Swag Success Tips: How to Improve Your Swag with Public Data

Swag - a collection of promotional products or merchandise imprinted with a particular company's name, logo, or message - is meant to increase brand awareness among consumers. It’s also a powerful marketing tool, especially if targeted. Swag marketing can help you stand out from the noise. It’s also a great way for your employees and customers to interact with your brand on a physical level.

Why The Best Swag Is Targeted

It doesn't matter whether you are running a start-up or are looking to rebrand your company; spending on branded merchandise can push your company to new frontiers.

Using targeted swags can have numerous advantages for your company. Here are some of the reasons why it’s important to use more targeted swags:

1. It will help build brand recognition

One of the reasons why targeting a particular group of people is effective in any marketing strategy is that it can put your business in front of a new crowd of potential customers.

Choosing a promotional item or swag that relates to your target market is important. Whenever you choose something that relates closely with your target audience, it becomes a tool for increasing your brand's recognition.

You can also use an online public data lookup tool to give you information on your potential customers.

2. Targeted swags make your brand stand out.

Swag is visually appealing. It’s a great tool for creating a strong first impression. This strong first impression can even be greater if the swag or promotional item is targeted at a particular group of people. This is important because it helps your brand stand out from all others, thus giving you an edge.

3. It's cost-effective

Without targeting a particular group of individuals, you end up advertising to an entire population, which can be quite costly. You end up investing a lot of time in reaching people that are unlikely to buy from you. Targeted swags have the opposite effect, while reducing your marketing costs.

4. It promotes customer loyalty and retention

Branded products or swags promote customer retention and loyalty. This is especially true for targeted swags because people generally love receiving gifts. Using targeted swags, you can reach a potential customer who really finds your branded product useful.

Regardless of how small they are, they will gladly accept such items and be motivated to be loyal to your brand. According to Sageworld, 89% of consumers can recall an advertiser even 2 years after receiving a promotional product.

5. It can help you generate new leads

Targeted swag items can help you generate new leads since they enable you to reach a specific group of individuals who may not yet be exposed to your brand. It's like handing out your business card; only it's better and much more effective.

How Public Data Can Help 10x Your Swag

Public data refers to information you can freely discover and that is available to the public, often including records related to actions that different government offices and agencies manage. For example, applications, memos, voting records, and court records. As the name suggests, these are usually available to members of the public in some shape or form.

Public information can be useful in helping you personalize your swag to specific audiences and cater to their interests and hobbies in a sincere gesture. They also help you pinpoint potential customers whom you may not yet have reached.

Time is valuable, and when you’re using swag for marketing, you don’t want to launch without first doing your homework. A people lookup tool can help you find useful information about potential customers you are preparing swags for in order to make them more personalized and effective. 

Whether you’re preparing swag for your internal team or for a potential customer segment, doing a little digging first can mean the difference between a swag homerun and a waste of money. Here are a few key area and situations where public data can help you craft your swag for a better personalized experience:

1. Completing a Certification / Obtaining a Professional License

Public information can help you find out information on people who are new to a certain profession. Often you’ll find this information on court records for applications of licenses or using a people lookup tool. Based on the information you obtain, you can create relevant and targeted swags. 

Examples include branded congratulation mugs, branded notebooks, pens, and branded wall clocks to liven their new offices.

2. Major Life Milestones

From marriage to having children, the big milestones in life are without a doubt an important event in people’s lives. And seeing the human first in your employees and customers is the key to creating great swag. In fact, some of the coolest swag packs and swag project ideas out there are all about celebrating new parents with baby swag packs and sending congratulatory housewarming swag gifts.

Personalized swag for major life milestones might just be the easiest way to convert potential leads to active and loyal champions of your brand. These can be anything from branded “just married” swag buttons to new parent t-shirts, extra large coffee mugs, family swag, and more.

Using publicly available information, you can even curate swags that appeal to children, such as toys, certain pieces of clothing, and much more. This will help you reach a target audience that you otherwise wouldn't have reached with just normal swag marketing.

3. Vehicle Titles and Hobby Licenses

From vintage cars to electric motorcycles and even a boat title, public information can help you figure out what kind of swag your audience would absolutely rave about. Some popular hobbies like fishing even require a license. If, for example, you discover a particular recipient is a big fan of sports cars, you can then create swag that will appeal to drivers. These can be anything from branded car stickers to miniature cars.

Other Ways to Make Your Swags More Personalized

1. Social Media

People post a lot of information about themselves on online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. A deep dive into these platforms will help you know the preferences and interests of certain individuals.

This will then help you create swags based on these interests and preferences. This will effectively result in leads that grow loyal to your brand.

2. Google search

Google search is the number one source of information worldwide. You’d be surprised at just how much information you can get on Google just by searching someone’s name.

You can find a wealth of information, for example, about people who live in a certain location, work in a certain location, and so forth.

If you combine this information, you can create highly personalized swags, and expand your brand awareness. The information on Google search can be an essential tool for any marketer or advertiser.

3. Niche search engines

Niche search engines are search engines that are designed to find very specific types of information. You can use them to unearth information you didn’t know existed. A handful of popular search engines do a good job at locating the information you search for. However, they don't always find what you are after.

This is where niche search engines come in. For example, you can find search engines that can help you find, communicate, and keep in touch with prospective customers while at the same time giving you information about them you may not find anywhere else.

This information can be crucial in helping you create swags that are more personalized.

Swags really are an easy and cost-effective way of boosting brand awareness. If you target your swags, making them simple and immediately useful to prospective customers, your brand awareness can grow significantly.