Self promotion is a valuable skill to have for any business, but especially for those that focus on marketing and promotion. Justin Zavadil, executive vice president for American Solutions for Business (ASB), Glenwood, Minn., shared a particularly successful self-promotion ASB recently completed.
Promo Marketing: Could you briefly describe a promotion you consider one of your best?
Justin Zavadil: We created a multitouch marketing campaign that included an introductory card and three promotional product mailings. The campaign was themed “hello” and was designed to help our associates introduce themselves and American’s capabilities to potential customers. All of the pieces necessary to complete the campaign were included—gift boxes, labels, cards, email graphics, a timeline guide and more.
PM: What items did you use for the promotion, and why?
JZ: We chose small, inexpensive items that could effectively promote each of the three product categories we wanted to highlight. To represent e-commerce, we chose the Bendi Man USB drive from US Flash & Technologies. We were able to have them preloaded with a direct connection to the e-commerce area of our website. To help relay the message about our promotional product capabilities, we chose a mini T-shirt from SanMar and had it imprinted with the message “Find the perfect fit with American.” The third item was a simple acrylic cube frame from CNIJ with a custom card inserted that creatively showed the benefits of print and our capabilities in that area.
PM: What did you like about the promotion, and why?
JZ: It fit all the needs of a successful campaign—creative, effective and easy-to-use. For a relatively low cost, it helped open doors and secure appointments at many businesses where associates had been trying for months (or even years) to gain access to buyers.
PM: What was the best decision you made with the promotion? What made it so important?
JZ: We wanted to make the promotion appealing to all types of customers and markets so that the majority of our associates could benefit from sending it to their potential customers.
PM: Did you run into any problems or hurdles with the promotion? If so, what were they, and how did you overcome them?
JZ: Finding inexpensive, but effective items that would easily convey our message was a challenge—finding an item that could represent our print capabilities was an especially daunting task. We overcame it by just searching until we found the right solution—just as our associates do for their customers every day.
Want to be considered for a future edition of My Best Promotion? Contact Executive Editor Michael Cornnell at (215) 238-5449 or [email protected] for a list of questions and other details.
