Personalized hats are a great way tot promote your business, whether you distribute them as a freebie, sell them through your site, have your team wear them, or send them as gifts to clients and customers. Hats tend to stay around for a long time, ensuring that your marketing message has staying power. They are also very visible, and so excellent for promotion and branding. Before you run out and order a huge batch of personalized hats, however, ask yourself these questions to actually put together a marketing plan for your hats:

• What are your goals in marketing with promotional hats? How do personalized hats fit in with your overall marketing goals? It’s not enough to simply buy some hats and hope they improve your bottom line. The clearer your goals, the more likely you are to actually accomplish them, so consider whether you want to increase sales, get more clients, say thank you to clients, or advertise a new service or product.
• Who do you hope to reach with your personalized hats? Consider how your recipients will use the product and what sort of hats your recipients are most likely to enjoy.
• What is the time frame and budget? In other words, when do you want to start handing out hats, how long would you like to hand out hats, and how much do you want to spend per hat?
• What hat styles, colors, and designs will best reflect the company image you want to project?
• Are these hats durable and washable? Look for hats that will last a long time and that are adjustable. Remember: the easier and more consumer-friendly your hats are, the more likely customers are to keep them. Also, look for a hat that appears to be more expensive than it actually is. Quality really counts.
• Are the hats and designs you are considering original and eye-catching? Look for hats that will get people talking and will stand out.
• How many extra sales will you need to generate to pay for the cost of the personalized hats? The cost should be covered by the extra business the hats bring you. This means that the total amount of sales should be possible and achievable.
• Is there a “plan B” in case the personalized hats do not drum up the expected extra business? Is there some way you can mitigate losses if the hats do not lead to as much extra business as you wanted?
• How will you distribute the hats? Consider whether the distribution will cost extra and will affect your promotion budget. Also, consider which distribution methods will work best.
• Do you need additional services with your personalized hats? Do your hats need to be packaged, labeled, gift wrapped? All these extras can affect the total costs and time frame of your promotion.