Discover the basics of promotional products
Here you can find out a little more about promotional products and how they work.
Who is APPA?
Action Australia is a proud member of the Australasian Promotional Product Association (APPA). more
A Brief History
Today, promotional products can be found everywhere, but it hasn't always been that way. more
Benefits of Promotional Products
This article looks at what promotional products are and how they can be used to benefit your business. more
Cost Effectiveness of Promotional Products
Did you know that promotional products have been proven to be the most cost effective form of advertising there is? more
Effective Promotions
For a promotional campaign to work for your business it is important to get these four steps right. more
Manufacturing
The big question when it comes to manufacturing is whether to manufacture locally or offshore. more
Printing
Here we outline some of the common printing methods that can be used to get your message across. more
Colour
To make sure we can match the colours you want, we use the industry standard colour matching chart. more
Affiliate Websites
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Who is APPA?
Your assurance of quality and capability
Action Australia is a proud member of the Australasian Promotional Product Association (APPA), the only professional trade association specifically for the promotional products and promotional marketing industry in the Australasian region.
APPA promotes professionalism, ethics and communication throughout the promotional industry. APPA members are on the cutting edge of the industry and continuously out-shine non-APPA members in the creation of some of the best promotional campaigns, and most innovative products supplied in the Australasian region.
As an APPA member you can be assured that Action Australia:
- Achieves high ethical and professional standards
- Offers high quality products and creativity
- Stays up-to-date with the latest innovations in promotions through educational programs
- Has achieved the benchmark of excellence in the supply of promotional products
- Has access to the latest industry research on the effectiveness of promotional products and other useful topics
- Can source from a wide range of promotional products
For more information visit www.appa.com.au or contact us.
A Brief History
How gifts and advertising got together
Today promotional products are everywhere – on fridges, in pockets, on people’s heads and on desks – but it hasn’t always been that way.
In 1878, Jasper Meeks invested his savings in a weekly newspaper in Ohio. To keep the business going he was always on the lookout for ways to make extra money by doing printing jobs in between his newspaper editions.
The story goes, after seeing a young boy drop his school books in the dirt, Meek came up with the idea for one of the earliest promotional products… book bags. The book bags would have advertising on them for store owners to give to their customers. These advertisements would then be carried by children all around town. The first store to come on board was Cantwell's Shoe Store, and others quickly followed suit.
The idea of combining advertising with a useful gift became a reality, leading to the multi-billion dollar promotional products industry we have today.
Although promotional products did exist before this time, Meek’s idea was considered the first true application of promotional marketing because it brought together all elements of the strategy.
- Create a useful product printed with an advertising method – the book bag
- Identify a target market for people who use the product – school children
- Find a willing distribution channel for the product – handing them out free with shoe sales
This simple strategy is still the foundation of the promotional products industry to this day. Why? Because it still works so powerfully!
Benefits of Promotional Products
How promotional products can help your business?
Promotional products are items used to promote a product or service, usually containing a logo and/or an advertising message.
They can be used as business gifts, at trade shows, for corporate communications, as part of employee incentive programs, as a thank you, for new product launches, as internal education, tools to promote brand awareness and brand loyalty, for fundraising and public awareness campaigns.
Because promotional products can be used alone or integrated with other media and advertising strategies, there are endless ways to use them. The benefits of using promotional products include:
- Increasing brand awareness and brand loyalty
- Creating a positive image of your product or business which can lead to increased sales
- Repeat advertising – because promotional products are tangible and often long lasting, they can be retained and used repeatedly, so the imprinted message is seen many times without additional cost
- Targeted marketing – through the use of promotional products your message can be delivered to a well defined audience
- When used as part of a company incentive program, promotional products can improve employee morale, inspire your team and reward your staff
- When used at a trade show, promotional products can increase traffic to your stand
- When used as part of a direct mail campaign, promotional products can increase the response rate
Browse our product categories to see the range of products available.
Cost Effectiveness of Promotional Products
Did you realise that Promotional Products are about the most cost effective form of marketing and advertising there is?
If you are one of the many marketing professionals today dealing with reduced budgets, but still expected to achieve the same results then you need to read on.
In a recent study conducted by the Adertising Specialties Institiute in the USA the following facts were ascertained as to the cost per impression of various forms of advertising media.
- Prime time TV - $0.019
- Syndicated TV - $0.006
- Cable TV - $0.007
- National Magazines - $0.033
- Sports Radio - $0.005
- Newspaper Ads - $0.019
- Billboards - $0.003
- Promotional Products - $0.004 (average)
Breaking promotional products down further the following results were found;
- Caps - $0.002
- Bags - $0.002
- Pens - $0.002
- Calendars - $0.003
- Desk & Office - $0.007
So if you are struggling to achieve the same brand impact this year with a reduced budget then there has never been a better time to consider Promotional Products as part of your marketing mix.
For help in organising a high impact promtional campaign that is cost effective and ROI assured, speak with the Action team, we would be thrilled to help. After all, at Action we are dedicated to finding the way, making it happen and building your brand.
Effective Promotions
Four steps to an effective promotional campaign
There is an endless variety of promotional products available on the market today, and if you can’t find anything to suit your needs, you can even custom make your own. From calendars to clothes, and watches to desk accessories, you are only limited by your imagination.
However, for a promotional campaign to work effectively for your business it is important to get all the steps in the process right. There’s more to it than sticking a logo on a mug.
- Define your objectives
What are the business objectives you need to achieve? It could be increasing brand recall, driving sales leads, boosting loyalty from key clients or motivating staff. This will influence the type of product, budget requirements and distribution strategies.
- Reach your target audience
It is important to firstly identify who you are trying to influence and then develop a method for distributing your product directly to this audience in the most impactful way. This can be simple in the case of existing clients but more complex when targeting prospects.
- Develop a theme
The next step is to develop an underlying theme for your promotion that ideally ties together your brand attributes, the benefit of your product and the interests of your target audience. When your item is supported by a creative concept it becomes memorable and effective.
- Select your products
Once you’ve defined your objectives, target audience and theme, it is then time to select the promotional products that will achieve your goals. Practical considerations to keep in mind when selecting a product are durability, quality and ease of distribution.
By combining business basics, creative thinking and practical knowhow, promotional product campaigns can be amongst the most cost effective and long-lasting forms of advertising.
To see examples of promotional products in action, visit our case studies section.
Manufacturing
A world of options
The one big question when it comes to manufacturing promotional products is whether to manufacture locally or offshore. The answer is: it depends.
Offshore is generally lower cost
If you have got reasonable lead times at your disposal and high volumes of products to manufacture, then offshore production is usually recommended. You can design whatever you like and produce high quality items more cost effectively than producing locally.
Local is generally faster
If you’re in a hurry or you require small quantities, then local production is probably best. There are plenty of high quality local designers and producers that can turn around even high volumes faster than offshore producers.
The other question is whether to buy off-the-shelf products or create your own. Again, this varies according to your needs but in most cases you can find and customise existing items that are similar to what you had in mind. For unique or one-off ideas, then designing from scratch is quite feasible.
Action Australia partners with leading local and global importers, manufacturers and suppliers of corporate merchandise, promotional products, clothing, gifts and souvenirs. With access to factories in Australia, South East Asia, Europe & the Sub Continent we can service custom production, and can handle both small and large orders.
Action Australia offers a complete custom manufacturing service.
Printing
Getting your message across
There are several different printing methods that can be used, depending on the type of material you are working with. Some of the common methods are outlined below.
- Screen printing - this involves pressing ink through a fine mesh screen leaving an imprint on the surface of the material. This method can be used for t-shirts and bags as well as plastic, leather, metal and wood, in fact most flat surfaces. However depending on the material, there may be limitations around reproducing fine details.
- Pad printing – this involves using a silicone pad to lift a design off a printing plate with an image etched into the surface and transferring the image to the item to be imprinted. It works well for imprinting small, unusually-shaped items such as golf balls and pens.
- Digital transfer – this involves printing ink on a material, for example photo transfer paper, then transferring this to the surface of another material using heat and pressure. This process works well on cotton, canvas and polyester products, and can be used when the image being transferred is too intricate for screen printing.
- Laser engraving – this process involves engraving (or burning) an image onto a material using a laser beam. This process can be used on metal objects as well as wood, glass and plastic. It is commonly used for key rings and pens.
- Embossing – this involves pressing a logo or design into the surface of a material, causing a depressed imprint. This method is commonly used on leather or vinyl products.
- Etching – the process of creating a design on a surface by using strong acid that attacks the exposed metal. This method is useful when you need to reproduce very fine lines.
- Embroidery - the logo or design is sewn or woven onto a material using computer controlled sewing machines and tightly-stitched thread. This method is perfect when branding textile products such as caps, shirts and other clothing.
We can advise you on the best methods, for more information contact us.
Colour
Colours aren’t always colours
When it comes to promotional products, colour plays a very important role. To make sure we can match colours and you get the colour you really want, we use the industry standard colour matching system called Pantone® Matching System Color Chart to assist with colour selection.
By assigning specific numbers to every colour we don’t have to guess the difference between pink, rose and light red!
Review the Pantone® colour chart
WARNING: the colour charts displayed or referred to on this site are to be used as a guide only.
THE ACTUAL COLOURS WILL DIFFER based on the quality and settings of your computer monitor.
Action Australia uses the physical Pantone solid to process coated guide as an accurate reference to PMS and CMYK colours.
Affiliate Websites
For additional product ideas choose from the Products Page on left hand menu or search through our affiliates web sites.
Clothing, Caps & hats and Sportswear.
www.james-harvest.com.au
Sportswear, Business
www.johnnybobbin.com
Apparel
www.bluewhale.com.au
Apparel, Calico bags
www.stencil.net.au
Apparel
www.corporateuniforms.co.nz
T-Shirts, polo's, shirts, jackets
www.essentialscollection.biz
Apparel, headwear and luggage
www.epiclegend.com.au
Huge range of caps, bucket hats, beanies, sports bags, conference bags and jackets
www.beseenclothing.com
Apparel
www.gearforlife.net
Apparel, headwear and luggage
www.auspirit.com
T-shirts, polos, business shirts jackets and much more
www.gracecollection.com.au
Caps, bags and other promotional items
www.orso.biz
Full range of products
www.premiercollection.com.au
Full range of products
Novelty Items and Lanyards
www.logoline.com.au
Promotional products. Novelty items
www.globalcatalogue.com
Pens, promotional and corporate gifts. Clocks, thermo mugs, desk accessories
www.lastingimpressionscollection.com.au
Novelty, Corporate gifts
www.gracecollection.com.au
Caps, bags and other promotional items
www.orso.biz
Full range of products
www.premiercollection.com.au
Full range of products
Pens, Cups, Mugs and Bags.
www.globalcatalogue.com
Pens, promotional and corporate gifts. Clocks, thermo mugs, desk accessories
www.promobagsonline.com
BAGS BAGS BAGS, Promotional, sports bags, conference bags
www.epiclegend.com.au
Huge range of caps, bucket hats, beanies, sports bags, conference bags and jackets
www.gracecollection.com.au
Caps, bags and other promotional items
www.acrobag.com.au
Compendiums and bags
www.boa.com.au
Water Bottles
www.orso.biz
Full range of products
www.premiercollection.com.au
Full range of products
Business, Executive Gifts and Luggage.
www.essentialscollection.biz
Apparel, headwear and luggage
www.gearforlife.net
Apparel, headwear and luggage
www.thenewrange.com
Keyrings, desk accessories, lifestyle products
www.imagecollection.com.au
Cool shiny stuff!
www.lastingimpressionscollection.com.au
Novelty, Corporate gifts
www.orso.biz
Full range of products
www.premiercollection.com.au
Full range of products
www.hotwatch.com.au
Watches, clocks, calculators
