When I receive a really nice bottle of wine as a gift, I tend to keep the cork as a memento. Typically, these corks just have the name of the winery printed on them. But the bottle I uncorked on Saturday took a much smarter approach. Instead of just a brand name, the cork also provided the phone number and web address for the winery.

This is a brilliant move on their part. Sure, I’ve read about some retailers that include a sticker or magnet with each bottle of wine, making it easy to reorder the product later. But this takes it one step further, turning the most basic wine keepsake (the cork) into a marketing piece. For people who collect corks, it’s a great way to stand out and earn repeat business months or even years down the road.

Any company that sells a tangible product can benefit from this way of thinking. Just figure out which parts of the product that consumers are likely to retain long after the product has been consumed, and put your brand name, product name, web address, and other relevant info on there. To make this even more effective, include a coupon for some type of discount or free gift, perhaps that doesn’t become valid until after the usual reordering period. For example, if loyal buyers usually reorder every month, make the discount valid 60 days after their last order.

By making your mementos more relevant and coupling them with special offers, you should be able to increase brand equity among already loyal customers, while turning infrequent shoppers into repeat buyers. And for people like me who received the product as a gift, you make it that much easier and more enticing to become a paying customer for the first time.