Avoiding The Tchotchke Trap
Avoiding The Tchotchke Trap
In the rare circumstances when promotional product marketing crosses the border to become tchotchke marketing it is important for any business to understand the life of their promotional product. Let’s face it not all giveaways are appreciated by their intended audience. Especially during large events like seminars trade shows and conferences what companies give away as part of their promotional activities can sometimes end up in a dark corner collecting dust or even worse the trash bin. This is when your promotional product ends up as a tchotchke a useless trinket.
What is a tchotchke?
The word tchotchke is taken from the Yiddish term tshatshke which in turn is derived from czaczko an obsolete Polish word for toys knickknacks or ornaments. In modern Yiddish usage it is often associated with a worthless tacky or disposable item. Of late it has been used to refer to items given out during trade shows. The correlation between the original derogatory term is still present though to a lesser extent.
The key to escaping the tchotchke trap
Even the most useless trinket has a way of finding itself in the hands of a trade show attendee. Perhaps pushed by curiosity or greed for anything free attendees often look out for freebies during large events like these. In essence a tchotchke is not totally useless. It still serves its purpose of spreading brand recognition. Whether the recipient keeps the tchotchke gives it away to a friend or eventually gets rid of it the fact that it passed through their hands makes it a more effective advertising medium than other shortterm channels.
Still as you are already spending on promotional marketing you should consider reassessing your strategy to veer away from tchotchke marketing and think about longer better exposure.
Here’s how you can avoid the tchotchke trap:
1. Choose appropriate items that represent your brand. When picking out the promotional product that you will be giving away try to get something that has a connection with what your company is about. For a stronger impact you can even go with industryrelated items such as light switch covers for real estate agents or pocket screwdrivers for companies in the construction field.
2. Choose functionality over novelty. In a survey by the Promotional Products Association International for respondents who kept promotional items for over a year 75.4 said they did so because they found the item useful. In comparison only 20.2 of the respondents kept their giveaway because they thought it was attractive. So if we put functionality headtohead with novelty functionality wins by a long shot because of sheer staying power.
3. Choose items that won’t easily get lost in a sea of other giveaways. Many trade show and conference attendees go to these events for the swag bag a collection of promotional items that are distributed by exhibitors. Be original. Choose a giveaway that stands out from the rest.
About the writer: Remy is a Promotional Adviser specializing on Premium Giveaways Promotional Keychains and Personalized Hats
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