Your online company store is much more than just a streamlined platform where employees (or customers) can buy branded merchandise. It can serve as an essential resource center that you tap into to build your business and brand. Check out seven unique uses of an online company store that let you combine creativity with your high-quality merchandise for results.
1. New Hire Packages
Attracting and retaining good talent can be a challenge, but it can be conquered by belief in your brand. One way to jumpstart employee loyalty from the get-go is with new hire packages that make them feel welcomed and excited to join your team. Stock your new hire packages with items they’ll actually use and wear, such as branded gadgets, T-shirts and desk items.
2. Giveaways to Remember
Skip the cheap pens and other giveaways that are either overdone or useless. Instead, focus your energies on creating giveaways that wow the crowd. Cool tech items can be a hit, as can items like duffel bags, totes, eco-friendly water bottles and higher-end pens.
The key is to choose high-quality, well-designed items people would be proud to own and eager to use. The more they use them, the more exposure your brand gets.
3. Care Packages at Conferences
Conferences are prime opportunities to distribute branded merchandise, and everyone knows it. Rather than following the rest of the crowd by blindly handing out more pens or stress balls, create conference care packages stocked with items attendees will most appreciate.
Conference attendees are on their feet all day, and they’re often far from home. Create a branded care package containing items they can use while on the road. These could include things like a notepad, a travel mug, water bottle or even USB drives.
4. Business Card Alternatives
Business cards are a staple, but they’re also often thrown in a drawer and forgotten. Give your contacts a more visible and useful way to remember your company with creative alternatives. Instead of handing out business cards, try bookmarks, magnets or letter openers. These items can still feature the same company info you’d put on your business card, but they’re much more likely to be regularly used and viewed.
5. Incentives for Signing Up
Branded merchandise is an ideal incentive to get people to sign up for your mailing list, newsletters or other lists and activities. That’s because even small giveaways can instill the need to reciprocate. Invite people to sign up for whatever you’re offering to receive one of your mousepads, dashboard sticky pads or other branded gift.
6. Nurturing Tools for Leads and Prospects
Super-charge your lead nurturing process by using branded merchandise along key points of their buying journey. Start with smaller items to attract leads your way, then move up the scale to more valuable items as they move closer to the sale.
You’ll again want to stick with high-quality items that are useful to your potential customers, perhaps items that can help ease some of their pain points or related to your industry.
7. Thank You Gifts
Thanking new or recurring customers with branded gifts can boost your business in several ways. The gifts reinforce how much you appreciate them, reward them for choosing you, and strengthen their belief in your brand. You can base the value of the items on how much the customer spent, with a variety of branded merchandise you gift at specific price points.
You can let customers know about the gifts to use an incentive, or offer them as a surprise. Either way, customers are likely to remember how good it feels to do business with you.
See Also: Gift Codes for Online Company Stores
Whether you use your online company store for one, three or all of these unique ideas, you’ll be putting your store to great use. You’ll quickly see the value of having an online company store stocked with an array of quality merchandise you can use to improve your business again and again.
