im·por·tant
im'pôrtnt/
adjective
1) of great significance or value; likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-being
I have named this article the same as the name of the column because marketing is important! It matters everywhere every time. People in the promotional advertising/specialty marketing industry run the gambit from never thinking about marketing to never thinking about anything else. Let’s see where you fit in.
Do you have a clear understanding of what you actually do and do you convey that to your clients and potential clients (I use client and customer interchangeably)? If this seems to be too simplistic a question and your reaction is that “well duh – I know what I do,” you may be surprised. In a recent radio broadcast the show host defining the actual work of the military boiled it down to “they break things and kill people.” As difficult to accept as that might be for some people, it is a truthful and accurate observation...
What is the promotional advertising/specialty marketing industry and what is your part of it? The most common answer in the simplest terms is “I sell promotional products.” Even if that is a true statement, it is an unfortunate reality for too many in the industry! For more than 40 years I have tried to help people in our special industry understand the difference between what we use and what we do and to market what we do rather than what we use.
If you don’t understand what you do and effectively market that value to your clients, why would they trust you to help them with their marketing?
I consider what we do to be – stimulating training, encouraging safety, improving loyalty, accelerating learning, promoting advantages, introducing products and services, recognizing achievement, encouraging advancement, improving performance, etc., which can be condensed to: “We help businesses reach their goals.” Does your client want more business? We can help that happen. Is retaining employees the desire? We can help there too. For almost every objective a client has, our creative, interesting and proven programs work. But before you can create the strategy for your client you have to do it for yourself!
In our industry, the advertising industry, your own marketing is a demonstration of what you are asking the client to let you do for them. If your compelling message imprinted on an appropriate specialty item is successful in getting you an appointment, you will have already demonstrated the highly effective work the client can expect your to do for them.
If, however, your marketing consists of “Jack’s Promotional Products - 817-555-9871” your calendar most likely will not fill with appointments too quickly.
Once you clearly understand what you do, getting clients to understand what that is and allow you to discuss their needs and objectives requires you to use all the resources of our industry while avoiding some common traps. Today that most common trap is thinking that a website, email, Facebook, LinkedIn and texting is appropriate marketing. What they all are is competitive media. When you use other media rather than your own you cause a conflict in the client’s mind. Market using the tools of our industry.
If you do choose to use competitive media, always offer a free gift (the perfect promotional item with your perfect message) for contacting you. Then when asked why you use competitive media you can tell the client that you get nearly four times the response by offering the free gift. The information in your message might be advertising, but the free gift is marketing! Always remember what you do and market the strengths of this special part of the advertising industry.
If you were a writer applying for a job at a magazine, your cover letter better be amazing! Think about your marketing the same way. Build a plan and consistently send marketing messages on a regular schedule. Promotional items do have the ability to deliver repeated messages long term but additional items received by your client or prospect accelerate the process and reinforce the impact of specialty marketing.
So are you a marketer or do you sell promotional products? It will eventually be easy to tell because only marketers will still be in business. Even if you have had a good run using a value based message with price as the reason to deal with you - low margin internet sales will be a race to the bottom. By marketing your creative strengths and knowledge that have produced great results for your clients, you can claim your position as a professional in this great business. Look at the definition of important again and you will notice that “survival” is a critical element.
Gregg Emmer is chief marketing officer and vice president at Kaeser & Blair, Inc. He has more than 40 years experience in marketing and the promotional specialty advertising industry. His outside consultancy provides marketing, public relations and business planning consulting to a wide range of other businesses and has been a useful knowledge base for K&B Dealers. Contact Gregg at gemmer@kaeser-blair.com.