PPB April 2018

O ur promotional products business has changed a bit since we formed our company in 1993. At that time, clients were quite happy to purchase large numbers of promotional products for such difficult-to- measure objectives as branding, trade show promotions, employee relations and customer satisfaction. As time went on, our team felt obligated to tie our clients’ investments to measurable outcomes so they could quantify their return. That led us to begin measuring the following results: sales (incremental gross margin contribution), safety (reduced insurance experience modifier and premium expense) and service awards (reduced employee turnover). In the early 2000s we developed a process we call OAR MTV (Objective-Analysis-ROI- Message-Target-Vehicle), which helped launch our company into the realm of lead generation / new client acquisition. This made it much easier for us to explain what our company does: “We generate leads for our clients.” Our first lead-generation client was our family dentist. He was interested in attracting new patients, so we came up with a message (Going to the Dentist Doesn’t Have to Bite!) and created a simple direct mail program (complete with a refrigerator magnet) that generated a very nice return. Although the campaign was successful, we didn’t know what happened to all of the direct mail pieces that didn’t generate new patients. Were they thrown away, stuffed in a drawer, etc.? About that same time, we became aware of social media and online advertising, and tried to get our minds around how those tools could be used to further our clients’ businesses in a measurable way. We knew people were using these forums to find products and services, but advertising on them wasn’t available yet. Expand your business beyond promotional products; deliver sales leads to your clients. by Joe Scott Leads, Leads And More Leads 56 | APRIL 2018 | GROW