Phillip Rooke, CMO at Spreadshirt says....The rise of social networking sites and the current success of social media marketing campaigns emphasise what social creatures we all are. In this new and exciting world, traditional marketing tools such as apparel continue to play a role but also in interesting and innovative ways.
In the past, brands often gave little thought to their promotional merchandise, buying in bulk and missing the opportunity to effectively integrate it into their overall marketing campaigns or social media strategies. However, the days of stress balls and naff hats with a simple company logo are finally being left behind, together with the practice of relegating promotional merchandise to the most un-strategic part of marketing campaigns. Apparel marketing is having a 21st century makeover. Customisation is now king.
Tying social media marketing campaigns in with personalised or customised apparel can completely change its impact. Brand champions need rewarding with something they want to keep, something they’ve had a hand in creating. New technologies make it easy to offer customisation possibilities. For brands, this is a new and great opportunity to have customers express their ideas and for businesses to develop a two-way communication process with their customers.
Brands can bond with their advocates through t-shirts. This process needs to be seen not only as a money making tool, but an investment in customer relationships.
With marketing teams focused on social media as one of the main forms of communicating with customers and brand advocates, the medium has changed the way we view customer engagement; it’s all about online interaction. But brands want to remain top of mind after the customer has logged off.
Combining social media with apparel can offer an interactive online experience with tangibles that can continue to impress your customer even when they’re not logged on.
