BLOG VIEW: I attended the recent Mortgage Bankers Association Secondary Market Conference, and I returned from that event with a score of new contacts, wider insight into the current state of origination and securitization, a number of great ideas for potential articles for Secondary Marketing Executive and MortgageOrb�and a Mr. Potato Head doll.
How did Mr. Potato Head get into a secondary marketing conference? Well, this beloved product was offered as a promotional giveaway item in the conference exhibit hall by Security Connections Inc. I currently have my Mr. Potato Head positioned next to my computer monitor, and its incongruous presence gives me reason to grin while I am at work – not just because Mr. Potato Head is a wonderfully loopy product that I've enjoyed since childhood, but because giving this particular promotional gift was a stroke of marketing genius.
Promotional gifts have always been something of a hit-or-miss concept, and it can be difficult for a company to come up with the right item that is both original and relevant – especially in the financial services world. Security Connections Inc. had no trouble with the originality part, and they also deserve kudos for the relevance of the item: The company is based in Idaho, and everyone knows the most famous crop to come out of Idaho!
Promotional items often serve a wonderfully stealthy purpose in keeping your corporate brand in front of current and potential clients. Whether you are promoting your company at a trade conference, hosting a seminar or dealing with individuals coming into your branches or offices, it can help to have imaginative and useful promotional items that will take your message and your name out into the world.
Of course, not every promotional item will achieve that purpose. The most ubiquitous promotional items being distributed are pens. But unless you are willing to spend a good deal of money on very fancy pens, it might be better to bypass this item. After all, pens have a nasty habit of running out of ink, leaking or breaking – often when are you in the middle of trying to write down something of great importance. Really, would you want your corporate name and logo on an instrument with a track record of creating abrupt inconveniences?
T-shirts are also somewhat problematic. One friend of mine received some promotional t-shirts from a well-known Fortune 500 company within the financial services world, but he found the quality of the merchandise so tacky that he never wore them. But it wasn't a total loss – he used the cheapo t-shirts to wash and wax his automobile.
One might imagine that snack food might be an adequate promotional item. But in my case, I should not be consuming sugary goodies. Yes, I could probably pass it along to someone with a less discriminating appetite – but the purpose of a promotional item is for the recipient to hold onto it. Thus, the marketing message has been immediately jettisoned once I hand it off to someone else – or, as I usually do in the case of excessively sweet candies, throw them out.
Of course, going to an esoteric extreme with promotional gifts presents its own brand of problems. Years ago, when I was working for the American Bankers Association's monthly magazine, some company sent a fencing foil to our office as a promotional gift. To this day, I cannot see the logic behind that presentation – although my boss at the time had an afternoon's worth of fun running about the office while swinging the foil as if he were Errol Flynn's Robin Hood.
Of course, promotional gifts are not a requirement of business operations. And, quite frankly, no number of promotional items will replace a high standard of professionalism. Clients will mostly remember your company by its commitment to quality. Ultimately, that is the best gift you can give to your business partners and customers.
– Phil Hall, editor, Secondary Marketing Executive
(Please address all comments regarding this opinion column to hallp@sme-online.com.)
(Photograph courtesy of Hasbro)
