Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the
promo plague playbook. Today's going to be a
bite size segment around outreach by suppliers
to distributors. And we're going to focus mostly
on boutique suppliers because that's what we
feel our audience is most engaged in. And what
are some of the ways you can reach out to distributors
and distributor reps? to bubble up your brand
to stay top of mind with the folks who are your
sales force boots on the ground presenting your
product to end users. So I'm going to kick it
off. I'm going to send this over to Adrienne.
We're going to start off by talking a little
bit about regional shows and why they are important
and why they might be something for you to look
at in terms of your outreach. Adrienne. Thank
you, Lisa. Good morning, Kim. You know, it's
so funny because you almost make it sound like
such an easy, like, oh, you know, we're just
going to talk about reaching out to distributors.
Let's just preface it by we know and we understand
that it's not the easiest thing. And we know
we understand that distributors are busy. But
distributors, if you're not picking up the phone,
if you're not learning about a new line, you're
not hurting yourself. You're also hurting your
client too. So you have to think about that.
So you have to, you have to keep room in your
brain for new products because even though you
may say, well, nobody's ever asked me about this
particular item. Guess what? The minute you say
it, the next day they're going to be calling
and asking you. So I believe as a former distributor,
the importance of learning and understanding
and taking calls. But many of you are not answering
the phone for the suppliers and you are not necessarily
making it easy. And so we do want to hear from
you. So make sure you comment and share your
thoughts on this book. Lisa, I think that the
regional shows are important. And let me tell
you why. Because right now, inflation is high,
cost of gas is high, flights are expensive, and
people are planning to go to Las Vegas. And there's
still inexpensive, but very nice hotels that
you could stay in, you know, and maybe at $100
a night. You're gonna have food that you're gonna
be spending and PBI That's probably gonna eat
up most of your budget and you may not be able
to send all 12 of your reps So those local regionals
are so important. That's where you they could
go for a day, you know And hopefully it's not
that long of a drive. I think oh, you know going
three maybe even four hours Let them have a night,
you know overnight, but this is where they're
meeting their local rep. I love ASI and PPAI,
but you are often meeting reps that are not even
your market. The glory of meeting someone, a
rep in your market, getting their cell phone
number, becoming friends with them, that's going
to make a huge difference. So absolutely, first
of all, joining your regional, it's not even
expensive. If I could say maybe the most expensive
one is 200 and the average is about 150 and then
They're putting a lot together to create a showroom
right there on this floor that is being done
regional. So suppliers, you should absolutely
say yes, even if you're attending the two large
trade shows, because a lot of distributors are
not heading to these big shows. They look forward
to and they need to go to the regionals. So hopefully
I answer the question regarding that. Awesome.
No, that was great input. And I think I want
to pull out of that, Adrienne, for small teams,
regional shows are doable. If you're one person
show, a two person show, a three person organization,
if you can spend one day at a show meeting your
local reps and building trust and letting them
get to know you, there's a lot of value in that.
So I also want to mention if you do go to PPAI,
there usually is a regional coffee meeting where
you can go for free and you can meet all of the
regional organizations. They're also listed on
the PPAI website. So that's a great way to get
started launching your brand in promo and establishing
your brand in promo. Kim, anything you want to
tag on to that in terms of the shows? No, I mean
I agree with Adrian, you know, if you can get
there quickly keep the cost down It's also an
opportunity to really talk more one -on -one
with distributors to PPA I is ginormous people
are coming and going, you know, you're lucky
if you get that seven minutes be dating At the
booth I do think you get more time and more meaningful
conversations at those regional shows It also
quite frankly makes follow -up way more easier
and targeted. So if you're meeting people one
-on -one, you do have a smaller audience, it
makes it so much more manageable to go back to
the office, do the follow -up, reaching out to
your distributor, sending your samples, then
coming home with a stack of 300 business cards,
or looking at your spreadsheet that you put together
every night. So I think that there's some great
benefits to that. Awesome. Thank you for that.
So you kind of give me a good segue into the
next part, which is email marketing. So when
you go to the regional shows, make sure you take
that list. That's going to be your seed list.
This is going to become part of your marketing
plan in the future. So that's like gold when
you get the attendee list from the show. And
I also do want to mention a lot of multi -line
reps also have smaller local shows. So you want
to be dialing into that. And when you're at a
regional show, introduce yourself to the multi
-line reps that are exhibiting and build your
relationships with the other suppliers as well.
So you want to start a good email list. I think
one of the most common and doable ways to stay
in touch is email marketing. Now there's pros
and cons to that. You can sign up for an email
marketing service like MailChimp or Constant
Contact, or you can do it manually. You still
have to create a compelling message and you still
have to set a cadence for yourself so that you
are staying in touch on what I call a non -intrusive
basis because your reps are getting hundreds,
potentially hundreds of email marketing messages
from suppliers. daily. So, Adrienne, what are
your thoughts on the email marketing side of
it? Okay, so I'm going to be realistic right
now. First of all, constant contact in Mailchimp
is, in my mind, kind of old. You need a really
good CRM program. You need to keep up with it.
You need to actually have someone in your office
really handle emails because there's millions
of reasons why an email will not be delivered
correctly, right? You've got to remove those
unsubscriber. You've got to make sure that you're
keeping it clean. And then we're not talking
right now the marketing and the actual email
itself. If you are a supplier and you don't have
a CRM, I'm gonna say it. I don't think you have
a business. So no, do not do it without, do not
do it on your own. First of all, you really can't
send any more. I could maybe send 20 emails here
and there, but if I start to send too many, Outlook's
going to ding me and now all of a sudden all
my emails are going to junk mail. And Lisa and
Kim, I really say this, every email that we send
out, whether it's through a program or not, it's
almost an assumption that it was not received.
Because it's gonna get lost, it's gonna go in
the junk mail. So I... I think that if you are
going to do email you find someone who's an expert
that understands that can give you the right
CRM program that's going to make sense for you
that they're going to clean it up after every
single time that they send it they're going to
validate whatever needs to be validated because
I don't know enough but I do know that and be
thoughtful of your time sending an email the
week of Thanksgiving. Well, you know, that may
not be the best time, not because it's just an
awful time because Black Friday, but that's because
it's Black Friday and everyone else is sending
emails. You got to know the times that are best
and you're going to do a lot of testing to make
sure you're doing it right. So that's my thoughts
on email marketing. Kim. And, you know, to follow
up on that, you have to get over your own disdain.
for your own email box, right? So, all of us
wake up in the morning and we're like, more email,
more email, more email. But you know what? You
can name all those emails and all those companies
today, if I asked you, because they're hitting
you on the head. It's the same concept when you're
reaching out to your distributors. If they don't
see you, they're not going to call you. So even
though you may be like, oh, I don't want to be
one of those people. I don't want to be one of
those emails. If you are not one of those emails,
you will not get that phone call. It takes repetitiveness
over and over again for people to just think,
oh, yes, I do have a project that needs a t -shirt
and look. Organic tea stars right here right
here, right? So There is there, you know, I get
the trepidation that you don't want to be one
of them But you want to be one of them because
everybody else all your competitors are one of
them And if you're not that's worse Awesome.
Thank you so much. So box on I love that so just
a couple of follow -up notes on that on all of
this great compelling knowledge that that Kim
and Adrian are sharing. Don't be, well, one thing
is if you're not using a CRM and you're not using
an email marketing service and you're doing them
on your own, you won't have open rates. If you
do use a service, you will have open rates. But
what I want to say to support Kim's comment is
get it out there. Even if it's not opened, the
distributor has seen, oh, You know, this this
supplier is consistently emailing me. Maybe I
want to start paying attention to them. So even
though they don't open it, they see your subject
line and they see that it's coming from you.
So that's important. There is equity in doing
that, even if the email hasn't been opened. So
really, really good Intel here. And for me, when
I work on email marketing, I try to keep it short.
compelling and hopefully have some type of offer
or reason in that email for somebody to reach
back out to me. Now, as a small supplier, you
might not have the luxury of offering a special
deal or something like that, but at least have
a link in there to book a meeting with you. So
if they do open the email and they do want to
reach out easily on their own terms, they can
click your Calendly link and set up a meeting
with you. So that's sort of a way that you can
elevate your email marketing and not cost you
anything. So what we're looking for for our boutique
suppliers is approachable, manageable ways of
marketing to your distributor network. So we're
going to move on a little bit to social media.
And Adrian is a social media maven, super well
versed in LinkedIn marketing, you know, has a
consulting business that helps many, many suppliers
and distributors in the industry. elevate their
LinkedIn and get clients through LinkedIn. But
there's also other social media outlets like
Facebook pages and things like that, where as
a supplier, you can show up. Adrienne, talk to
us about LinkedIn. Okay, so for LinkedIn, that
is really known as the business one. So let's
just kind of dispel the myths. First myth, the
supplier will say, no distributor wants to you
know follow me or or you know they're not going
to if i do a reach out they're not not going
to connect with me the answer is you're wrong
they will the second one is yeah but i i can't
really be promoting my product because i'm not
i don't sell to everyone i only sell in the industry
oh that's okay you can actually that's how you
can help other distributors suppliers just put
a little asterisk and on the bottom say sold
exclusively via promotional products professionals
you know reach out to yours that makes a lot
of sense now you're helping distributor that's
what we want you want the distributor to say
hey to actually take it and be able to share
it my advice for suppliers first of all have
your own profile The old adage of the cobbler's
daughter has no shoes. That's what's taking place.
You are in the marketing and branding industry.
Why are you not marketing and branding yourself
and your own expertise? I'm not even understanding
why, and I've seen so many. And distributors,
I'm talking to you too. My gosh, make sure that
you're LinkedIn. You're proud of where you work.
Make sure the company page. is explains carefully
what you do say sold exclusively through that
just adding more value and makes a distributor
think wow they really understand what i need
and they will connect with you and and can you
do me a favor suppliers don't reach out with
a with a message like asking for information
how how sales for you how's everything going
don't make someone have to answer you. First,
just have a nice connection request of who you
are. And then your next one could be adding value.
Your biggest, the biggest thing you need to do
on LinkedIn is add value. Okay. Do I think that
suppliers should be on Facebook or Instagram?
You know, I think it makes sense to have a company
page, have a, you know, look nice, have some
information carefully, but To me it's not like
a place of selling like LinkedIn is so I think
that with LinkedIn with a great connection Yes,
I will Lisa. I'm happy to you have a very nominal
fee to show you how to do it and and this way
You have someone in your own office that understands
the industry that will reach out to distributors
Imagine that I'm working with two suppliers right
now four years and we still have thousands of
thousands of distributors to hit so you're gonna
So I'm happy to train someone to go into your
LinkedIn and how to do that. That's really that
that is very successful. It does work. It does
set up appointments. We had Alyssa Turner from
Splash Brands on an episode or two. So you can
go back and listen to that one. And Alyssa and
Mike in the office and Kayla have been, you know,
using the outreach. And distributors that are
smart are like you know what I'd like to learn
a little bit more about what you offer because
as a distributor again you want to make sure
you have enough headspace that you can learn
so but don't put all your energy into linkedin
either like you know be very careful the only
thing I have to say with linkedin though is when
you send your your messages, or if you do a newsletter,
I'm happy to show anyone how to do a newsletter,
you are actually reaching right into their focus
inbox. Whereas when you're sending emails, and
even through like a MailChimp, sometimes you're
in that unfocused mailbox, depending on how someone
set it up. But LinkedIn, you really 100 % know.
So I think all boutique suppliers should absolutely
have a newsletter where you're providing high
value and information, even if you're just doing
it once a month. great way to get into the eyes
of your distributors. Thank you, Lisa. And use
AI for that, guys. Find a way to do small bites
with AI. For the promo playbook, we've chosen
the podcast as our way to keep consistently posting
on LinkedIn so that every week or every week
and a half, we're posting compelling content
for our audience. So consistency is important.
And again, we know as small teams, all of this
can feel really overwhelming. you know, try to
choose your path and stick to a path and focus
on that until you can bring on a team member
to help out. And we will be having a segment
on offshore support, which is another way you
can start to grow your business. So we don't
want to overwhelm everybody with all the ways
you can reach out to distributors. And we are
really just scratching the surface in this. We're
kind of giving you the grassroots guerrilla marketing
ways for you to handle getting in front of distributors.
And Adrian, I don't know if you mentioned this
in this podcast, but you can target, whether
you target regionally, which I am a big fan of,
because distributors like to work with local
companies. There is also What Adrian calls lumpy
mail actual mail? Where you're sending something
really cool and fun through the mail and maybe
hopefully it's your own product if it's if it's
mailable And we also want to touch on phone calls,
but before I move on and Kim I'm sorry I'm tossing
these to you at the end which might not leave
you a lot, you know to Say in but what do you
what do you think about social media? No, I I
mean I do think LinkedIn is probably or is the
best route for this particular market. There
are a couple distributors and suppliers that
have Instagram. I think that is growing a little
bit, but not everyone is using that usually when
you're scrolling TikTok and you're not in a business
mindset. So I wouldn't necessarily waste the
energy. On Facebook, You know, it is interesting
because there are lots of groups, but that's
just not necessary for a marketing perspective.
And I know we'll probably talk a different session
on that one, but it is a good one to hear what
distributors are looking for and asking. So it
is a great way to trigger potential content or
ways for you to take that knowledge. of being
able to learn more how that distributor world
is working and then apply it to your communications,
your outbound communications. So that's where
I think the social media on the Facebook side
could be helpful in helping provide some insight,
some content, some guide rails into what you're
actually pushing out, whether that's through
LinkedIn or a phone call or email. Yep, yep.
So just on the social media front, There are
some awesome Facebook pages that are very active
in promo, like the promotional products professionals
Facebook page is one. And many of the nationals
have Facebook groups. So as you grow your brand,
these are opportunities to post information about
your company into these groups, again, in a non
intrusive, respectful way. And often in those
groups, people are sourcing products. So if you
can. Squeeze that into everything else that you're
doing. Looking at those Facebook pages and responding
to, hey, I'm looking for a t -shirt in the $20
range that's non -commodity based. Who do you
recommend? Or I'm looking for a really cool drinkware
piece. Who do you recommend in the $25 range?
those types of things give you opportunities
to promote your brands. I do think TikTok can
be important if you are a retail brand trying
to break into promo. There's also the idea of
end user marketing. How do you drive people to
your brand and promo with end user marketing.
And that could be a whole nother, you know, topic
for another day. And I do want to give a shout
out to promo corner as well. They do email marketing
and content generation for suppliers. So if you're
a boutique supplier, they're a great resource
to kind of jumpstart if you don't have your own
team. Let's see. Suppliers can also join podcasts
to share their brands. And we do want to have
some more supplier guests on our podcast. So
if you're a boutique supplier listening or any
size supplier and you'd like to be a guest on
the show, please reach out to us. You can reach
out to us on LinkedIn or Lisa or Kim at thepromoplaybook
.com. And we'd be happy to schedule you on as
a guest, because we really want to hear how people
are functioning right now. So the last bit, we
talked lump email, which I think is super valuable
and sort of an unsung hero in marketing these
days, and also phone calls. So Kim, I'll start
with you this time. What do you think about reaching
out with a phone call to a distributor rep? The
long -lost art of the phone call, right? It's
so easy to just hide behind our screen and shoot
off an email But you lose that connection that
personal connection and this business is all
about relationships So if someone is looking
for a t -shirt or a drink where there are multiple
suppliers that have it how you know how are you
going to get that sale? Well, if they know you
and not just know you from seeing you in the
inbox, but you actually took the time to pick
up the phone and call them, right? So I think
it is a lost art. I think, you know, we're all
busy, but picking up the phone means you took
the time. It's like getting that thank you letter
in the mail. right, instead of just the email
or the invitation to the party and not an invite,
right? It's special. It shows you went a little
bit further. Like you mattered to me. You picked
up the phone and called me. And maybe I can't
call you back right away, but I'm going to remember
that. So the next time I see your email, I'm
going to link it to that phone call or because
of those emails and I got your phone call. And
now we have a relationship established. And at
the end of the day, that's what this whole business
is about. Great, great insight, Kim. I love that.
And I do want to highlight what you said about
the thank you note. That's another way of keeping
in touch. in an old school way that is super
meaningful. So have some thank you cards. If
you can dash one off every now and then to a
distributor that took a meeting or actually sent
you an order, build the relationship that way
too. So that's our sound. Adrian, don't worry.
I'll toss it back over to you. Adrian, what are
you thinking? Okay. Don't use AI agents, please,
please. Don't think like, oh, we got to make
phone calls, so I'll hire someone from the outside
that has no understanding of the knowledge just
to say, hi, Kim, this is Sally with so -and -so
badge, just wanted to tell you we have a special
going on now. No, no. So no AI agents. Have it
be someone that, and reps, I'm sorry, but if
you're a supplier and you have, Sally going to
the trade show. Maybe she could be the one to
call, you know, figure out how many times it
really not going to take that long. And we were
saying it's okay to leave a message. That's even
just as good too. So script it out for yourself.
Have it be short, clear, concise. If you want
to get people to your booth, your booth number
and and leave a nice, you know, like you don't
have to call me back. If there's a call to action,
let them know. But I think that that's really
important because if another AI agent calls me,
I'm going to throw the phone at them. I don't
know what I can do. I ask them silly questions
and they can't answer it. And then I know they
are not real. Don't be fooled, you guys. Oh,
thank you. I had not even thought of that, Adrienne.
Thank you for sharing that insight. Kim, wrapping
up, any last thoughts on how a boutique supplier
can stay in touch with distributors? Yeah, I
mean, and we talk about this on, I think, every
podcast. It's like a recurring theme. The whole
idea of this reaching out to the distributor
is to make their job easier and to close a sale,
right? So communication is the key, and that
happens in all types of forms, multiple types.
So if you're only doing one, you're not communicating
enough. Like if you're not doing any, you're
not communicating enough. And if you're not communicating,
a supplier doesn't know you, a distributor doesn't
know you, they're going to have to hunt to find
you. That means their job is harder and nobody
wants things to be harder. So make it easy, get
your stuff in line, share the goodness. and the
excitement you have around your brand. And that's
how you're going to get those orders coming in
by establishing those relationships, pushing
information out, being seen, being known. Great,
great advice. And I would even say you could
leave your message. Hey, don't worry about calling
me back. Just want to stay on your radar thinking
of you today. That's it. Short, sweet. And a
lot of people don't even listen to their voicemails
anymore. They read them on their phone. So even
though they're reading it on their phone, they
see your name and your company. So Adrienne,
you're bringing up visiting a distributor if
you're in the area and you can make an appointment
with them. I don't recommend just dropping in
personally, but you play that however you think
is best for you. you know bring them coffee bring
them a sample if you're in the area and you're
spending some days out on the road again we know
you have a small team you might be a team of
one so pick and choose of this menu of ways to
stay in touch that works for you that you can
execute so a quick review we talked about regional
shows getting to know your mlr's and the folks
at the regionals Use social media, potentially
linked in, join some of the promo Facebook groups,
send something through the mail, think about
handwritten thank you cards, email marketing,
using a service like Promo Corner. There are
lots of ways, and again, we're just scratching
the surface, but don't wanna overwhelm the audience
with all the different ways you can market and
promo. Those are the main ones that we think
are doable for a boutique supplier. So thank
you for listening today. We wish you continued
success and we'll see you next time.