6 Effective Marketing Swag Campaigns That Can Make You Money
Most people see swag as an unnecessary company expense, but it can also be an effective revenue-driving tool. As the motto says, you have to spend money to make money, right? If you are spending any type of budget on marketing to generate revenue, swag can be part of that marketing expense. The key is to ensure that the money you spend the swag on isn’t wasted and used as a tool to really generate revenue and brand awareness.
If you want to integrate swag into your marketing strategy, you've come to the right place! Here are a few ways to leverage company swag to drive more revenue for your business.
6 Effective Marketing Swag Campaigns That Can Make You Money
Open An Online Store
First, creating an online store is a great, simple way to quickly generate cash flow for your business.
More important, it's a great brand-building tactic. Companies like Floor NFT, Nasdaq, and Chipotle all have online stores where they're regularly dropping products, and they've now become synonymous with being merch companies. They utilize their branded store as part of their overall marketing strategy. Take Peloton, for example, they use branded online stores to reward users for completing a certain amount of rides. Floor NFT uses its online store to promote its brand and even promotes it heavily on social media. It works very well with brands building online communities and really wanting to create fans out of their brands! Hence generating revenue for their business.
💡 Check out how F1 races generated millions of dollars by offering a swag store!
Use Swag to Raise Money
This one is a dark horse, but it's precisely what Snopes, one of our clients, uses swag for! They have raised over 1.5 million dollars deploying this tactic. Any loyal readers that want to contribute to their articles and network of writers can donate funds in exchange for different swag packages. The more you donate the more swag you get!
You may have never thought about using swag to help raise money but it’s an effective tool to generate revenue for your business. You may or may have not noticed most charities use swag as a revenue stream. Charity campaigns are known for incentivizing you to donate in exchange for a branded t-shirt. People are more willing to donate if they are getting immediate value. When you create value for users, they are more likely to lend their time and money to you. St.Jude Children’s Hospital uses branded swag to raise money for their children's hospitals and medical research. They even utilize some famous celebrities to promote this campaign.
Incentivize Signs-Ups
If you want more email signups on your website, incentivize them!
Imagine getting an email from a company asking you to send this signup link to 5 of your friends. Would you do it without getting something in return? Probably not.
You're thinking, "what's in it for me?"
But what if you get a free, branded YETI cooler in exchange for inviting 5 friends via email. Now, we're talking!
This works both for B2B and B2C brands alike. An employee at a company isn't going to care if you give them 10% off the next order because that only benefits the company they work for. Commercial banks are known for using this strategy for getting more customers to the door. I’m sure your mailbox is flooded with getting $100 for opening a bank account with us. Sometimes they will even through in a nice branded swag gift along for the signup. It’s also a very popular marketing tactic for B2B SAss companies for booking meetings. Yes, I’m sure you’ve redeemed a Rocket Book or Amazon gift card to listen to a demo meeting. We’ve all been there and yes they probably got you to buy. Incentivized sign-ups with swag work to get more customers to the door. Providing value before the pitch is the bait to getting more customers to the door.
Referral Programs
If your company has a product or community and you're not doing referral programs, what are you waiting for!
Referrals are a great way to scale. Starting a referral program with swag can boost sales by bringing new customers, plus you are rewarding your customers for doing so. If customers are already doing this naturally, just imagine if you reward them with quality swag. This marketing strategy to generate revenue has been used by big brands like Venmo, PayPal, and Airbnb!
It would quickly increase the number of referrals, especially quality pieces with good designs!
"Buy More Get More" Marketing Campaigns
If you want to boost the number of units per sale, adding swag as an incentive can do the trick! Next time you think about running a marketing campaign to help increase the number of units you're selling, try adding swag to the mix.
This tactic works well if the promotion collaborates with other brands, so both can leverage their respective audiences for the swag giveaway. Honestly, it's fun to encourage your customers to buy a little and get more!
Sweepstakes
Looking to create a buzz or high engagement?
Running sweepstakes is another effective tool to generate revenue. These campaigns are goldmines for generating mass exposure on social media; if done right, they can even create some nice Press for your brand.
Summary and other tips 🚀
Making company swag is a great way to create buzz for your business!
Whether you're launching an online store, using swag to raise capital, dropping new campaigns, or using it for sweepstakes, there's no wrong way.
The key is to start somewhere.
Creating an online store or utilizing one of our SwagUp Redeem Pages to share with your customers is a great first step.
Want more details on how to get started? Our team of Swag Experts can help you with ensuring your swag marketing campaign is a cash cow!
Learn More About The ROI Of Swag
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