Bob’s Burgers Are the Best!?

If all of Bob’s marketing is built on his product being the best but you see him in the drive thru at Betty’s Burgers - you might begin to wonder if Bob’s claims are true.

When you stop behind a city bus and the extra large billboard ad says “ZXY-TV is the leading way to reach customers”, does something feel a bit strange?

Cross media advertising is always going to create a credibility gap in messaging for competitive media. Even if you think that you sell Promotional Products, your customer is investing in message delivery with an expectation of business growth as a result. Bob might convince you that he was just checking out the competition, but the ZXY-TV claim to advertising superiority just won’t have a positive impact when using transit advertising as the marketing media.

When the same media is used to promote their own business, the impact can be considerable. The same transit ad space that teases “Caught You Reading Transit Advertising Again” is regularly used to sell more ad space. The roadside billboard that boasts “This Message Will Be Read By 50,000 Drivers Every Day” gets lots of attention and sales for the outdoor media. 

Looking at our wonderful, unique and effective promotional products media however, I find distributors running ads in local shoppers, using direct mail, some of the largest distributors using broadcast (TV and radio) and non-stop email marketing. All have compelling messages expounding why promotional products media is effective and economical and beats all others - except - we don’t use it ourselves! Do you see the problem?

When I ask why work to do what everyone else is doing? The answers I get usually are based on the brief that it is working for competitors. Using a term that is popular in politics - distributors are in an echo chamber. 

When someone decides to be creative using OUR media and proactive, reaching out to existing clients and prospects, the results speak for themselves. I worked with a distributor last year with a promotion that utilized email, direct mail and a mainstay of our industry. Starting with an email offering “Free Advertising For A Full Year” and a way to request a free sample, the email described how for a one time investment in calendar advertising, they get a full year of advertising. Requesting a sample also allowed clients to register to receive free gifts each quarter.

The reaction from the distributor’s clients was almost without exception, that they had never thought about it (calendar advertising) that way. The distributor is planning to use the same approach for the 2026 calendar sales promotion based on the success this past year.

Obviously using competitive media (email, direct mail) in this case demonstrates how it can be done without credibility issues. When the message does not use any exclusionary comment (we are the best, etc.) and promotes a specific program, the media that delivered the initial message is of little importance.

Ironically, many competitive media use promotional products to promote themselves! For example, broadcast media is involved in all kinds of sponsorships, many of which use tee shirts. Their reporters are in logoed jackets and hats. TV news desks often have a logoed coffee mug on camera. 

The near universal use of promotional products with competitive media is a strong marketing fact to mention to your clients. It is proof positive that promotional products are mainstream message delivery that is much more economical coming from you than the “middle man” competing media. That is unless you happen to be the one supplying your competitor with the promotional products they are using for self promotion!