When I worked in the cable TV industry, there was one really big lesson I learned: Everyone hates the cable company.

I’ve been in the promo industry for five years now, still a newbie by some measures, but I’ve also learned a valuable lesson about this industry. This recent post by Hubspot on the good, bad and ugly of swag got me thinking about whether there is such a thing as bad promo when you consider all of the different audiences. While we agree with many of their points, we also know that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Or to quote one of my colleagues from the industry:

There is no bad swag, only badly chosen – Heidi Thorne, @heidithorne

Rather than looking at the items themselves, we try to look at how giveaways will resonate with recipients. We think it’s great that the attendees of HubSpot’s conferences are all digitally connected, but my first-gen Motorola Xoom (<—-street cred implied there) is wi-fi only, so when I went to Cloudforce earlier this year and all of the wi-fi was password protected I was totally bummed. But then I could take notes with the kickin’ RIGHTSLEEVE branded red flair pen stashed in my bag…and yes, it was next to my Moleskin (<—–hipster implied there).

Oh, and we think the folks at ScribbleLIVE have our backs: They love their combo highlighter pens so much, they Instagrammed them:

It’s not a matter of good or bad. It’s about choosing swag smartly. -Patricia Keays

In doing an informal key chain survey around the office, I discovered a couple of things.

1. A lot of people have branded key chains.
2. People are passionate about their branded key chains (as they are about a lot of swag).

Katie Anderson, loves her Camp Kandalore key chain. She hasn’t worked at the camp in over 7 years, but she still carries it around with her and smiles from ear to ear when telling me about getting it. But, let’s set her feelings aside for a minute and crunch some numbers. If Katie has used her keys twice a day (once when leaving home and once when coming home) every day for the last 7 years, that adds up to over 2500 times that Katie has looked at her Kandalore key chain.

At less than one cent, that’s the type of cost per impression that marketers dream about!

Would a Camp Kandalore Key chain have the same effect on me? Nope. But, I’ve had the Roxy keychain below for close to ten years. I got it on a trip to Hawaii for my brother’s wedding so the sentimental value of that keychain is through the roof for me. I actually dove to the bottom of a dumpster and fished that key chain out of a puddle of trashed-filled water one time.

Pictured above starting at 12:00: Rob Montebelli, from the RIGHTSLEEVE spin-off company commonsku, carried his soccer key chain with him when he moved from Italy. Julia Corcoran loves the Heineken key chain she got in Amsterdam.  I went dumpster-diving to save my Roxy key chain, and Katie Anderson still carries her Camp Kandalore keychain long after leaving camp.

Bottom line: Keychains resonate with recipients when chosen well and distributed appropriately.

Rule #1 for trade show promo: make sure the product matches the needs of the audience. -Mark Graham in 7 Ways Social Media can Transform Your Next Swag Campaign

Bottomer line: All swag resonates when chosen well and distributed properly.

HubSpot and I could argue back and forth all day on what specific pieces of swag we like the best, and that’s okay…we do that exact thing in the RIGHTSLEEVE office too. What HubSpot thinks is cool swag isn’t going to be what the next company thinks is cool…the commenters on HubSpot’s original post prove that point. That’s why we emphasize the importance of matching your swag to your audience.

So, next time you’re planning for a tradeshow or a giveaway or an award or any other piece of branded merchandise you’re giving out, think about your recipients first and the items second.

Frank Warren of PostSecret at TED - Photo: James Duncan Davidson

About a month ago, my spouse and I headed out to purchase new swimwear.  We’d signed up for a parent and tot swimming class and the only suit I had was one I wore while pregnant so it was stretched and sagging in all of the wrong places.  We loaded everyone into the car and drove to the nearest big-box sport retailer to look for replacements.

We wandered around the two storey store until we discovered the swimwear section. Looking over my options, I muttered a few choice words at the lack of selection in the womens’ suits – especially as compared to the mens’. There were easily 3-times more options for men than for women.  Perhaps, I thought, there are suits somewhere else.  After several minutes I was able to hunt down a store employee to ask.  Nope, I was looking at it all.

The exchange between the store employee and me, went something like this.

Me: Hm. That sucks.

Employee: Well, but it’s not summer yet.

Me:  Then why do you have so many mens’ suits?

Employee: (walking away) I don’t know it’s not my department.

Admittedly, I didn’t start the exchange off on great footing.  However, that meant the employee had so much more opportunity to impress me.  Instead, he basically told me that he didn’t care.

Three Alternate Answers The Employee Could Have Given

1. Super-Hero Answer: I’m sorry you’re frustrated.  Unfortunately, this isn’t my department so I don’t know a lot about stock.  I’ll go and find an employee who works in this department and maybe they can tell you when new stock is arriving or help locate a store that has more stock.
2. Hero Answer: I’m sorry you’re frustrated.  I can give you a list of our other stores and you can see if they have better stock there.
3. Regular Joe Answer: I’m sorry you’re frustrated. There are other stores in the mall that carry suits.  If you stop by the mall information desk, I’m sure they can direct you to some.

Any one of those exchanges would have left me feeling more valued because they would have

1. Acknowledged my frustration.
2. Pointed me in the direction of a solution to my problem.

We are all representatives of our employers – whether we like it or not.  From the highest ranking CEO to the unpaid summer intern.  Every employee has an obligation to help customers – whether it’s explicitly in your job description or not.  And, helping  a customer doesn’t mean you have to solve their issue for them.  Just acknowledge their challenge and get them on the right path.

It’s simple.  But can be so easy to lose sight of.

When we the last time you were wowed or disappointed by customer service? 

When was the last time you did the wowing?