Bank’s marketers are thinking about yearend gifts and premiums they can give customers. Pens, date books and other gifts that carry a bank’s name are mini bank ads and promotions.
My advice is that banks should hand out pens and pencils that carry their names. My desk drawers have a few promotional pens and pencils, but I don’t recall seeing any from my bank or any other banks or credit unions.
The most useful and used gift I’ve received from an investment banker that wanted me to remember it when I was writing about health care finance was an elegant shirt pocket date book. My name was engraved in gold leaf on the front cover. I used those date books for years, until I started carrying a PDA. And I gave similar date books to clients for several years. I don’t do that any more for various reasons. But I still give the same date book every year to a few family members and friends who don’t carry PDAs.
Another branding reminder that I’ve had for more than 20 years is a coffee mug that has my name on it—in my hand writing. This came from a company that long ago lost it’s independence to another health care IT vendor, but I remember the company and the smart lady, Sally Berger, who gave me the mug.
Gifts that carry your names don’t always bring in business, of course. I have a couple of pens from a bindery that I don’t use, mostly because I have a relationship with another bindery that binds our books.
As for my bank. It gives away great cookies every Friday.
