ones – it’s useful, it engenders goodwill, it reminds your prospective customers that you exist, and it helps you appeal to more qualified leads.

1. Too useful to trash

For all Toby’s dislike of advertising, you’ll hardly ever see him wearing an unbranded T-shirt or cap.  If you’re thinking that the brands he wears are advertising his own business, or fashionable designer labels, think again.  This pragmatic, advertising-despising man nearly always wears the loot he’s been gifted by suppliers to his business.  Why not?  It’s a perfectly good shirt/cap/sweater/jacket, and it didn’t cost him anything.

Promotional merchandise largely overcomes the don’t-bombard-me-with-annoying-advertising pitfall by attaching the advertisement to an article which is intrinsically useful to the prospective client.

2. Warm and fuzzy

“Warm and fuzzy” is not a reference to the texture of Toby’s T-shirts … well, not most of them, anyway.  Toby would grumble if you called HIM warm and fuzzy, too, but like most people, he appreciates generosity.  Scratch Toby’s back and he’ll scratch yours.  If you give him something he likes, he may like you better and be more inclined to do business with you.  If he’s already doing business with you, giving him a useful gift will remind him that he’s valuable to you, and will encourage his loyalty.

3. Memory hooks

Toby’s mind is still as sharp as it ever was, but as is true for most people, he finds it much easier to remember things he’s seen or heard multiple times.  Many promotional items meet this criteria by being reusable, but there is an added advantage to a wearable promotional item, be it shirt, cap or sweater – in addition to providing a strong memory hook for the wearer, it exposes your company to everyone the wearer comes in contact with.

4. Right on target

Cleverly distributed gifts can attract highly qualified leads to your business in a way that most other advertising techniques can’t hope to match.  Toby’s shirts, caps and pens are usually gifted to him by his potential or current equipment and materials suppliers – at trade shows, during work site visits, along with product deliveries, and via direct mail on special occasions (e.g. Christmas).  An advertising dollar stretches a lot further when it’s spent on an audience which is already comparatively interested in purchasing what you have to offer, and even further when your existing clients like you enough to gratuitously recommend you to others.

If you see the benefits in giving away promotional t-shirts in your business please get in touch with us for any help you may need with it. We’re here to make it happen as easily as possible for you so your business can reap the benefits!