Creating Branded Merchandise: 5 Things You Need To Know

Branded merchandise is a powerful marketing tool that provides instant brand recognition and generates more leads. Giving branded merchandise to potential customers is also a great way of building relationships with them.

With the number of benefits it provides, it’s easy to see why countless businesses are using branded merchandise as part of their marketing campaign. If you’re planning to do the same, you should make sure that your branded merchandise is effective and unique. You won’t reap any benefits from branded merchandise if you produce items similar to your competitors. 

Creating the best branded merchandise will come off easier if you pay attention to these tips:

1. Know Your Audience

You’re going to use your merchandise to reach and haul in more customers, so make sure you create products that are appealing to them. What’s the use of designing branded merchandise if your target audience can’t or won’t use them?

Knowing your audience is an integral part of creating branded merchandise. As a business owner, you should know who your customers are and what their common dilemmas are. Once you have this information, it’ll be easier to determine which items best fit their needs. 

For example, if your target audience is young professionals who are always on the go, creating branded power banks might be more appropriate than printed kitchenware. This allows them to remember your business as they’re using their gadgets anywhere.

2. Analyze Latest Trends

The business landscape welcomes and adapts to trends. And if you want your branded merchandise to gain traction, it’s vital that you also analyze different trends. In this way, you can determine what products are getting the attention of your target audience. 

Here are the three of the most trendy merchandise in 2021:

• Branded Clothing

You can use promotional clothing in various different ways, such as branded uniforms for workers or during an event, as giveaways for conference swag, or as personal branding for meetings and video content.

• Stress Balls

Since everyone experiences stress in their lives, stress balls are great branded merchandise. Just make sure that you pick designs suitable to your brand. For example, if you’re running a Mexican restaurant, use stress balls in the form of tacos or burritos. 

• Tote Bags

Tote bags continue to gain popularity as branded merchandise because it benefits both the business and customers. Tote bags are durable, and customers can use them whenever they go shopping. For business owners, tote bags are convenient to hand at big events, and you can also fill these with other items you want to give to your customers.

3. Look For Inspiration

Instead of rushing to create a design for your branded merchandise, opt to find some inspiration first. This is important to surprise customers and help your business to stand out. You can draw inspiration from various online stores. Check how other companies design their branded merchandise and assess if these designs appeal to their target audience. You can also benchmark your competitors’ strategies online, so you’ll know which designs work.

Since you’ll be producing physical products, don’t forget to check physical stores for inspiration as well. For example, if you’re eyeing to produce t-shirts as your branded merchandise, visit physical stores to determine the best material to use. This will also help you distinguish how certain colors look in person.

Your branded merchandise will be used, worn, and felt by your target audience, so don’t solely rely on the internet for inspiration. It’s still best if you examine the quality and appearance of the material you’re planning to use physically.

4. Stick To A Simple Design

You can add different design elements to your branded merchandise, but this doesn’t mean you should. Using too many colors and fonts will make the design look cluttered and prevent you from delivering the right message.

When it comes to designing branded merchandise, keep everything simple. Pick appropriate icons, colors, as well as font styles, and use them to a minimum. This allows your branded merchandise to have sufficient whitespace, allowing your business to deliver a clear message to your target audience.

5. Don’t Limit Your Theme

You’ll be creating branded merchandise for a specific target audience, but this doesn’t mean your theme solely focuses on their needs or wants. You want your business to be visible to other target audiences, so don’t limit or use a narrow theme.

One of the easiest ways to reach existing and new target audience is to give out more than one type of branded merchandise. For example, aside from creating power banks for your existing target audience, you can also produce customized mouse pads, smartphone stands, or flash drives. All of these are tech products that can meet the needs of different target audiences.

Create The Best Branded Merchandise For Your Business

You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to ensure that your branded merchandise brings results. The process only requires deeper understanding of your target audience, careful planning, and a lot of creativity. Once you’ve ticked these off of your list, you can eventually create branded merchandise that can catapult your business to long-term success!