Be open to the possibilities, think creatively and be willing to take strategic risks.

Those were three actions Cliff Quicksell, a promo industry sales veteran with a long track record of success on the distributor and supplier side of the business, said are essential to powering self-promotions that generate eye-popping ROI during a Monday morning professional education session at The ASI Show Fort Worth.

In “Self-Promotions Campaigns That Wow, Engage & Get Results,” Quicksell shared a bevy of tips and case studies that illustrated how distributors can achieve new heights of success by making their marketing stand out from the competition.

For starters, Quicksell said good marketing is about getting recipients to sit up, take notice, and be interested in working with you/your company. It’s a door-opener to a higher level discussion that then delves down into particulars like client goals and products. Unfortunately, distributors can make the mistake of simply sending clients certain products and hoping they’ll order them. While that can work, competitors are often already doing the same, making you one of many.

To emerge ahead of the pack, Quicksell said it’s vital to understand your audience and then tailor a campaign that’s suited especially to them. Quicksell told of a mailer that was designed to look like a construction blueprint. Content on the blueprint detailed how to craft a successful marketing campaign. Recipients were construction companies, including a massive New York City firm that was so impressed that the head of marketing reached out almost immediately with an interest in working with the distributor. “It was a $10 marketing piece that caught the attention of a $1 billion construction company,” said Quicksell.

Sometimes, creative inspiration strikes like lightning. But other times, more often really, it needs a kick in the pants. Quicksell suggested one way to stimulate creative  self-promotional concepts is to compare two dissimilar objects. He used this exercise to come up with a promotional piece in which he compared himself as a salesperson to a Swiss Army knife – the connection being that he was a one-stop strategic partner with an array of helpful tools to help clients achieve their marketing and sales goals. The creative campaign helped him connect with a client with a $1 million budget. “There is so much opportunity out there for you,” Quicksell told the room full of distributors. “I want you to embrace it.”

Another way to stimulate creativity is to “think like a chef,” contemplating how you can combine different “ingredients,” like certain products and potential self-promotion campaign themes, into a package that will deliver a real “wow” factor for prospects. Quicksell gave the example of how a branded viewfinder could be an excellent item to feature in a self-promotion targeted at entities that range from car dealerships to convention centers. The latter could put images of swanky nearby hotels or tourist spots into the viewfinders, then send the products to event planners to promote their facility. Distributors who self-promote to convention centers using this concept demonstrate creativity that could help them land the centers as clients. “If you’re willing to be creative and take a little risk, the results can be explosive for you,” said Quicksell.

Additionally, Quicksell advised that it’s critical to understand your own goals for each self-promotion and to build campaigns that aim to generate the desired result. For example, he spoke of a campaign that was specially crafted as a follow-up to prospects who had said they were happy with their current distributor partner. The mailer featured an image of a “2^nd Place” ribbon and a printed message that conveyed that the prospecting distributor would love to be considered as a second choice if the prospect’s main distributor ever couldn’t come through. Imaginative, genuinely helpful to the prospect and not at all pushy, the mailer has helped directly spark sales, including a $30,000 order for one sales pro whose mailer kept them top-of-mind. “You create that connection, that engagement, and things really do turnaround,” said Quicksell.

Of course, it’s also important to be tactful and use common sense. “As long as it doesn’t hurt anybody emotionally, spiritually or physically, the gloves are off and you can be as creative as you like,” Quicksell said. As an example of going too far, Quicksell discussed the case of a German company that sent what appeared to be ticking time bombs to prospects as part of a campaign themed around the concept of “time is ticking down.” Not surprisingly, it generated fear – and a host of other repercussions.

Still, within the reasonable bounds, there’s practically countless campaigns promo pros can execute to start opening more doors today. “Be open to the possibilities,” said Quicksell. “Bring passion to what you do. It’s infectious.”