There’s a business strategy concept that half of all marketing dollars are wasted: it’s your job to find out which half. When we work with clients on branded merchandise campaigns, the most successful ones start with the end in mind. We help them find the actual ROI metric that matters, and which items and fulfillment strategies can make the campaign successful.

Discover your ROI with the tale of two t-shirts:

We find that the branded goods campaigns that don’t hit the mark are the ones where the ROI of the campaign has not been fully thought out, or the person executing that campaign is just doing what has always been done. One of the things that makes IDX unique in this space is our ability to advise the clients on the branded collateral campaign they are getting ready to start.

Most of our new clients have only thought about promotional products in one way: “How do I get the most amount of merchandise for the least amount of money?” But getting the most branded merchandise for the least amount of money is not always the purpose of the campaign. We like to lead the discovery conversation with what we call the tale of two t-shirts.

Incentivizing new customers:

In the first case, one of our clients is a large university who has had problems getting fans in the stands for sports games. They planned to use branded merchandise to incentivize fans to attend the next game. In their marketing, they stated the first 5,000 fans inside the stadium will get a free t-shirt.

In this case, the ROI has already been generated with the incentive and the fan is inside the stadium. So, the actual physical t-shirt is not really the priority. We selected something that’s nice enough and reflects well on the brand of the university. But it isn’t necessary to create the nicest shirt we’ve ever made. It’s about getting as many shirts as possible for their budget.

Rebranding and increasing reach:

In the second case, a marketing manager came to us while in charge of the rebrand of their organization. The goal of this campaign is to get the brand worn out in the community by the current employees. So, we needed to come up with a great apparel piece that’s going to complete with their current wardrobe.

This company isn’t necessarily looking for the least expensive apparel. They want something that their employees are going to wear out and about. We had to focus on a higher end shirt with higher quality printing.

Selecting your ROI first:

Even with something as simple as a t-shirt, there are multiple ways to generate ROI with branded goods and promotional products. That’s where we believe IDX really shines: pairing great, trending products that match the campaign goal. And if we are successful together, we are building a lasting relationship with you and your company.