I’ve been working with some clients recently on trade show and event marketing strategies.  I have to admit that it’s been a while since I’ve ordered pens and mouse-pads for shows – but I have to think that there HAS to be something better out there than the traditional pens and sticky notes!  Don’t YOU?

Today we’re chatting about how promotional items can build your brand and we’re trying to collect your tips and ideas on how you’ve successfully used a wide variety of promo items.

Our guest guru today is @Bruce Felber, Felber and Felber Marketing.  While they do all kinds of traditional marketing stuff – my FAVORITE way to think of these guys is 3-D marketing!  That means they are brilliant at direct marketing and using 3-dimensional items (promo items) to get their prospects to choose YOU.

Q1.  What’s the difference between a promo item and a premium?

ScottBradley: @DIYMKTchat When I think of schwag I think about the stuff you pick up on the tables at career fairs #DIYMKT

BruceFelber: #diymkt Promotional items given away w/no strings attached. Premiums require either a purchase or or some form of buy in.

BruceFelber: #diymkt Price of the item is NOT the determining factor.

ScottBradley: @DIYMKTchat When I think of a promo item I think about an “add on” to a specific purchase #DIYMKT

mabynshingleton: Promo items are giveaways to promote a cause, service or business. They are always at trade shows. #diymkt

mabynshingleton: Stuff We All Get (S.W.A.G.) … #diymkt

Q2. What’s your favorite kind of promo item to use and why?

ScottBradley: @DIYMKTchat Pens are always fun, or the squishy stress balls! #DIYMKT

BruceFelber: #diymkt A good video to explain why promotional items work. http://tinyurl.com/lpjg2u

mabynshingleton: @DIYMKTchat Q2. favorite kind of promo item = useful items…and here it all depends on budget. #DIYMKT

burkonsconsult: Q2 – Cloth carry bags w/logos – esp in today’s green world. #DIYMKT

helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat I always go with pens or magnetic business cards that I leave for clients I visit/meet #DIYMKT

BruceFelber: #diymkt So many items today that are green, But be aware of ‘green washing’ and do it right.

Q3.  What’s your process of figuring out what kind of item you’re going to choose?

BruceFelber: #diymkt See this recent blog entry, Cost effective at many budgets. http://tinyurl.com/kr6dln

BruceFelber: #diymkt Using promotions as part of your direct mail campaign will yield higher results. Permanent advertising works when you can’t.

helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat Budget is key for me as I have none, leaving pens in restaurants and bank lobbies always works for local exposure#DIYMKT

BruceFelber: #diymkt look at the message you need to get out there; look at how many people you need to reach; then the budget to reach that audience.

BruceFelber: #diymkt Make sure you always have some “call to action” on any piece unless an award or impact campaign.

BruceFelber: #diymkt Here is an example of promotional items as part of a PR campaign. http://tinyurl.com/mdrssr

Q4. Is it better to pick products that are “permanent” or products that disappear (food)

burkonsconsult: For me, the need is generally in the future, so I need products that are permanent or used often. When the need arises, there I am. #DIYMKT

mabynshingleton: I think you have to decide what your objectives are. For the St. Patrick’s Day parade here, we throw green logoed cups to the crowd. #DIYMKT

BruceFelber: #diymkt Food items are very effective if the message and delivery method is on target. Consider the carrier of the food item.

BruceFelber: #diymkt Ebroidered and screened apparel is 40% of all promotional items today. See http://tinyurl.com/nkufdc

BruceFelber: #diymkt Try this liink on wearing apparel http://tinyurl.com/dj8dwz

BruceFelber: #diymkt Consider family and business reunions, open houses and special events. Wearing apparel can be used to brand an event.

Q5. What’s the benefit of using a promo consultant or firm?

burkonsconsult: Q5 – not having to do it yourself and letting a professional do it. #DIYMKT

Q6. Share a promo item success.  Why did it rock?

BruceFelber: #diymkt I once used apples with an imprint (yes food safe ink) for a Johnny Appleseed promotion.

DIYMKTchat: @BruceFelber I’ve seen people with different colored shirts at family reunions to designate which “child” or which generation – fun #DIYMKT

BruceFelber: #diymkt another effect use is to put kits or packages together for special events, meetings etc. Education use is highly effective.

BruceFelber: #diymkt This was a very successful campaign using promotional items to open the door. http://tinyurl.com/npddgn

BruceFelber: #diymkt Consider the Co-op campaigsn where several companies share the cost and outcome. See http://tinyurl.com/nret5f

Q7. What’s the one thing we all should do when thinking about promo items?

helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat remember that Call to Action!! #DIYMKT

BruceFelber: #diymkt Don’t give up on trade show marketing. Still great way to reach many. http://tinyurl.com/ar9s5j

BruceFelber: #diymkt q7 – consider the recipient and expected outcome. Are we branding, informing, promoting an event, thanking a client or employee?

BruceFelber: RT @helpitcrashed: @DIYMKTchat remember that Call to Action!! #DIYMKT Yes number one. Message, contact info etc.

BruceFelber: #diymkt One more link. http://tinyurl.com/mx3bsh

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I just ran across an article that outlined the recent results of some studies that again show that more than 85% of our decision-making is EMOTIONAL and not rational. We’ve all known this to be true on a very basic level, but for whatever reason, we still cling to this notion that we need logical arguments to convince people of our point of view.

It’s no different when we are pulling together a sales and marketing strategy.  Even though we know that emotional triggers drive the decision, we continue to sometimes force our logic into the conversation.

Have you ever heard this phrase? “Most businesses sell things so that they can have customers.  We have customers so we can sell them things.” This is one of my favorite quotes (if you know who said it, let me know).  It speaks to the fact that selling more to existing customers is more profitable for your business, and for your customer because it reduces your marketing cost and their supplier complexity.

The best way to sell more to existing customers, is to build a relationship and a history with them.  And the best way to do THAT – is through direct marketing. Direct marketing doesn’t just mean Direct MAIL.  It can include personal visits, events, sales calls, social media as well as direct mail.

In this article I’m going to give you a task list that will get your customer audience started – so you can connect with them on an emotional level.

1. Get a list of existing customers.   This may seem obvious because “everyone has a customer list.”  This is a list I want you to start BY HAND.  Don’t just do a data dump.  Pull your team together and literally start listing people and companies that are top of mind for you. This should not be a HUGE list.  You might have 5 or 10 or maybe 50.  But not too many more than that.   This is the list of either great customers or crappy customers.  The great one’s you’ll want to create strategies for.  The crappy ones you’ll want to discuss and see if you want to make them great or refer them out.  Once you’re done with that, you can go to your database and pull down some more customers that might be in the “danger of losing” category.  And see what the deal is with that.  The question you’re asking here is – “Will building a connection with this person/company increase my sales and profitability?”
2. Segment and group these customers according to “benefit segments.”  These would be groupings that might include something like “Customers who like having stuff overnight, Customers who order in small quantities, Customers who use our product outside, etc….” Notice that these groupings are based more on how your customer experience and interact with your product or service and not just their demographics or location.  This kind of grouping or segmentation is KEY to increasing your profit margins and building great relationships and connections.
3. Develop a profile of these customer segments and the decision-makers in each one.  Think of this as literally developing a Facebook or LinkedIn profile for this personified customer.  Is it a man or a woman, what is their name, where do they live, what is their day like.  This is the best way to get into their world.  Start a list of what’s important to them in their personal and professional life.
4. For each group, make a connection between what’s important to them and what you actually provide that solves their problem or challenge.  Use index cards or sticky notes in two colors.  Use one color to list what’s important to these customers, then use the other color to list the offer that you provide that gives them that.

Whew – that was some work wasn’t it.  But it will be worth it when it comes to creating direct marketing campaigns that really connect.

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We held out first #DIYMKT tweet chat on Monday March 30, 2009 from 11:30am -12:30pm EST.   I don’t know about the people attending, but I found it an amazing experience.

I was most surprised at the amount of energy that came through cyberspace.  I had this list of questions, but the group had questions of there own – and that was THE BEST part.

My intention for the weekly chat was to give the lone DIYMarketer the opportunity to connect with other savvy, scrappy marketers and share challenges, ideas and resources.

Here is a quick taste of some of the points we discussed (You can look at the full discussion here)

gotocasnet: How do I choose among the multitude of marketing tactics available? #DIYMKT

• stayingintouch: @gotocasnet I would start by focusing on what you are passionate about. From there you can then start becoming more strategic #DIYMKT
• bradfordshimp: I find that in order to better define and identify your market you should seek to better define your company. #diymkt
• burkonsconsult: I chose the mkt based on a grid of potential mkts, then listed characteristics I want in clients, gave ea a rating point, chose mfg. #DIYMKT
• DrKND: “looked at all my primary markets and determined which market” How do you do that? #DIYMKT
• smallbiztrends: Here’s which markets NOT to go with — don’t go with markets that cause you to stray too far from core competencies. #DIYMKT
• robert_brady: If you are finding success with local gov. why not move up to state and federal? #DIYMKT

thegagfactory: hello, what is the most effective way to generate Word of Mouth (aside from being excellent) for your club, event or show? #DIYMKT

• robert_brady: Getting referrals from current, satisfied customers is our #1 marketing strategy. People are extra cautious in this economy #DIYMKT
• stayingintouch: Focusing on retaining existing clients and reaching out to past clients with new offerings is proving to be very effective. #DIYMKT
• DIYMarketers: @thegagfactory I say have a referral program and system that you manage. WOM is not a gift it’s a byproduct of a system #DIYMKT

DIYMarketers: New question – what marketing strategy was most successful for you this year – in this economy (I hate using “this economy”) #DIYMKT

• CatMoore: @DIYMarketers Successful strategy: Using blog to attract best clients and filter out the ones who want a different approach. #DIYMKT
• thegagfactory: @DIYMarketers The Lunchtime Laugh, however it might be 4pm your time! It would have to be GMT!!! #DIYMKT
• CatMoore: @BusinessTherapy I’ve also started offering smaller consulting packages and quarterly instead of annual pricing. Seems to help. #DIYMKT

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If you don’t do or “get” segmentation, your business is really missing out on dollars and opportunities.  Segmentation is the secret weapon of any effective marketing program.  In it’s simplest form, segmentation basically involves putting your customers into “like” groups; women or men, for example.   Ever wondered why we segment or how someone decided on segmenting?

Segmentation came out of the need to communicate more efficiently with customers.  One-to-one communication is the ideal, but as markets grew beyond the “village” that became inefficient and expensive.  So marketers moved to mass communication.  But then, the messages applied to some customers and not others.  Finally, marketers started grouping people into segments that reacted similarly to their message.  And today, as the world shrinks through the internet, segmentation is even more critical as we once again come around to one-to-one marketing.

Not every group is worthy of being its own segment.   There are some rules that have to be followed.

1. Mutually Exclusive.  Your segments cannot be overlapping and your customer shouldn’t be a member of two segments at the same time.
2. Substantial.  There have to be enough members of a segment so that you can take advantage of the economies of scale in communicating with them.  So, a segment of 3 low-volume customers wouldn’t justify a whole segment.  It has to be big enough either in terms of members or dollars.
3. Homogenous.  A workable market segment has members that are similar enough to react the same way to your marketing message or offer.  They need to value the same things, do similar things or interact with your product or service in a similar way for your segmentation strategy to work.

How to Start Segmenting

1. Take a Customer/Product Inventory.  The best place to start is to literally pull out a list of your customers and what they buy from you.  You can even use your customer files or a sales report by customer, by product and in descending profit margins.
2. Create a Demographic Profile. Now simply identify the visible characteristics of these customers. Gender, Age, City, State, Country, Products Purchased, Volume, Education level, etc. Basic demographic information is what you can see and document about the client.
3. Look for deeper segments. Most people stop at step #2.  but the ones who persevere to this step can really hit pay dirt.  Here are some other segmenting opportunities: Product usage – how do they use your product, in what applications?  This is a great segmentation tool for Business to Business marketers or for industrial markets.  Psychographic or Lifestyle segments; what are their attitudes about life, themselves and how they live?  There are some fabulous tools out there for PRIZM is a lifestyle database that groups people into zip code communities.  It’s an ideal resource if you’re selling to consumers or in retail.  Another resource is VALS 2 which separates people into 8 values and lifestyles groups.

You should be running at least two segmentation schemas at any time; the basic demographic profile (because you have to know who you’re selling to, what you’re selling and where it’s going.)  But don’t stop there, move on to these more sophisticated segmentation options because this is where the real profit opporunities are.

• High Usage Segments.  Do you have customers that purchase high volumes frequently?  You can put them on a “retainer” or contract that saves them time, effort and money and assures you of their constant order.
• On-Demand Segments.  Do you have customers that always order at the last minute and want it now — no matter what the cost?  Set up an overnigh or emergency on-demand offering at a much higher price.
• Hand Holders.  How about customers that requires a lot of service and hand holding?  They may be willing to pay more for your attention.

Those are just three easy examples of benefit segments that can and will increase the profitability and loyalty of your customers.  Not only that, but it will set you apart from other providers who haven’t caught on.

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Regardless of what your product, service or offering is — the best way to get and keep loyal customers is by direct marketing to a list.

It’s not about the number of people you have on your list that will determine the success or failure of your campaign, it’s the relevance of your offer to the people on the list coupled with how much they trust and value your recommendations.

High Conversion = Relevance of the offer + Trust level in the Referrer

A really good source for this type of list is LinkedIn.  Because the relationships on LinkedIn are presumed (that’s a key word) to be real and based on some level of experience with the contact, they have a higher probability of converting to your offer.  But you really have to be careful with this.  So many people are treating LinkedIn like a numbers game, with no respect for the relationship to the list.  This just makes those LinkedIn contacts watered down and useless.  This is not a quantity game, it’s a quality game.

Here is how to get the most out of your LinkedIn Contacts.

1. Build your reputation by giving and helping contacts and groups.  The reciprocity and relationship building principles are key.  Yes, it takes time to go into groups, read questions, provide insightful and useful answers, but if building a responsive and targeted list is important, you will do it.
2. Leave Endorsements.  Spend a few minutes every week leaving endorsements for people you have worked with and for.
3. Join relevant groups.  Take time to join the groups that are relevant to your specialty and then take time every day or at least a couple times a week to help and contribute.  Also leave content that is helpful and not self-promoting all the time.
4. Ask and answer questions.  You literally promote yourself and your expertise by asking and answering questions.  Take time to do this a couple of times a week.
5. Connect other people.  Don’t just digitally connect, volunteer to put together people who can benefit each other.

LinkedIn is a powerful tool.  In fact, I prefer the free version because it forces you to talk to more people to connect to the ones you want.

Here’s a how-to tip you can use from fellow DIYMarketer, Jenni Cox has over 20,000 members in her National Network if Embroidery Professionals.  When she sends her lists information, they respond.  She earned that response the quality, hard way by:

1. Joining groups on embroidery(Yahoo and others)
2. She created an Outlook file for these groups.  Then she created a rule that sends all the discussions to that file.  Every day she glances through the list and answers a handful of questions.  She makes sure that she contributes helpful hints and content to every group at least once every two weeks.
3. From this process she gains  a handful of new trusting, responding members every week.

What’s your quality list building tip?  Tell me all about it and I’ll feature you in a future post!

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One of the things you can expect from DIYMarketers are periodic reviews of tools and resources that you’ll find helpful in selling to small businesses.

We all have a long list of blogs and articles we read every day – but I have to strongly recommend “Selling to Small Business.”  If you’re already an avid reader of Small Business Trends, then you might know about this one.  Both are online publications by Small Business Expert, Anita Campbell.

Anita truly has her pulse on what’s happening in the small business world.  In light of full disclosure, Anita is a client and a friend — but BOTH of these roles actually came years after I started following her work, reading her blog and relying on her online publications for my industry and trend information — heavily, I might add.  I only have one criticism of how Anita’s publications — I wish they had a portal that was all Anita Campbell small business stuff – all the time.  My biggest issue is that I have to hop from URL to URL and that they aren’t just a portal all their own.  But that’s just me and it goes to show how much I rely on her unique way of pulling information together in digestible bites and using the most credible resources on the web.

I’ll be reviewing several of her sites in the coming months, but I really want to start with “Selling to Small Business” first.

Who Should Read Selling to Small Business and Why?

Like the name implies, if you intend on SELLING to SMALL BUSINESS – you should read this blog.  But don’t even think about using this as “Chamber event” where you constantly pitch the audience on whatever your wares are.  It doesn’t work like that. Selling to Small Business is a resource to those of us who serve this market.  It will educate BOTH the large multi-national company like a Microsoft of an Intel on what’s important to small business, as well as the smaller provider of products and services.

How to Get the Most Out of Selling to Small Business?

Regardless of how you organize your blog reading, I recommend that you put all of Anita’s blogs very close together, so that you can take a quick glance and what topics she’s covering.  So put it on your reader.

It runs on a standard blog format, so the most recent stories are on the top and you can scroll your way down.  But remember – this is not so much a time driven source of information, as it is valuable category information – so be sure to look to your right where you’ll see the categories and the number of articles in each category.

Currently the categories tell you something about what’s happening in small business.  For example, she’s got one on Baby Boomers.  I never would have thought that as a category – but read the stories that are tagged and you’ll see that she’s thought this through – the stories aren’t just ABOUT baby boomers, some of them are stories baby boomers who are responsible for selling to small business should pay attention to.  Love that.

The next tab is “About” and you can learn more about what Anita was thinking when she started Selling to Small Business.

MY FAVORITE TAB – Small Business Lists!

Look you DIY Marketers — it’s all about the LIST.  It is so about the list and the community that you should not every kid yourself about this.  Here Anita gives you a wonderful resource ; calendars of small business events that you might find interesting to attend.

The other “list” she gives is the link to her SMBTrendwire podcasts.  These are weekly interviews that Anita and Steve Rucinski do with a variety of small business experts and authors.  There is so much to learn from these – you’ll have to put yourself on a daily budget of what to listen to and how much.

The last list resource is a directory of small business blogs. Againk you’ll have to look through these and identify the ones that are most useful to you.

Finally there is the archives section – which is what you’d expect it to be – archives of articles by category and month.

I highly encourage you to not only check this blog out, but I encourage you to become a subscriber and regular reader.  When you’re in dire need of quick, high quality info and data — this is your place.

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Most marketers are taught that you should first pick the market to go after and then literally alter yourself to become appealing to them as a choice. Believe me, I’ve tried and found that it’s just too hard and too expensive for most small businesses.
My preference is to build a brand from the inside out. When I say “brand” it doesn’t have to be this big multi-million dollar recognizable logo – I mean a recognizable and desirable promise that you make to your customers about the experience they’re going to have with you and your offering.

But where do you begin with something like that?

Here is my recommendation:

Your first goal is to clearly understand what an experience with your organization PROMISES. The best way to do this is to identify what your strengths are and what you do well.

1. If your organization is heavily influenced by the owner: Get the book “Strengths Finder 2.0.” The owner should take the assessment to find out what his or her natural strengths are, and how these strengths differentiate them from others. Not only will you get a clear and concise explanation of what sets you apart, you will actually get words that you can use in your marketing materials.
2. Review and debrief any and every job that you’ve had and keep asking yourself the question “WHY did I do these things?” For example, if your job was to do competitive research, why did you do that? What were you hoping to find and why?

Work with this information to identify what your mission and purpose in the business is. WHAT DO YOU DO AND WHY?

The next thing to do is take the interview guide I’m offering below and ask every employee these questions. Your goal is to identify what sets them apart and what they provide NATURALLY to the business.

inside-interview-guide

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The end of October typically means that most marketing people are getting roped into some of that “Strategic Planning” we like to do toward the end of the year.

There is a much easier way to do this. Instead of scanning and researching EVERY possibility – when in doubt think SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Don’t Just Make a List – Answer the Questions

I’ve got this magic SWOT process that will knock your socks off and get your brain in such a tizzy that you will get your planning into turbo mode and be done before you know it.

Typically, we like to LIST Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. But listing them doesn’t tell you what to DO NEXT. And that’s the key rule of Real-World marketing. What will you actually DO NEXT?

So, check out this SWOT Worksheet and download what you can DO NEXT to have a killer year.

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