This is the 99th column I’ve written for Marketing News since mid-l992. In reviewing the list of subjects I’ve covered over that time, it occurred to me that I haven’t written a single word about one aspect of business-to-business marketing that’s near and dear to every salesperson’s heart: specialty advertising, or giveaways, as they’re commonly called.

Even though your company probably spends many thousands of dollars on give-aways, you might also be wondering why I would devote an entire column to such a mundane topic. The answer is because specialties can have a huge effect on the success of your b-to-b marcom program if used properly, and they can be a significant drain of valuable resources if used improperly.

Let’s review a few guidelines for more effective use of specialty advertising.

Specialty giveaways should suppport your key marketing objectives. This sounds terribly obvious, but the vast majority of specialty items do not support any particular marketing objective. They’re selected because a marketing manager likes the item and wanted one for himself, or because your key competitor had something like it at the last major industry conference, or because salespeople insist on having a supply of generic giveaways they can grab on a moment’s notice and appear thoughtful in the eyes of customers.

It’s hard to argue against ballcaps and pens, but I learned a long time ago that giveaways last a lot longer if you can make them remind your customer or prospect of a key message or attribute.

For example, if your product is more versatile or flexible, find something that flexes. If you have the broadest or longest product line, give away something extra long (for example, a l5-inch ruler). If you’re proud of your cost-saving advantages, choose something that emphasizes money (like a giant dollar bill or gold bar paperweight, for instance). Even if your customer takes the item home and puts it in the garage, you’ll score extra communication points every time the connection is made between the giveaway and your key message.

The connection doesn’t have to be literal, either. You can link product performance with figurative or symbolic concepts, such as “magical results” or “secret ingredients.” As long as you help the differentiating process along, you’re miles ahead.

It’s OK to give away unusual items. Many specialty vendors will resist this because they only want to sell stuff right out of the catalog, make their mark-up and move on to the next order. But some suppliers in this business are creative and love the challenge of coming up with options that have never been done before.

Several years ago, I helped launch a new division of a major industrial company with trade advertising and direct mail using the theme, “We’re making some Big Noise in the valve market.” The first direct mail piece was designed around a small air horn like you might keep on your boat. We put a custom label on it and shipped it via ground mail to customers and prospects throughout the continental United States. Customers had fun calling the company’s sales reps and blasting them over the phone. (Now that’s what I call playing back the ad message!)

Another time, I assisted a chemical company that was moving one of its division offices to a new location in a neighboring state. They wanted to have an open house but realized most customers would have little or no reason to actually visit the new office. So we created a three-dimensional paper house containing a long perforated strip—with every employee’s new business card attached—that could be pulled out the top. It was decorative and functional, and the company salespeople were still seeing paper houses on client shelves and credenzas more than a year after the open house.

For another chemical client whose product was a key ingredient in bleach, we produced “bleach towels” and “bleach bags” as giveaways for a soap and detergent industry conference held at a Florida beach front resort.

Specialties can be part of a longer-term campaign. Many people think of specialty items as one-time gestures, but you can increase your exposure by using them as part of an ongoing campaign. To help an oilfield services company increase its share of the so-called sand control business, we developed a series of ads and mailers around an art theme blending people skills and technology. One of the key items was a plastic-encased desk ornament that formed artful scenes out of sand and water whenever you flipped it over. This company’s sand control capabilities were competing for your attention every time you played with the device.

For a chemical company whose bread- and-butter product was getting attacked by environmentalists, we mailed a three-part series of flower seed packets, gardening gloves and garden hose guides along with carefully worded pamphlets describing the product’s proven 25-year safety record.

And to help an oilfield equipment company promote its new line of subsea control systems that would have to operate without human intervention for up to 20 years at the bottom of the ocean, we mailed a series of dimensional items relevant to the industry, such as a diver’s watch, that symbolized dependability.

You get the picture. Specialty items that fail to remind customers of your company strengths or key selling points are really stopping short of their true potential as communication devices. Wearables are expensive and—let’s face it—no one really wants to show off your logo to strangers at the grocery store unless maybe your name is Nike or Calvin Klein. By working a little harder, you can advance your communications pro-gram objectives and not spend a penny more. And who wouldn’t appreciate that important difference?