PPB June 2018

your key distributors’ Facebook page. Who doesn’t want that exposure? Believeme, very few suppliers provide photography in this size withmultiple products for this use. You will be their Facebook billboard and their hero. Videos Show distributors how your product works by using videos. Reference who uses your products, the features and benefits. Your video doesn’t have to be fancy—it can feature just one person in your office demonstrating the products. Make your video short and sweet, 30 seconds to under a minute in length. And please, please, please edit it so their clients can see it, without your address or phone numbers. It has to be client- friendly, talking to the buyer audience, to be repurposed by distributors. Promote The Promotion Whatever tools and resources you provide, make sure distributors and reps knowabout them, and make themeasy to find. Feature these prominently on your home page. Promotewhat you have available in your email signatures, in your email blasts and on your phonemessage on-hold recordings. Request that your customer service reps and sales repsmention these tools every time they can. Frequency sells. Let your customers know these sales and social media pieces are available. You knowyou have them. Most times, distributors don’t. Too busy? If you’re like that one-armed paperhanger doing it all yourself, or have just a small lean andmean team running your day-to-day operations without the creative in-house resources to get these ideas done, you can outsource inexpensively. Hire a college intern froma local marketing program. Look for a budding copywriter towrite for you or a filmstudent dying to build up a portfoliowith corporate videos. Tell themwhat you have inmind and then put them towork for aminimum investment that can benefit both of you. Mary Ellen Sokalski, MAS, a popular industry speaker, direct marketing expert and 20-plus-year industry marketing veteran, owns the Scarlet Marketeer in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. www.scarletmarketeer.com Photo provided by SanMar Photo provided by Hirsh Gift, Inc. Theywant to see multiple products beautifully displayed to fit the Facebook cover shot area so they can showwhat they do. Give them that, and your products could be the centerpiece shot of your key distributors’ Facebook page. Who doesn’t want that exposure? Lifestyle images sized to fit the banner position on a Facebook page are a smart offering. 80 | JUNE 2018 | THINK