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Reason No. 1
I don’t want to be a pest.
This instinct is good, so use it to craft
a self promotion that is mutually beneficial for you and your
prospect. The campaign could help potential clients with their
work responsibilities, highlight a discount on services or provide
entertainment. If you don’t hit the mark the first time, note recip-
ients’ reactions to your self promotion and recalibrate for next
time. This is what New Fairfield, Connecticut-based distributor
iPROMOTEu/Stay Visible (UPIC: 7951097) did when creating its
PPAI Image Award-winning promotion for the Major League
Baseball Diversity Summit. Their first time at the event, staffers
noticed purchasing agents responding unfavorably to catalogs
and brochures. The following year, they upped the wow factor
by creating custom-printed boxes containing leather coasters
and trading cards with company “stats”. The promotion was
accepted by 100 percent of the intended audience, and the goal
for sales appointments was exceeded by 200 percent.
Reason No. 2
It’s too cost prohibitive.
We all want more—more clients,
more business, more sales, more growth. But progress that
occurs gradually is still progress. A PPAI Image Award-winning
promotion from Sterling, Illinois-based distributor HALO
Branded Solutions (UPIC: HBS) focused on just seven compa-
nies and nine prospective buyers. The campaign featured the
five senses of promotional products, and the total cost was less
than $1,000 for the products, packaging, postage and post-
cards. The five “sense” mailings, plus a sixth closer, were
mailed weekly. The result was three thank-you calls, five face-
to-face appointments, five new clients with high-sales potential
and one major corporate account.
Reason No. 3
It requires too much time.
Yes, good things take time, but
scheduling, advance planning and breaking tasks into small
chunks helped Brett Wynn of Newton, Iowa-based distributor
Newton Manufacturing Co. (UPIC: NEWTON) execute his PPAI
Image Award-winning self promotion. The campaign took a
year from the original idea until the launch of the campaign,
but Wynn worked on it when he had bits of free time, such as
traveling to and from clients. His self promotion strategically
targeted 36 current clients and 36 prospective clients, and
involved mailing campaign materials packaged with stress toys
and hand massagers to each of them. The mailings were calls
to action for a Twitter contest, where retweets earned entries
into a drawing for a Kindle Fire HD or an iPhone 5s. The con-
test generated almost 15,000 retweets and a 14-percent
response rate.
Draw more inspiration for self promotions by subscribing
to PPAI’s IDEA Source archive of past PPAI award win-
ners. Find it at
ideasource.ppai.org/idea
.
MARCH 2015 •
PPB
• 87
iPROMOTEu/Stay Visible upped the wow factor with custom-
coaster self promotion for members of Major League Baseball.
This campaign from HALO Branded Solutions featured the five
senses of promotional products and cost less than $1,000.
A distributor from Newton Manufacturing Co. spent one year
designing this self promotion, which utilized social media.