Rebecca Binny from RayCo Media talks about her recent promotional products project where she purchased some beach towels for an event in Miami.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hi, I’m Rebecca Binny of Rayco Media. We are a full service web 3.0 marketing and PR agency based in sunny Los Angeles, California.
What type of promotional products did you order? Do you have a favorite or “go to” promo item for you or your clients?
So Rayco Media regularly orders promotional products, not just for ourselves, but we do make recommendations for our clients whenever they have events or functions. One of the most interesting ones recently was actually for the Bitcoin conference, our clients in the crypto industry and because it was in Miami we actually ordered beach towels, which are very big and bulky, something that we had to consider when placing that order. But it was a fun gift and completely different from the regular pens or mugs, our go-to item would normally be a mug or a nice bottle of wine from a certain vineyard. This time, we tried to steer away from the norm and went for beach towels instead.
How do you envision these promotional products to help your clients achieve their goals?
So as much as many people don’t want to take any more plastic home, there is something that happens, a little magic when you hand someone a small little branded gift during a conference. Whether they use it or not is somewhat irrelevant when it comes to promotional items. It is more the fact that you thought about them and you thought they might need something or it might help them in some way. But also more importantly is you never know where that branded pen or that tag could travel. So promotional products not really a dead industry, it’s still about spreading the name and also as a conversation starter.
What was your method in searching for your promotional product?
The towels we needed for this Bitcoin conference were a little bit tricky to get. A lot of the regular brands or services that provide promotional items don’t always carry towels or the shipping would be highly expensive to get into Miami. So a little bit of research was done on Google or a Bing and eventually we had to really narrow it down to just the providers who offered the items we needed, such as the towels or the sunglasses. We also looked for companies that would offer samples because you would never know how your logo your logo would turn out on the towel. We paid for the samples and it was important that they could have a quick turnaround and meet the delivery date that we had.
Did you find the promotional products you were looking for? What other challenges did you encounter?
No, this was actually not that easy. If it was a pen or a t-shirt, it would have been simple and that’s what most people do. I think t-shirts had become quite a regular commodity. I went to the Traffic Summit in San Diego just a week ago and everybody had a t-shirt. For our client, we did have to find somebody who could print on beach towels which was kind of tricky. And then we wanted sunglasses to go with it. It was definitely a challenge. However, I think at RayCo we definitely stand up for the challenge and we do set ourselves apart from the rest. We thought this was a bright idea, and our clients actually enjoyed quite a bit of publicity through this.
How did you make the decision on this promotional products for the project?
It’s Miami! So we definitely want the beach towels and sunglasses for the sun. We’d want people to be able to enjoy yourself after the conference and not be stuck indoors. The decision was made based on the location and the fact that our client is a young fun company.
Tell us about the result of the project. Are you happy with the outcome on your ROI? Do you feel that you have achieved your goals with these products?
So this set of promotional items were a little bit different. We had free promotional items at the booth, which include the tags that hold your wires together. The promotional beach towels were for VIPs, who had to complete a challenge. We were very, very happy with the outcome. Again, the shipping and stocking them at the booth were a challenge. However I think overall when you have premium items like a hydro flask or wine glass, they tend to make more of a difference and make more impact than the common promotional products like pens or t-shirts or caps. Always consider the target audience and whether they would appreciate what you’re giving out.
What advice would you like to share with people who are interested to order promotional products?
I think it’s important to plan ahead, compare suppliers, not just go for the first one you find, and give yourself enough time. Things can happen, shipping gets delayed, especially a lot of these items don’t come from the United States. Stick to what promotes the values of the company and the image that you want to give to people. Most importantly, how do you want them to think of you?
