Emotional Branding and Custom USB Drives
Branding giveaways with your logo and handing out custom USB drives to your customers are not new concepts in the world of branding and marketing. As they have stuck around for so long, they are obviously a cost-efficient way of advertising your business. Is branding a bunch of items with your company logo all this strategy is about? Well, obviously, if I am putting the question this way, the answer is "no." Read on to find out how your branding efforts can bring you a greater lead generation and, eventually, a better return on investment.
Emotional branding
In recent years, emotional branding has become the number one goal for pretty much all successful brands. There is a solid reason for that. More and more studies show that the emotional appeal of a brand is the single most efficient tool for lead generation. No, it's not the price, the quality, the characteristics of the product/service, or any other rational reasons you might point out. I am not saying people disregard all these factors when shopping for a product. I am saying that no matter how good you are at what your doing, if you lack a proper understanding of how to emotionally influence people, a great deal of your efforts might turn out to be in vain. You might think that is superficial, unfair or irrational and I am ready to agree with you. But it is the reality and you can't change it, so you may as well accept the rules it imposes.
Take the Starbucks brand, for example. Do you think that they sell the absolutely best coffee in the world? Of course not. It is not bad coffee, but you don't have to go far to find better. A lot of people do not even have coffee there, but rather a mountain of sugar and whipped cream with a hint of coffee, mostly for coloring. Still, much to the horror of coffee connoisseurs, Starbucks is the most successful coffee shop in the U.S. (and quite popular abroad) exactly because they have managed to surround their brand with an emotional atmosphere. For example, they call their stores the "third place," emphasizing that they are a cozy place where people stop in between going home and going to work.
You think I drifted too far? What do custom USB drives have to do with emotional branding? A lot. Keychains, t-shirts, pens, hats, and the usual bunch of items that business use as giveaways at events are not only impractical (how many people have you seen wearing t-shirts with the logo of a random company; and if you have seen some did you remember the name of the company?), but also quite impersonal. You invest money in your promotional gifts, so you don't want people tossing them in the most obscure corner of their house. That's why when we talk about emotional branding strategies, that should include your giveaways as well. Psychological studies show that events and objects that are emotionally saturated are more likely to stick in our brains than those that are neutral.
How can you make an item move people emotionally? Well, you don't have to make people cry with joy (although, if you succeed, do let me know how you did it), but you can always customize your gifts with your customer's emotions in mind. It shouldn't be too hard if you are already aware of your target group and the impact you want your product to have. If you are not sure, you can ask yourself a few simple questions.
Do you want your customers to feel creative, environmentally conscious, innovative, conservative? Once you answer that, the ideas will flow from there. For example, a wooden flash drive will certainly be more attractive to green people. Leather USB drives might be suitable for a more conservative audience. You are free to experiment with colors, shapes, text and size. Unleash your imagination.
Finally, if you are at a total loss what kind of emotion you should provoke, go for laughter. It always works. People appreciate wit and originality. Just don't go so far as to make something that only you and your co-workers will get.
