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Is your company’s swag store not getting as much use as you and the leadership team expected?
If so, you are not alone. You had a big launch that generated buzz and increased staff engagement. But after the initial enthusiasm has worn off, you don’t see as much use as you thought you would.
Provided your store focuses on quality and utility, offering high-quality, genuinely useful items people want to use, the low usage is because they forgot about them.
With over 100 active company stores currently managed, the solution is simple: remind employees of its existence often and regularly.
There are many benefits to having a company swag store, but neglecting to promote it will defeat the purpose. Luckily, the solution is simple.
Common Pitfalls of Poor Company Merch Store Promotion
There are a few significant drawbacks to not promoting your company’s merch store:
Staff Forget They Have a Swag Store
You made a big announcement when the store went live, so you might think everyone already knows. But without reminders and so many other things on their plate, people are likely to forget they have this resource.
Missed Brand Building Opportunities
Low use of company swag stores will reduce brand consistency and internal and external visibility. You wanted certain carefully selected products used for specific events. Yet your unaware staff might be giving away the promotional pens at their next event because it’s what they had at hand. Missing a valuable branding opportunity.
Wasted Marketing Budget
An underutilized company store will result in leftover swag inventory that might not be relevant for future use, not to mention the cost of production and storage space for longer than intended periods of time.
Without promotion, something terrible happens … nothing!
P.T. BarnumP.T. Barnum
9 Ways To Promote Your Employee Swag Store
Promoting an online apparel and swag store to your staff is crucial for maximizing its potential to achieve your marketing goals. Here are some effective ways to promote the store to your employees and drive participation.
1. Allocate Budgets
Provide your approved department merch purchasers with setups to apply internal budgets to the product purchases, bypassing credit card requirements you may have in place. This will result in your approved users making every effort to put that money to good use.
2. Provide Adequate Swag Allowances as Employee Rewards
Using swag in your employees and rewards programs is standard practice. Instead of handing out the branded item of your choice, provide them with a voucher for them to redeem at the store so they can pick what they want.
3. Promote in Internal Newsletters
Your internal email newsletters are an excellent resource for reminding employees about the company store, its benefits, offerings, and the ordering process. You can also feature swag contest winners with their photos.
4. Ask for Feedback
Elicit ideas and feedback from employees using surveys. It’s a surefire way to generate engagement with your team. Feedback can also help you improve the online order process. Also, surveys help identify product preferences and swag trends your employees might be interested in.
5. Encourage Social Sharing
If allowed by your organization, encourage employees to post photos of your company merch on social media. Have a policy and guidelines around it. If this is not something your company allows, use your internal social platform to post photos or videos of your team interacting with the merch with your employees’ permission. This will create curiosity, awareness, and traffic to your company store.
6. Run Contests and Giveaways
Organize internal contests and giveaways with special swag items as the prize. This is a great way to draw attention to the online store and have employees familiarize themselves with it. Up the ante of winning by creating special edition swag specifically designed and exclusive to these activities.
7. Offer Training and On-Demand Online Tutorials
When you first launched your online merch store, you probably had a training session on how to use it, place orders, and policies or procedures. It’s a good idea to periodically offer these trainings, or better yet, make them available online for quick reference. Giving everyone a thorough knowledge of the process will make it easier for your staff to utilize the store more frequently.
8. Announce New Seasonal Swag With a Splash
A new season is an excellent opportunity to promote the swag store, reminding everyone that it’s there for them. Showcase new products. Offer discounts on high-inventory items or those you want to sell out and discontinue.
9. Offer Business Bucks
Plan fun games at company events or conferences, where winners earn business bucks to spend on the swag store. This will generate a lot of store exposure. Employees who end the event with a fistful of business bucks will be happy to show off their complimentary swag.
Promoting your merch store will ensure its adoption and maximum utilization within your organization, producing the expected results.
10. Make it Part of Your Company Culture.
Including swag in various aspects of your employee relations and company life is an effective way to build company culture. From new hire swag kits to rewards and incentives options employees get to choose from, to quality branded apparel they love to wear, these are ways to create a sense of community and belonging.
Start Promoting!
Implement some of these suggestions, and you’ll quickly see your staff using the creative marketing tools su carefully selected for event giveaways, employee appreciation, and everything in between.
Are you ready for your swag store to take center stage? Connect with us; we are here to help you make it the ultimate go-to resource for your team.