ID Badge Marketing Strategies

Often considered purely informational in nature, ID badges are often overlooked as a unique and efficient marketing tool. In fact, ID badge marketing can yield a robust return on investment when properly applied. Here's your guide to ID badge marketing strategies that pay off:

Define your purpose

Before you do anything else, define the purpose of your ID badge so you can plan your design and distribution strategy with focus. Many ID badges have multiple purposes, which might include branding, identification, direct sales, security and information. Make sure each of your purposes is expertly addressed by your ID badge for optimal user-friendliness and response rate.

Distribute for branding

ID badges serve as the perfect branding medium and should be distributed wherever possible to event attendees (trade shows, conferences, seminars, etc.), employees, visitors, sales staff, etc. Use creative devices to encourage people to wear them; for example, employees are more likely to wear a non-obstructive ID badge with a cool, attractive design rather than a bulky and garish ID badge that gets in the way. Your logo and company colors should be prominent in your ID badge design so your branding efforts have maximum impact. The more potential customers see your ID badge, the more powerful your market presence becomes.

Add value

Like all marketing materials, you can see a dramatic increase in response when you add value to your ID badge. Consider your ID badge's application to identify opportunities to add value: What might motivate the wearer to take action? If you're sponsoring a trade show or other event, consider printing VIP ID badges to encourage attendees to visit a specific area for marketing purposes, or add an area map so attendees and employees can quickly find their way around. Other ways to add value include leaving space for detailed descriptions/titles for event attendees, visitors and employees and printing an event schedule or vendor coupons on the back of your ID badge. In fact, you can sell the real estate on the back of your ID badges as advertising space, which will help offset production expenses.

Be unique

Bland black-and-white ID badges do little more than hang on shirts or get stuffed in pockets. Don't be afraid to get creative and develop 100 percent unique ID badges that command attention. Let your employees add a touch of personality to their ID badges so they wear them proudly. Get a die-cut ID badge or have your ID badge foil stamped to help it get noticed. Add value whenever possible and take advantage of unique and creative ID badge distribution. A retail store, for example, could send "Super Customer" ID badges to its mailing list; and if customers wear the badge into the store they'll be treated like royalty and given a great discount. Better still, have them fill out a survey on the back when they check out so you can collect marketing information. This is just one example of how you can brainstorm an on-target ID badge marketing campaign that achieves real sales results. As you can see, ID badges are for more than simple identification — they provide excellent marketing opportunities with serious sales potential if you can harness their power. Take these ID badge marketing strategies to heart to develop striking ID badges that boost your return on investment.