Having A Different Color Chip Bag Clip is Not Marketing

If you are reading this in a forum where you can see the picture I have attached, then you can see how three financial institutions have sought to separate themselves from their competitors with different color chip bag clips.

I had reps from three different financial institutions hand them to me at different events I attended. Clearly, my hat is off to the promotional product sales pro who sold each of these companies on the idea. He or she convinced each one of them to spend about 56 cents a piece to get those items. The argument could have gone something like, “With your logo on this chip bag clip, you will be getting some brand awareness and it will help you stand out from the other financial institutions in your area. Plus, when not in use, they can be stuck on refrigerator doors so they will see your financial institution every time they open the door.”

Now, when you are doing small business marketing, you do want to find effective ways to be in front of people who may benefit from your product. What you have to do, however, is step back whenever you are approached by someone pitching something and ask yourself and the representative some questions so you don’t end up being a “me-too” business. Because “me-too” small businesses are easily substituted by consumers.

The first question you need to ask yourself is, “Does this promotional product fit into my small business marketing plan for the year?”

If the answer is no, then stop the discussion. Tell the representative that you have already committed your marketing funds for the year and you will consider this promotional product when you develop your small business marketing plan next year. Don’t waste any more of your time.

If the answer is yes, then ask the representative,”Have any of my competitors bought the same promotional product?” This is a great question because some sales reps try to get companies to purchase something by making a company feel alone if they do not do what their competitors are doing. So, if she says “Yes, competitors X, Y, and Z are using them,” then you say, “No thanks, I don’t want to be like all of them.” If he says no, then you can ask “Are you going to offer this promotional product to my competitors?” If they do not answer with a “no,” then you really need to think hard about doing it or press for a discount that takes into account that your uniqueness is going to be diluted.

When you get the answer to those questions, you can still respond with the same answer I gave above: you have already committed your marketing funds for the year and you will consider this promotional product when you develop your small business marketing plan next year.

Because you are a small business, you need to buy yourself time to think things over and talk with someone like me, a small business marketing consultant. This cooling off time and discussion will allow you to make a non-emotional decision to your small business marketing. If you do not do that, you will end up being like me going to the store when I am hungry. I buy bags of potato chips I shouldn’t have. The good thing, though, is I now have three different chip bag clips from three different financial institutions. And one of them is from my current bank, which is charging me useless fees. I am moving to another of the chip bag clip financial institutions, but it has nothing to do with the bag chip clip.