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Promoting your business doesn’t have to follow the standard trends. Customers and employees have received their share of ink pens, mugs, and business t-shirts. Step outside the box and try something different.
Come up with creative ideas for branded merchandise to promote your business. Next, incorporate those ideas into your marketing strategy so you can get the most bangs for your bucks.
You can tackle multiple bullet points with one promotional item. Do giveaways for customers, recognize employees, and support organizations and causes in the community. Don’t forget trade shows and other vending opportunities.
Getting your business information into the hands of a potential consumer is the ultimate goal. When investing in promotional items remember to include your business name, logo, and website. If space permits, include your address and phone number.
Continue reading for 11 ways you can use custom mini basketballs to promote your business.
What Do Custom Mini Basketballs Look Like?
These miniature basketballs closely resemble regulation basketballs. They come in the same color and design. The difference is, they are smaller and come in common sizes of four to seven inches in diameter.
You will also have your choice of foam, plastic, vinyl, or rubber.
The balls can be customized to include any information you want to include. You can bypass business contact information, and use a company slogan or include a personal message.
There are different themes available as well. The balls can come in different colors to reflect team colors or to acknowledge social or disease awareness campaigns.
1. Donate to a Local High School Team
People love when businesses support local schools. High school teams are always looking for sponsors to offset the cost of uniforms, transportation, water, sports drinks, and travel costs. There is no reason why a business wouldn’t give financially without reaping benefits in return.
Show your support while promoting your business. Go to local schools and community leagues with a trade-off. You’ll donate to their program in exchange for your custom mini basketballs being handed out to attendees of a game.
2. Give Away Mini Basketballs at Trade Shows
Working in an industry that requires businesses to attend trade shows means having promotional items. Visitors have 100 booths to choose from, so make sure yours make their list.
Keeping people engaged as you give your sales pitch is sometimes tricky. A good tactic to use is encouraging some form of interaction, like a trivia game.
With mini basketballs, you can have a small hoop set up in your booth. Ask questions related to your industry. For each right answer, the person gets to try and make a basket to win a prize.
The prize progresses with each right answer. People love competitive games so a crowd is sure to form as each person tries to reach the goal for the best prize. They automatically get the mini-basketball just for trying.
3. Pass Them Out During Local Parades
Everyone loves a good parade. Local businesses are often asked to participate by entering a float. It’s one of those feel-good moments when you can get out of the office and still promote your business in a fun environment.
Many people on floats toss candy out into the crowd. Others throw beads. These are fun ideas but how many people will remember your company after the float passes by.
Using a custom foam mini promotional basketball will work perfectly in this setting. Have multiple people on the float. Some can toss candy to younger kids, while others can direct the balls to teens and adults in the crowd.
4. Host a Mini Basketball Tournament
Maybe your business is sports related. You could own a sporting goods store or a popular sports bar. March Madness and the NBA playoffs will make an excellent backdrop for a mini basketball tournament.
Teams can comprise of three to five players. There can be age brackets and categories for different skillsets. Use your creativity or call in an event specialist to determine how the tournament will run.
Since they are playing with custom mini basketballs this will not be a game played on a traditional basketball court. You will need to come up with fun alternatives for the teams to score points. This will be the selling point of the tournament.
Each team pays an entry fee with hopes of winning a bigger prize. The fee will help offset the cost of the tournament. Also, find a local non-profit that will benefit from some of the proceeds.
If you decide to go with a traditional game of b-ball, still use the personalized balls as giveaways for the people that attend.
5. Sponsor a Signing Day event for a Local Players
Your community has great talent you are probably not aware of until they get signed by a professional team. Start building relationships before they reach superstar status by celebrating their accomplishments along the journey to stardom.
This promotional idea can work for any business. It is also a good opportunity for high schools and universities to use as a recruiting tool to get the best talent for their programs.
Amateur athletes have national signing days where they publically commit to the next level in their journey. Whether it is signing with a college or entering the pros.
This day can be an even bigger celebration by sponsoring a community signing day for high school students. Or a draft party for a player anticipating, getting picked in the early rounds.
Local news stations often cover these events if there is a really popular player in the mix. ESPN even provides national coverage for big name students. By sponsoring the signing, you get your name in the media and the mini promotional basketballs in the hands of everyone that attends.
6. Raise Money for a Local Non-Profit
Local non-profits are always looking for sponsorships and businesses to donate to their causes. Some small businesses want to do more but their budget simply won’t allow it. Think outside the box and come up with ways you can raise money for a local organization.
Rubber Duck races are a popular way to raise funds. The more ducks you have in the race the better chances for you or your team to win. The end goal isn’t winning the race it is raising the money, so everyone is a winner.
Businesses can use this same concept when it comes to using mini-basketballs. Instead of selling ducks, sell the balls. Have local personalities come out and attempt to make baskets to score points for the teams.
The more basketballs they have to shoot, the better the chances your team has to win. The event is open to the public to come out and watch. It can also be live-streamed on social media channels.
At the end of the day, your favorite non-profit gets a bigger check, and you have raised brand awareness for your business.
7. Hand-out During Employee Appreciation Week
We’ve given a lot of consideration to sponsorships. Now let’s shift gears to talk about using custom mini basketballs to boost morale inside your businesses.
A survey by the O.C. Tanner firm showed that 44 percent of employers thought it was important to have an employee appreciation day. In all actuality, larger firms host employee appreciation weeks, and some celebrate the entire month.
The benefits of recognizing the contributions your employees make to your business are two-fold. One, it’s the right thing to do. Your employees are at the heart of your business success.
Two, employees that feel recognized and rewarded for their hard work, become awesome brand advocates. Employees that are happy in their jobs and feel appreciated by the company, speak favorably about their employer. They are also more likely to recommend your product or service to others.
When planning activities for employee recognition week, also include fun giveaways. Reward each employee with their own personized mini basketball.
Don’t forget, gifts for employees is tax deductible.
8. Give-out During a March Madness Event
Every year during the month of March and early April, sports enthusiast and the sports world are ignited. It is the time that college basketball reaches its pinnacle, known as March Madness.
Teams from around the country get invited to the big dance. These tournaments are played in different regions starting in mid-March. The final four teams vying for the championship play on the first weekend in April.
People host events and viewing parties to watch the games and try their luck at completing a winning bracket. It is a good way to get out of the house and socialize with other fan fanatics. You also get to rep your university.
Use this excitement to your advantage. Host a March Madness or Final Four party, or become a sponsor. Give attendees a mini basketball to commemorate the night.
If you are a college graduate and your team is playing for the championship, customize your basketballs to reflect the team colors. This is a huge win because at least half of the people in attendance will want one of the balls as a souvenir.
9. Place in Swag Bags
Local event planners hosting events will sometimes look to local businesses to supply items for gifts bags. These bags are handed out to each attendee. Some events are small with less than 50 people.
Swag bags are also distributed at conferences that can have hundreds of attendees. A city may also luck-up and land an event that hosts in the thousands.
So the opportunity to promote your business comes in many levels.
Typical items found in swag bags include flyers, brochures, and ink pens. Some businesses win the bid to supply the branded bags that gear is placed in.
Think outside the box and do something different to promote your brand. Give an item that people won’t easily toss aside or forget is in the bag.
Be bold and sign-up to have your personalized basketballs added to the swag.
You don’t need a basketball theme, or for the event to be centered on basketball. They are just great giveaways that provide a little stress relief when the attendees need a distraction.
10. Handout at Youth Basketball Camp
Youth basketball camps are the perfect place to give out mini basketballs. I guarantee you the kids will love them. Not only that, they will hold on to them because they are a fun toy.
Their parents will have a way to remember your business. As mentioned earlier in the article, people love supporting businesses that support the things they are passionate about.
Supporting kids in the community will have far-reaching benefits.
11. Create a Buzz with Customers
Wait! Did we leave out the real MVPs, the reason you even have a business? Let’s show some love to your loyal fan base…the valued customer.
National Customer Appreciation Day is April 18th. Similar to employee appreciation day, you also need to recognize your customers.
Many businesses host customer appreciation days and weeks. They offer sales and discounted merchandise. They may even open a few hours early for an exclusive shopping experience.
These ideas are geared toward creating more sales. This is fine because you still need to make money. Still, there should be a component that gives back to the consumer for their continued loyalty.
To do this, offer gifts that are geared towards the die-hard customer. If they are on your store mailing list, let them know there is a gift waiting for them on their next visit.
Customize the ball with a thank you message in appreciation for their continued support.
Are You Ready to Place Your Order?
Now that you have 11 ways you can promote your business using custom mini basketballs, what are you waiting for?
They are sure to be a hit.
Now your business name and website are in the hands of 100s, if not 1000s of people throughout the community.
Plus, you’ve proven yourself to be a community partner.
Easily customize your foam, plastic or rubber mini basketballs with a minimum quantity order of 50 balls. Click here to view our selections and to place your order.
