Free clothing Poll

Hi All,

I am looking to run a poll to see the feedback results, of what a NEW clothing line could offer potential new customers as a freebie to bring in the customer base and build brand awareness.

 

Thanks very much for your feedback i will take it on board. I appreciate you taking the time out to offer me advice.

 

I voted for "Hoodie" by the way. But I do want to caution you on your strategy a bit. I am not really in the retail business, but I can tell you about how I view promotional items in the B2B world. It starts with a story:

A scientific software company, after I left as head of sales/marketing, decided to do a big direct mail/telemarketing campaign in which they would highly target the prospects (phd physicists), make a really nice offer in the introductory direct mail piece, and then have the telemarketers follow up with those delivered the promotional item a few days later. The offer was a very nice gyroscope toy that would even look good on a scientist's desk and it was sort of relevant to the software offering, so the message tied in nicely. They got a tremendous response requesting the offer and were really excited that the fellow that they brought on to replace me after I left was doing so well on his first campaign. Then the telemarketers started calling and hearing, across the board, "I just wanted the gyroscope. No need or interest for your software." A couple of times, the scientists had put in their children's names on the offer request (thinking that it was a toy for kids) and the telemarketers ended up calling children at home. Bottomline, while it drove theoretically potential new customers to the company, they were simply interested in a great offer. The company did not get a single sale from the campaign, so it was a total waste.

Moral of the story: if you give out something too good, it can backfire in a big way. Most of my promotions, these days, are at trade shows and I refuse to give out thumb drives or hold contests for iPads or give away anything other than something that would only be of interest to my customers and prospects. So, for example, I tend to give out a big discount on one of my more expensive products. Only people interested in buying such a product would see any value in this prize. In fact, a serious prospect would be all over it while a typical conference prize seeker would not be interested at all.

 

Yes you raise some very viable points if anything I was planning to product a nice cheap promo item more so to raise a little brand awareness in the targeted area. I was thinking of trailing around 100 free t shirts to be honest. I understand it can have a finically negative impact on my business, I just hope that it is worth it in the long run and look at the bigger picture. You seem to be a very good marketer and I will take on board you advice. Thanks.

 

I must admit I signed up to try new relic, and if I'm honest it was more to do with the free t-shirt than the product, I have installed their software but still don't really know what it does.

However, I am now occasionally a walking billboard for them with their logo and tagline on my t-shirt. And I will remember them if I do later need their services.

A lot of companies give away pens, calendars and notebooks; stuff people use every day, that way their logo and contact details are in front of potential prospects every day.

 

Yeah this seems a very good idea thanks for the push in the right direction it was just what i needed.

Thank you

 

I like hoodies, as Jim said consider giving away items that people use on a daily basis too

 

I would be happy with anything as long as it is free. Are you looking to do some offline advertising and give away merch? If so, then you have to go with the T shirt or hat. It is the most cost effective.

 

We are hoping to only catch bonus hunters with a genuine interest in our niche, we are going with the free t shirt it will be both online and offline marketed. Thanks for you input.