Swag Management
Ordering, storing, tracking and shipping Swag can be a headache even when in the office. But managing Swag when working remotely is even more difficult. However, swag is still a great way to show your employees or customers you appreciate them, to break through the noise with prospects, to create more engaging and personal virtual events.
Most people don’t have the extra space to store swag in their house or apartment. Shipping from home presents all sorts of challenges: boxing, printing labels, scheduling pick-ups or dropping at shipping locations. How do remote teams handle this?
This is where choosing a vendor that makes it easy for you to manage, store and distribute your swag from your own online swag closet.
Here are some things to consider when incorporating swag into your gifting or promotional efforts when not in a physical office or an office with limited space or resources.
What is your goal? What are you trying to accomplish?
When most people think of swag they think of tradeshow giveaways. However, promotional products (aka Swag) can be used for so much more. If you are thinking of ordering swag now, it is important to first ask yourself what you are hoping to achieve with the swag.
Are you trying to raise awareness of your brand or get the attention of a prospect? Trying to send your employees a gift to show your appreciation of their hard work or for achieving a milestone. Perhaps you want to send a gift to a valued customer or partners?
This might seem like a basic question, but when sending a swag package, it is crucial to consider the experience of the receiver of your gift on a level you might not when buying for a tradeshow giveaway. A few things to consider:
- Quality matters more than ever. Sending swag is an investment, don’t send something that will end up in the trash. It is a waste of money and, worse, can leave a bad impression of your brand.
- Apparel is difficult to coordinate proper sizing (and you don’t want to send something that the receiver can’t use). So, either have a plan for this, or if sending to prospects or unknown recipients, maybe avoid apparel.
- How will this stand out? Can you tie the swag into your marketing messaging? Can you create a fun or great looking design that the receiver will appreciate?
Envision what you would feel if you received this package. If it feels ‘meh’ to you that is not enough.
How will the swag be packaged?
This is another area where it is important to think about the experience of the receiver. If someone receives a gift without context, it may be confusing.
Sending swag gives you the opportunity to create a great experience. Creating a custom swag box with your branding can make things stand out. Including a notecard is also a good way to help get your message across.
Finally, it is important to consider the ‘mail-ability’ of the products you wish to send. Large, heavy items will be more expensive for packing and shipping. Something perishable or fragile presents challenges as well. Finally, if you are shipping internationally, consider regulations and customs.
The Advantages of keeping a Swag Inventory
Ordering swag in bulk has its advantages. First, you get better pricing on items when ordering at higher quantities. Second, if you are able to store your swag, you can pull from it when needed and not have to wait for new production time every time. Third, if you have a swag management tool, we can easily send swag to where you need it. No more counting out notebooks to send to a sales meeting or tee-shirts to a community service event.
Swag.com’s swag management portal will show you what you have available and you can pull and ship directly from it as needed.
Send to Multiple Addresses at once.
Think about the hassle of sending out 100s or 1000s of swag packages to your employees or customers. Do you really love mail merges that much? Printing shipping labels? Wouldn’t be easier to upload your list and have this handled for you?
Confirming Shipping Addresses
Another thing to consider now is that even if you have the cleanest data possible, it is unlikely that you have home addresses for prospects or customers. Or if you are looking to send apparel, how likely are you to know the correct sizing? Or maybe you want to give the recipient a choice of items?
Swag.com’s giveaway feature can help with all of these things. You just upload a list of email addresses and we can create custom giveaway links for you to share with your list that will allow the receiver to enter their shipping address, choose the right size or color options or to pick from products you make available.
Remote Swag Management
Swag can still be an important part establishing business connections or showing appreciation. However what you need from your swag vendor has changed. You need to choose a swag vendor that does it all. From finding the right products and easy ordering to storing and shipping. Luckily, Swag.com is an all-in-one swag solution.
Visit our Swag Distribution page to learn more about our swag management services, or reach out and we’d be happy to give you a walk through of our platform.
