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5 Problems You Can Solve as a Promotional Professional

3/4/2014

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Here’s the deal.  Problem solvers always make money!  No matter what the industry. No matter what the economy is doing. No matter what.  If you can get out of the product selling business and into the problem solving business, you will always be in demand and you will always be able to make money.  Here are five problems that you can solve.

  1. Declining or stagnate employee morale.  Companies who have employees who are not happy and not engaged with the company are companies that need a solution. Unhappy employees are likely to turn away customers. They are likely to leave the company resulting in replacement and retraining costs. They are more likely to be injured on the job and take more sick time. Create programs that reward the behaviors that will turn this around. People need to have friends at work and to speak positively about each other and about the company. Engaged employees feel appreciated and can turn a company around. Research has shown that companies that rank among the best places to work outperform others financially.  (Commit to learn about Employee Engagement).
  2. Increasing health insurance premiums and workmen compensation rates.  Healthy employees save a company thousands of dollars in health insurance costs.  Safe workers save their companies millions of dollars in insurance premiums and liability costs.  You can solve this problem by recommending programs that reward healthy living and safe work habits.  Wellness programs provide rewards for smoking cessation, weight loss and commitment to fitness programs.  Safety programs are all about catching people exhibiting safe work practices and rewarding them.  Both types of programs are more effective when communicated with promotional products and when they have meaningful rewards.  (Commit to learn about Wellness Programs and Safety Programs).
  3. Lack of Customer Loyalty. Many companies are looking for ways to get customers to order and reorder consistently without shopping around every time they are in the market. Loyalty programs recognize and reward shoppers with they be distributors, dealers, retailers or end users for making purchases.  Problem solvers in this area put together programs based on frequency of purchase, size of purchase and purchase cycles to continuously engage buyers. Most of us are familiar with airline and hotel loyalty programs. Apply these principles to business to business opportunities using promotional products and premiums as the incentives.  (Commit to learn about Loyalty Programs).
  4. Dwindling Trade Show Effectiveness.  Many organizations exhibit at business to business or business to consumer trade shows.  These face to face sales opportunities can be extremely effective as they bring buyers and sellers together in an environment where the buyer can experience the product and the people behind it.  They are also very expensive. The cost per impression of this medium may be the highest of the available options. The cost of customer contact however is extremely low when compared to individual sales calls.  The trade show exhibitor has the expenses of the booth space, the booth cost, shipping, personnel, travel, hotels and entertainment.  How can they maximize their return on investment?  They can get the most bang for their buck if they can make sure they see the right people and spend quality time with them, can tell them their story and make sure they remember them after the show. You can help them by structuring the right invitations to the right people to get them to attend the show and actually talk to the exhibitor. You can help them achieve this by recommending ideas that will make their theme memorable, that will turn their exhibit time into an experience and by providing lasting reminders of that experience.  (Commit to learn about Trade Show Marketing).  
  5. Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers and customers into raving fans.  The new definition of marketing describes the number one problem for any organization. How do you make your offering likable and approachable? How do you earn the trust and business of your new friends? How do you deliver an experience and results that make them want to tell their friends?  If you frame your presentations around these three objectives, you will become not just a swag salesperson, but a professional marketer. We make friends by caring about others, by being authentic, by showing interest in the needs and aspirations of others. It is exactly the same for any business or organization. By recommending products that are relevant to the needs of the target end users, you help your clients be likable, approachable and friend-worthy.  Recommend purchase incentives that help your customers’ prospects comfortable and eager to do business with them. These would be items that are desirable and that take away some of the risk of that initial transaction. Ask your customers what they are doing to make every customer interaction a memorable experience and make suggestions for what they can do to make their customers want to recommend them to their friends. (Commit to learn about Marketing and Advertising).

If you’re willing to commit yourself to continuing education by spending an hour per week of research and reading, to attend the great education and professional development being offered by your regional association, by PPAI, by ASI and even your suppliers, and by logging in to the many available webinars around these topics, you can become a problem solver.  If you choose just one of these five problems and commit to becoming the best problem solver in your world, you will rock your world. You will rock your sales and you will rock your income. Find the Pain. Be the Aspirin.



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7 Ways to Create A Social Media Presence

2/11/2014

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You’re not still asking why or whether you need to have a social media presence are you?  Real quickly now. You need a social media presence because that’s where your new customers are and it’s how they will find you, trust you and try you.  Ignore it at your own peril. My definition of marketing is — Turning Strangers Into Friends, Friends Into Customers and Customers into Raving Fans.  Your social media presence allows you to do just that.  Here are seven tips... 

1.  Make learning Social Media Marketing a priority. Your town probably has a big building in it with lots and lots of books.  It’s kind of like Blockbuster used to be except with books instead of videos and you can check them out for free.  Get reacquainted with your local library.  The internet is also your friend. Google, Yahoo or Bing a phrase such as “How to Learn Social Media” and pick out some great articles to read. Check out your regional trade association’s, ASI’s and PPAI’s pro development offerings.  We have several great professionals in our industry sharing their knowledge on these topics.  Get your own domain name and website that you can use Social Media to drive traffic to and to improve your rankings on search engines. Learn about SEO - it’s not that hard to do it yourself - and optimize your website. You want to create a presence so that when someone in your market enters: Promotional Products - (Your Town Here) into Google that your website comes up in the top half of  the page. 

2.  Update Your LinkedIn Profile and Make Connections. In the past, successful sales people had their Rolodex and it contained all of their contacts names, addresses and phone numbers. It was one of the most valuable business tools that they owned.  Get on LinkedIn today. If you have a profile but haven’t used LinkedIn, get back on there and first update your profile and polish it.  Make so that it leaves the impression that you want your number one prospect to have of you if they were to look for you.  Here’s the thing.  They will look there. Make LinkedIn Connections. Use the “find connections” tools that the site offers and send out invitations to connect.  Watch your network grow!  It is amazing just how many people we are all connected to.  Look at your friends and acquaintances connections and connect with the people that you know from their lists too.  You might also take a look at some of your customers’ and prospects’ profiles for ideas for whom you should invite connections.   

3.  Use LinkedIn Right.  There are several ways to build your presence now that you’ve updated your profile and have a growing network.  First of all be aware that Google loves LinkedIn.  You will notice that when you Google yourself (it’s okay, we all do) that BOOM your profile just came up near the top of page one.  Second, explore the search capabilities. You can find people by location, by job title, by company. Use this as a prospecting tool to not only identify potential clients, but also to identify people in your network who may be able to provide you with at best an introduction and at worst a common ground conversation starter. Next get into the LinkedIn Groups that will highlight your level of expertise.  Sign up for notifications and contribute to discussions. Pick groups where your best customers and prospects hang out and they’ll soon see you as an expert. 

4.  Use Facebook Right. If you are going to use Facebook for building your business and your social media presence, keep personal and business separate. Either use two separate pages one for personal and one for business, or make sure that all of your posts are of the type that you would want your best customer or prospect to see. Post things about your company, your people, any awards or accomplishments. Feature profiles of your customers and highlight their successes. (Particularly their successes using one of your services!)  Keep your posts interesting, informative and valuable. Use it to promote your presence on other social media channels like YouTube, LinkedIn, your blog, your podcasts. Use Facebook to create your online personality. Be interesting and likable. 

5.  You can know own your own television station and your own radio station. Have some fun with video and create a YouTube channel. Record yourself, your employees, your customers, your suppliers having fun with promotional products. If you’ve got more of a face for radio, you can create your own broadcast of podcasts on iTunes. Once again, it’s all about the content. Make sure you have something worth watching or listening to and topics that people will actually search for online. Your video on how to select the right giveaways for a golf outing may show up on a prospects search for information on just that topic and BOOM! you’ve got yourself a new client.   

6.  You also can publish your own newspaper. It’s called a Blog. There are several great platforms available for free (I like Wordpress and blogger). This is where you can use that great domain name that your bought for yourself and create an informative, valuable website.  I’ve heard it joked that blog stands for Better Listings on Google. That is one of the benefits of blogging. Your name will come up higher on searches when you’re a blogger.  Another great benefit is that the internet is forever.  Three years from now, a prospect might find the article that you wrote yesterday on how to plan a company picnic or other valuable content. 

7.  Remember this is Cocktail Party Marketing.  I hope you wouldn’t go to a cocktail party among both strangers and friends and begin shouting out that you’re offering end quantity pricing, free set-up charges or twenty-five percent off on coffee mugs this week.  Social Media Marketing is about having conversations.   

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it?  It is work, but if you get consistent at it, it will pay off with customers finding you which is a lot more satisfying than cold calling. The rules of marketing have changed. Change with the times and you’ll find new relevance and new business coming to you. 
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QR Codes - Reprint from my April Newsletter

6/13/2011

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QR Codes:  Great new opportunity for you!_
    Have you seen these cool little blobs starting to show up just about
   anywhere?  The one on the left is a Quick Response Code or QR code and they
   are bringing new relevance to lots of old media.  The other is Microsoft's
   version called a Tag.  Both are open-source (which means they are free) and
   you can create them for a variety of uses.  QR codes connect the real world
   with the digital world and are something that you can use for your clients
   by printing them on promotional products.
        These crazy little codes turn smart phones into scanners and can direct
   the phone to a website, to a YouTube video, to send a text message, to make
   a phone call, to play a game, to complete a story and to make a special
   promotional offer.  I'll brainstorm more ways in this article and hope
   you'll share some ideas as well.  First, here's where you can learn more
   about Microsoft tags, where you can make your own custom tags like the one
   above on the right that I created and will deliver you to my Twitter
   account; http://tag.microsoft.com/consumer/index.aspx.  You can also get the
   app for your smartphone at that address or by searching for code readers in
   the App Store.  For QR codes, here's just one source for a
   generator; http://qrcode.kaywa.com/.  If you like to shorten up URL
   addresses using www.bit.ly, you'll find that it will automatically generate
   a QR code for you along with the shortened web address.
        How many ways can you come up with to use QR codes or tags?
   1.  Record a case history for a promotional product and talk about how your
   client can use the product.  Give information on lead times, imprint options
   and specials and post it as a video on YouTube.  Create a Code for the web
   address, print it out and put it on the product samples that you give to
   your clients and prospects.
   2.  Want to sell martini glasses or coffee mugs?  How about putting a code
   on the product that shows how to mix the perfect martini or brew the perfect
   cup of Joe?  Or lead them back to a page on your website, or to your
   favorite supplier's website.
   3.  Surprise your client with a code that delivers a special message, a
   surprise bonus or a special offer on their next order.
   4.  Selling your home?  Selling a car?  With a QR code you can deliver video
   highlights to enhance your sales efforts.
   5.  Have your client put codes on promotional products that deliver special
   offers, sales and extras.
   6.  Your radio station client could deliver genre specific music, on air
   personality greetings, special messages.
   7.  Put them on promotional products given away at events, concerts and
   festivals with links to videos or free MP3 downloads.
   8.  Have a Code that brings up a Call Me or Email Me prompt right inside the
   devise that can turn that into action!
   10. Put codes on your catalog pages so you can point out great ideas for
   applying the product, using the product or specials on the products.
   11. Codes can be printed and even embroidered onto apparel.  Think of the
   possibilities!
   12. Instant Comment Card or Instant Survey!
   13. Your code becomes an instruction manual.
   14. Put it on your business card and have it link to your phone, text
   message, your website or your LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook page.
   15. Create a V-Calendar event to confirm an appointment, webinar,
   teleconference or meet up.
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    Paul A. Kiewiet MAS CIP CPC
    Coach, Speaker, Facilitator



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