PPB November 2019

I t’s easy to talk about the power of promotional products but it’s more important when you use them to promote your own business. The reason branded merchandise works so well for promoting a distributor’s services is the same reason why it works well for all kinds of businesses: promotional products stand out in today’s crowded marketplace. And when you put your own branded product in a potential client’s hands, it tells the client you trust and use the advertising medium you are recommending for them. I recently posted a conversation starter on PPAI’s Promo Connect and heard from distributors about the strategies and successes behind their self-promo efforts. Christina Conley, key accounts manager at Show Your Logo in Oswego, Illinois, told me she uses self-promos monthly, sometimes weekly, and likes to pick items that are different, trendy or useful. She’s now using paring knives, velvet can coolies and lip balm (the latter was imprinted with variable numbering to enter a raffle and got an 85-percent response rate). She also gives imprinted pens to restaurants, dog groomers, dry cleaners and the like. “That pen will change hands 17 times and I have gotten lots of new business,” she says. “No doubt the local competition has signed their charge slip with one of my pens.” She targets small groups of industry-specific accounts, prospective customers and people she hasn’t heard from in a while. She also gives out thank-you gifts and referral gifts. “I pump up the enthusiasm with emails that some ‘fun mail’ is coming their way. I monitor who ‘wakes up’ after a mailing, who says thank you and who orders. If a campaign works, I use it on a different group,” she says. Jae Rang, MAS, principal at JAE Associates Ltd., in Oakville, Ontario, says she’s very strategic about using self-promos, but they don’t always go as planned. For example, her company agreed to sponsor a ladies’ invitational golf event and created a contest, prize and a series of signs reflecting the event’s tropical theme. Her artwork had flamingos and palm trees Actions Speak Louder Than Words perspectives Tina Berres Filipski Director of Publications/Editor The reason branded merchandise works so well for promoting a distributor’s services is the same reason why it works well for all kinds of businesses: promotional products stand out in today’s crowded marketplace. And when you put your own branded product in a potential client’s hands, it tells the client you trust and use the advertising medium you are recommending for them. continued on page 127 This self-promotion from distributor, The Creative J – A Geiger Company, won a 2019 Pyramid Award in Marketing. The lunch-themed prospecting kit featured key messaging about how promos help build business relationships. 4 | NOVEMBER 2019 |