Using surveys and promotionals to improve your marketing

To further your marketing you may have decided to use surveys and promotional items.Yet if you do not use these items correctly and effectively they can simply be a drain on your marketing budget instead of furthering your marketing objectives. Yet with a little thought and careful planning you can use surveys and promotional items to improve your marketing and make your product or service even more profitable.Here is what you need to know about using surveys and promotionals to improve your marketing-

• So, you are now at the point where you have selected the perfect giveaway item for your marketing campaign.Yet the question remains-How will you get these prized items into the hands of your target market? How will you know if the recipients took the desired action after receiving the item?How will you know if your target market thought the item was a marvelous gift or a complete flop?Basically, how will you measure the success of your promotional item? The bottom line for this is that if you give the items away without obtaining information on whether they served their intended purpose, you miss valuable opportunities.You will miss out on opportunities to interact with your customers, and you miss out on opportunities to know what works and what does not. If you do not have a plan these wonderful giveaways that you have chosen may remain in the warehouse collecting dust. Or even worse they may be given at random to the wrong people, at the wrong time and really miss the mark. If this happens you will never receive a return on your investment or realize their true power.


• It is crucial that you decide on a plan for distribution, determine a way to gather and measure results and learn from the information you receive. Will participants receive giveaways after they perform a specific task (like completing a survey or sitting through an entire event) or will the items be mailed directly to your target market?What action do you want your potential customers to take once they receive your item? Will there be supplemental information that accompanies the item or will it stand alone?Will the promotional items be placed in a central location for self service, or will they be given as part of a package? If the promotional item is an award or recognition, will there be a presentation ceremony?


• During the distribution process you will want to gather information that will help you measure success.Some of these ideas include using interviews and/or surveys that will measure output, or improvement in a behavior or activity.After your campaign is over you should be able to answer some basic questions that will help you the next time you plan a promotional item giveaway.Did the campaign help you meet or exceed your goals? What worked really well? What can be improved for the next time?When will you see results, over time or immediately? How will you keep the sales momentum going?A survey can help you to clarify all of these points.


• It is important to note that distribution and packaging can make or break your promotion. Effective distribution and follow up (such as surveys) can provide valuable feedback as to the success of your promotion and result in an improvement in the relationship between you and your customers. The savvy business owner will also make sure that the marketing planning allows for the best and worse case scenarios.It is important that you brainstorm things that can go wrong and create a back up plan for major issues. And lastly be sure to be flexible when using promotional items and surveys in order to head off as many negative scenarios as possible and you will score big points with your target market.