Custom merchandise is not just a tool; it’s a source of empowerment for businesses. By imprinting your brand on merchandise distributed to employees, customers, or the public, you seize control of your marketing efforts and amplify your brand’s subtle and physical presence on items people can use or display.
Branded merchandise is not just a marketing tool; it’s a potent revenue booster. In addition to its value for customer retention, brand awareness, reputation, and even employee morale, it has the potential to significantly increase your bottom line, giving you a reason to be optimistic about your business’s financial future.
However, when it comes to perfecting your branding merchandise, there are some things you need to keep in mind to achieve the impact you’re looking for.
Suitable Products
Choosing the right branded items is crucial. They should align with your brand, your industry, and the recipient’s needs. While logo-emblazoned t-shirts and stickers can be effective for general events, a more targeted impact requires a careful selection of merchandise.
Consider the context when adding your branding to merchandise. For instance, if you’re sponsoring a local football team, adding your branding to their equipment, kit, and end-of-season Football trophies can be impactful. On the other hand, if you’re sponsoring a corporate event, items like hats, t-shirts, custom socks, pens, mugs, reusable cups, and notepads might be a better fit. Ensure your branded products enhance your brand and provide context and relevance.
Create a Theme
Creating a theme when adding your branding to merchandise can be a great idea. Don’t be tempted to keep changing the design; instead, come up with a theme that is recognizable for your brand and becomes synonymous with you. After all, if you have too much going on and different designs, people won’t be able to associate them with you for easy recognition.
When it comes to creating a theme, you need to use relevant colors for your branding, such as your logo and a tagline if you have one. You want to create an image in people’s heads and ensure that all your branded items play into this image. If you are a camping goods supplier, your brand needs to create a theme designed to promote camping; if you are a community outreach center, your theme will be support and help. Tie your theme with your existing branding and company ethos for added effect.
Keep it Simple
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel here; you need to keep it simple. Go for tried-and-true merchandise offerings and rules regarding adding logos and branding. Stick to your branded colors. Don’t overcomplicate the design or over-pollute the message. Ensure it is clean, clear, simple, but effective. Again, you want to be effective yet relatable. The more complex your design or product offerings are, the less of an impact will be made.
Consider Your Audience
Your audience is not just a passive recipient of your branded merchandise; they are an integral part of the branding process. Their preferences and needs should dictate the messaging you put out and the products you use for maximum effect with branded merch aids. This consideration makes them feel valued and integral to your branding strategy.
If your products are for employees only, then what you choose to brand, like uniforms, key fobs, lanyards, and safety equipment, will need to be geared towards creating a uniform impression and aesthetic for your team and the company image. At the same time, customer merchandise for the general public or for your customers will look a lot different. The audience you’re catering to, the demographics, and your industry and services are the backbone of good marketing and effective branding, so always make your choices carefully with the recipients in mind.
Be Consistent
Your logo and branding colors and design need to be as consistent as possible across all of your branded products. In a similar way to creating a theme, you need to ensure that your design looks good on all products you’re applying it to, so you don’t need to keep changing things up. Assess your logo and fonts on different products and sizes to ensure they look good. This can help you rule out certain products, or it might cause you to rethink what you are adding to your logo. However, you need to be cautious and confident that your design is consistent to help form that all-important brand recognition.
There is much to consider when using branded merch to support your marketing, brand visibility, and reputation. These tips can help you ensure you hit the nail on the head and that your branding efforts are just an expensive waste of money and resources.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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