Planning your advertising campaigns can get complicated. You need to stretch the dollars as far as they’ll go, but also use the most effective methods. If you want to reach more people and get remembered, choose supplementary marketing methods that go beyond Internet ads and radio or local TV spots. Promotional apparel like caps or hats top this list.
Promotional Apparel: Caps Top the List
Using promotional apparel means people see your brand and build an association with it based upon its wearer. The consist view of your brand name builds brand recognition subtly. Some apparel items like hoodies and jackets can require large budgets, but caps and hats do not number among those. There are four overarching reasons to use custom caps or hats to market and advertise your brand.
- Fashion flexibility: Promotional headwear offers terrific fashion flexibility. You can find a design for any type of niche. A gym might use a baseball cap, while a ski lodge could use a beanie or pom pom knit hat. A grocery store might use a trucker-style hat. A clothing store chain might use a fedora or knit cap. Materials vary from knit items to washed chino to cotton and more. You can have the logo screen-printed, embroidered or heat-transferred.
- Reasonable cost: While per cap costs vary by promotional manufacturer and style, caps provide one of the overall lowest costs of any promotional apparel. Some outlets offer promo caps for a little more than one dollar each while costs can go up to about $8 per cap. The huge range depends on the style, promo company and order size.
- Small batches: You can order promotional caps in small batches. Many outlets offer a minimum order of 100 pieces. That lets you buy them as you need. Many promo items require large-scale orders of thousands of pieces, but not caps. You’ll earn deeper discounts for large orders though. This lets a new business purchase a small order of caps when starting out, then create larger orders to save money once they’re in the black.
- Frequency of use: People wear caps and hats. The promotional cap you giveaway makes 3,136 lifetime impressions in the US alone. That’s the largest lifetime impressions of any promo accessory. That means your minimum order of 100 caps turns into 313,600 advertising impressions.
Design Tips
A promotional cap or hat provides you room to include your logo and a short message. The best designs do not overcrowd though. Keep any message used short and simple. Remember that people will read it as they pass by the wearer. Sporty designs can use larger logos, but a fashion or high-end brand should keep things dainty and subtle. The design, like the hat, needs to fit your niche.
Also, tailor the promotional cap to your giveaway event. If you’re mailing them to potential customers, you have an open choice on what to use, as long as it fits your niche. On the other hand, if you’re targeting people at a tradeshow or a special event, ensure your choice fits that event. The idea is to make it instantly plausible for the recipient to wear the cap. That means a ballcap at a black tie event is out. A jaunty fedora would work though. A knit cap fits opening day at a ski lift while a trucker cap would not.
Promotional caps and hats provide one of the most flexible and low cost promotional items available. Since it’s apparel and a necessity, your promo gift gets worn long after the day you give it. This frequency of use nets you numerous advertising impressions with a single purchase.
