Generally speaking -- and particularly with B2B promotions -- the primary objective of a dimensional marketing program is to land a face-to-face meeting with the targeted decision maker.
Every salesperson will tell you that it’s not easy. Gatekeepers abound, the intended recipient is busy, and he or she typically gets all sorts of come-ons weekly or more often.
Free gift offers can work. But most do little to exploit the curiosity factor and, at the risk of sounding cynical, the greed factor.
Yes, there are freebies that are enticing. However, there’s a third factor that shouldn’t be ignored. For lack of a better definition, we’ll call it “involvement.”
This is not about involving the target with some intriguing gizmo or whatzit. It’s about captivating the target with the promise of getting the complete promo item – but only if he or she agrees to meet.
The promo products world is replete with multi-part items that are essentially useless without all the parts in place. So one strategy is to tease the recipient with parts...and then offer to “complete” the item at a meeting (“Let me show you how we can put it all together for you!”).
For just one example, imagine that your free gift offer is an RC race car. In mailer #1, you send the batteries that would be needed for the remote control and the vehicle. In mailer #2, you send the remote control. And in mailer #3, you send the decal set.
Admittedly, this would not be a cheap promotion. But properly romanced, it could secure that all-important meeting.
Smaller-scale/cost concepts are out there, too. It’s up to your imagination, your budget, and more. Yet the principle is the same: Involve the target with “Where’s the rest of it?”...and then land the meeting.
The point here is to promote with “parts” and then draw interest for the “completion,” meaning get the opportunity to pitch.
That takes us back to earlier conversations about program planning and, implicit in such, the value of working with promo product program professionals. You can go online and shop for every kind of tangible advertising product and every price point. But will it work? And how will you use the products to generate sales openings? And............well?
March 5, 2021
Bethany Black
standart
I must confess: Refrigerator magnets are my all-time favorite promotional products. Alas, those inexpensive versatile items get little respect.
Are they wildly creative? No. Are they typically unique? Not really. Do they boast a high perceived value. Nope. But do they work? Absolutely.
It’s not that they necessarily generate immediate response. The power of the fridge magnet is in its keepability and, yes, affordability. As promo products go, those items are comparatively dirt cheap to purchase, hand out, or mail. But more important is their messaging capability.
If some business sends you a fridge magnet in a plain ol’ #10 envelope, you’ll open the package to get to the gift inside. You may have already guessed what the surprise is, but you’ll rip open the envelope anyway.
Will you read the enclosed letter or flyer? Maybe. But if you’re like most people, you’ll keep the magnet.
And where will you put it? Chances are you’ll stick it on your refrigerator, which in most households is the family bulletin board and address book. In fact, many often refer to that “message board” to find the phone number of a particular business.
You know the information is there, because you see it every time you go to or walk by your fridge. In other words, that magnet is a 24/7 billboard.
It’s also incredibly cost effective.
Say a business sends out fridge magnet mailers at a cost of $2.00 each (creative, production, list, fulfillment, postage). You put the magnet on your fridge and then see it an average of three times per day. That’s roughly 1,000 impressions per year.
However, your spouse or domestic partner does the same. As a result, your little billboard is producing 2,000 impressions yearly...for a cost per placement of just $2.00. You do the math.
So the next time someone mentions fridge magnets, don’t treat the idea like it’s a Rodney Dangerfield.
January 27, 2021
Bethany Black
standart
Creative, Dimensional Marketing, Frequently Asked Questions, Prestige Promo News, Promotional Marketing
How Long is a Piece of String?
A silly question, yes? And the answer can only be, “twice as long as half its length.”
Yet over the years, I’ve had many prospects and clients who pose similar queries, such as “How much does a promotional program cost?” or “How long does it take to get this product?” or “What do you charge for a brochure?” The answer is always the same: “That depends.”
What necessarily follows is a bank of questions about the company, its products or services, what has and hasn’t worked in the past, what their objective is, ad nauseam.
Sadly, some prospects quickly grow irritated by the questioning, failing or refusing to realize that no agency, marketing group, or promotions business worth its salt can and will provide viable recommendations and cost estimates without those answers. Otherwise, they’ll be firing off the client’s budget in the dark...and that kind of blind budget shotgunning is destined for failure.
This applies equally to the development of a dimensional marketing program and the mere ordering of some promo widget. In both cases, the primary consideration must be, “What do you want to accomplish with this?”
In other words, if you don’t know where you want to go, don’t hit the road until you do...or you may wind up hundred$ of mile$ from where you thought you were going.
If you’re an advertiser, you want a product/service provider who first asks you why. And if you’re on the opposite side of the budget, you need to ask that same question – if only to CYA should the advertising fail.
I love it when someone calls us for a quote on a gross of coffee cups, for example. I then ask them how they plan to use the product, and too often they just don’t know.
So that string? It needs to be quantified and qualified before its “length” can be measured.
October 22, 2020
Bethany Black
standart
If you’ve ever launched a direct mail campaign – and especially one that involves promotional products – you’ve probably asked that question at each date of the planned mailings.
Your next question, then, is, “Did it arrive?”
The first question is easy enough to get answered. Just ask the person in your organization who’s managing the program, or, if it’s you, contact the fulfillment house or mailing service or the folks in your company who are charged with prepping and shipping the mailers.
It should be equally easy to answer your second query – that is, if you’ve seeded your list. Seeding is the tactic of including you and at least two other top-level employees in the distribution list, and it should be standard operating procedure for any direct mail promotion.
Why?
Well, for starters, you and your team will know that your mailers have been delivered, because you’ve received yours. If your program calls for a phone follow-up, the last thing you want is for a representative to contact a target with a “Did you get the package I sent you?” opening question, only to discover that the mailer hadn’t been received. Oops.
More importantly, you’ll see a “live” mailer that’s what your targets have received. This lets you review the package – from outside tease to inside pitch – and spot any errors or other problems that may have slipped through the cracks. Those mistakes, if you find some, provide a viable reason to immediately contact your targets and attempt to clarify.
Thirdly, you’ll get a “live” look at how the package was handled by the post office, FedEx, or UPS. Is the box or envelope in good condition? Or was it beat up, crumpled, crushed, or otherwise damaged...and if so, how about the condition of the enclosed promo item?
Finally, how long did it take from drop to delivery? Depending on the shipping service you used and the type of service you selected, you should expect your mailer to reach its destination in 3 to 5 business days. If it took longer to be delivered, you’ll need to rethink your shipping method.
With multiple mailings in a dimensional marketing program, timing is crucial. This is especially true if, as mentioned above, your plan includes a phone follow-up after each drop. And here again, your sales reps need to be reasonably sure that your targets have received the respective mailer before they call.
The bottom line to all of this is that you should always seed your lists – even if you’re just sending out flat mail (i.e., just a letter and #10 envelope).
Unfortunately, too many advertisers view seeding as an added cost. Yes, I’ve heard that far too often...and maybe you’ve been guilty of such thinking, eh?
But really, isn’t that “cost” worth it?
So O.K., let’s say that your out-of-pocket expense for each mailer is $10. Let’s then say that you seed your list with three company contacts, and your program involves three mailings. $10 x 3 addressees x 3 mailings = a mere $90!
Given the benefits I’ve discussed, wouldn’t you rather invest that $90 instead of risk dropping the marketing management ball?
September 10, 2020
Bethany Black
standart
Creative, Dimensional Marketing, Frequently Asked Questions, Prestige Promo News, Promotional Marketing, Rush Jobs
You Want it When?
There’s an old adage in the ad biz:
RUSH jobs take twice as long, cost double, are only half as good, and always have to be redone.
Some of that may sound illogical. But go back to Ben Franklin’s observation that “Haste makes waste.” (Then again, ol’ Ben also said that “He who hesitates is lost.” So go figure.)The point here is that planning is key. That applies to marketing campaigns as much as it does to life in general. Last-minute hurry-ups without appropriate pre-planning and scheduling almost always result in mistakes. Some are minor, sure, but others are not quite so accommodate-able.
Case in point is a poster that was produced for an international shipping enterprise in Southern California. My team hired a professional photographer who went out and burned rolls of full-color “2-by’s” shots. He did a great job, and we and our client were impressed.
Alas, as we were reviewing the proof sheets of the shooter’s work and, at that time, ahead of schedule, the client told us that we had to select the photo and go to print now...as in “Right now!”
We obliged, and the client chose the photo he wanted. Off the image went to the printer, onto the press the image went, and no one was at the end of the press output to proof the image because there just was no time for such.
The 24” x 36” full-color posters were printed and delivered, and all were happy. Well, that is, until we and the client got a good look at the vastly enlarged image. In the lower left corner of the photo -- and something that only time and attention and planning would’ve revealed if we hadn’t been rushed – was some guy urinating on the side of a building.
Now if we’d been able to “study” the 2-by proof sheet and loop it, as the phrase goes, we’d have spotted the pee’er. But we were on RUSH. So it went.
Even worse, the printed posters had been shipped out to key targets, contacts, prospects, and more before we’d noticed the visual “insult.”
There is a lesson here for not just the purchase and use of promotional products, but more directly on same per a program plan that accommodates and accounts for calendaring...and that avoids last-minute risks and the consequent budget and marketing image costs.
That client appreciated the value of promo products, and that poster was one of those products. But their sudden haste certainly made for image waste and budget waste.
So really, when and what do you want?
August 21, 2020
Bethany Black
standart
Here comes December, and along with it come promotional calendars of all shapes, sizes, and styles.
I get ‘em each year, don’t you?
They arrive in the mail or are handed out by my insurance agent, my dentist, my doctor, my dry cleaner, my pet groomer, my barber, my auto mechanic, my CPA...I’ve even received a few from politicians.
Here’s a word for all of you calendar-ers: ho-hum.
As a business owner or corporate sales & marketing executive (don’t get me started on the “sales” vs. “marketing” title), you might think that an annual calendar is a nice and easy and cheap promo item.
O.K., a calendar is easy, and it’s certainly cheap. But nice? Considering how many other calendars your targets, prospects, and customers get, your promo dollars would be better spent on a roll of toilet paper or a box of facial tissue (we all call them Kl***ex, but copyright/trademark laws keep me from using that colloquialism).
With few exceptions, your annual calendar is for your target audience the pulp equivalent of one egg in a dozen. Same same, so what, what’s the dif, ho-hum.
It’s not that calendars aren’t appreciated. But if you’re going to invest in promoting your business with tangible advertising, why do what everyone else is doing? Why spend your precious marketing dollars on “Me too”?
Dimensional marketing --- and that’s what we’re talking about here – works, in large part, on differentiating your company from your competitors. The annual calendar is merely an example.
And hey, if you like your yearly calendar, then why not make it stand out? You’ll pay more, sure. However, your audience will more value it....and thus keep it and use it...and thereby more appreciate you.
It’s about marketing solutions, not just quick & easy stuff.
It’s also about building customer loyalty and expectation.
Years ago, we ran an annual dealer trip promotion for a major copier machine company. We did it for 10 years, and each year we achieved at least 150% of sales goal.
Among the dimensional marketing items we used every year in the promotions was a recipe tile. That is, it was an 8” x 8” ceramic tile that featured a recipe for a dish common to the respective promo destination (e.g., London, Hong Kong, Hawaii).
The dealer network looked forward to those recipe tiles.
But one year, corporate management decided to not pay to produce and distribute the tiles. Dealers complained, and sales dropped by more than 50%.
Those recipe tiles were not just appreciated but unique. And yep, they were anticipated.
So what does this have to do with calendars?
Plenty.
If you’re going to invest in dimensional marketing products, follow the recipe for differentiation and audience interest, not merely bean-counter mentality. Seek solutions.
Cheap breeds cheap.
September 11, 2018
Bethany Black
standart