Work the Buying Chain

You’ve undoubtedly heard and read — repeatedly — how critical visibility is to the growth of your business. Participate in your local Chamber of Commerce. Contribute articles to publications. Volunteer for charitable organizations. If you’re taking steps like these as part of marketing your organization, great. But if you need more ways to reach out to prospective buyers, consider ways of helping your clients and prospects help their clients and prospects. After all, if you’re developing promotions and providing products for your clients’ meetings and trade shows, you ought to have a good awareness of their target audiences.

For example:

• Conduct a seminar. Let’s say you have a bank client. The bank has plenty to gain by offering its corporate customers a free seminar on how to make the most of their promotional marketing dollars. Problem is, the bank probably doesn’t have an in-house marketing director who is well versed in a variety of industries, or full of ideas on how different business types can effectively market themselves using promotional products and gifts. If you offer to sponsor or co-sponsor and conduct an information-packed seminar, the bank looks good and it’s likely you’ll generate leads. (TIP: Pitch this idea to your own bank if you don’t have a bank among your client list.)

• Develop educational literature. You share ideas all week long with clients and prospects. Why not extend these gems to your clients’ clients? Every company looks for new marketing ideas and tips on how to capture more of the marketplace. You could put together a booklet, offer it in print or as a PDF file, for your clients to distribute as a client or new customer gift. Topics might include: Secrets of Successful Trade Show Promotions; How to Make Meetings Meaningful with Promotional Keepsakes; or Reward and Recognize Milestones. A client hungry to stand out in their industry might be thrilled at the suggestion, and happily share the expenses of producing the book. You may wish to cover the cost in its entirety, though, in return for being featured more prominently as the writer.

Start by offering these ideas to one or two key clients. If the format works for you and your clients, you can always offer to conduct additional seminars or write more books. And even if you need to hire a writer or marketing specialist to help you develop these programs, chances are you’ll recoup the expense quickly and easily.