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Do as I Say, Not as I Do

I heard a story about a distributor who spent two years calling on the marketing director of a large utility company. He finally got the prospect excited about reinforcing the company’s brand by adding 4-color logos to its billing statements. The order was processed, the statements were printed and shipped, and the distributor completed the cycle by billing his new customer. When the time came to reorder, the marketing director fired the distributor. The distributor asked why. The marketing director finally told him: “You convinced me to add color to our statements, but when you invoiced me, you didn’t use any yourself!”

Practice what you preach.

Every day, distributors persuade clients to spend money on direct mail, flyers, brochures and promotional products, but they don’t invest in marketing themselves. When I was a sales rep, prospects regularly invoked word-of-mouth as an excuse not to buy advertising. “But how can people talk about you if they don’t know you exist?” I asked. Customers won’t carry a marketing message into the universe at a predictable rate, so proactively reaching out for new business is critical. Word-of-mouth operates like the big bang theory. Before it expands far and wide, it has to start somewhere. That somewhere is coordinated marketing campaigns.

This issue of Print Solutions explores marketing trends, theory and practice, beginning with a story on just how much planning goes into word-of-mouth marketing (“Spread the Infection,” page 28.) One of the ideas behind these stories is that while core marketing principles are the same as always, technology adds a twist.

One reason small distributors shy away from marketing is the sometimes substantial upfront financial investment required. Others claim they don’t have time. A few small distributors are working to eliminate those obstacles by forming a cooperative program: “Self-Promotion That Scores” begins on page 14.

Andy Brown
Managing Editor
abrown@PSDA.org