The Top 10 Most Popular Articles in Our Marketing Blog for 2021

By Gloria Lafont

In planning our content strategy for the new year, one of the things we do at Action Marketing is a thorough review of the readership of our existing content. This is a valuable exercise to make sure we are providing value to our readers and not just adding to the noise.

There are a few articles that stand out. Interestingly, a couple are a few years old. Here are our top 10 most popular articles. We hope they are informative and inspiring for you to elevate your marketing in your distributor business.

1. How to Create a Value Proposition for Your Distributor Business

A value proposition is not a slogan, a tagline, an elevator pitch or a positioning statement. While those might be part of your brand message, your value proposition is much more than that.

Simply put, the value proposition is a carefully crafted marketing message that clearly communicates to your ideal client what it is you sell and the value of working with you.

You want to have a succinct vision to memorize and quickly respond when asked “what do you do," as well as an expanded, more detailed version to use in marketing materials such as brochures, presentations, and most importantly, your website.

2. 10 Steps to a Killer Prospecting System

Getting a steady flow of new clients is vital if you have set high sales goals for your business. This is easier to achieve if you have a systematic prospecting method. It not only gives you a repeatable process, but also allows you to train others when you’re ready to delegate. If you don’t, you will likely be trying random tactics here and there, and not building enough momentum from your efforts.

Sales is the most important activity a business owner needs to focus on. If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ve probably noticed that it’s getting harder to reach the right prospects. If you are just getting started, you’re probably realizing it’s not as easy as you initially thought.

3. Five Mistakes Most Distributors Make That Are Holding Them Back

As a business owner, you wear many hats. Even though getting business in the door is the most important one, it is likely order fulfillment related work is the task that takes most of your time.

The problem is, without a reliable way to bring business in regularly, there is no growth.
You might be able to maintain your current sales to a point and keep busy, but your business has become stagnant.

In working with hundreds of small and medium-sized business owners over the years, the last six with distributors, I have noticed three common mistakes most of them make that are hindering business growth.

Let’s take a look and those three mistakes and what to do to correct them. Stop making those mistakes and you will see a big difference in your business.

4. Google My Business: Why You Need It, How to Set it Up, and What to Do With It

Google My Business is a place that Google provides for businesses to create their own profile and it’s one of the most underutilized online tools by distributors.

There are many advantages to having your own business profile on Google My Business. It’s important to note that it does provide many more advantages to local B2C businesses where proximity is a factor, because it’s tied to the Maps and it picks up the results based on the map location, but there are definitely worthwhile advantages for B2B distributors as well, where Google doesn’t factor in the location and distance in the same way, as buyers will want to visit the website and not go to the business.

5. Six Ways to Boost SEO in Your E-Commerce Website

In today’s digital world, everyone is turning to Google to find what they want, including promotional products buyers. Ideally, you want to show up on the first page of results for the right search terms.

SEO is a long-term game. Even though you can’t drastically change your SEO ranking overnight, these small adjustments will gradually improve your SEO ranking.

6. Three Drivers of Change In the Promotional Products Business

The digital transformation has reshaped every industry and every aspect of our everyday lives.

While it has been a gradual process over the years, the pandemic accelerated technology adoption, changing the way nearly every industry operates almost overnight, so they could continue to be open for business.

For some distributors, especially the more traditional, it can be hard to accept that these are not temporary changes but instead a major transformation.

The basic difference between change and transformation is that change is a modification that can be reversed, and transformation comprises a series of changes over a period of time to a point where there is no going back to the way it was before.

Transformation eventually causes a change in behaviors, and at this point in time, new buying and communication habits are forming.

As you plan to make changes in your business, it is important to consider the three major drivers of change impacting our industry.

7. Five Reasons to Rebrand Your Distributor Business

We often talk to distributors who are looking to freshen up their brands to stay up with the times. Rebranding can yield big results, as long as it’s not just a cosmetic change that doesn’t address the real issues.

If your digital brand is behind the times, it reflects poorly on your business as a whole, and you may be missing out on sales, customers, followers, and other important opportunities.

Your online brand needs to effectively communicate what you do, whom you help and the value of doing business with you. If your website and social media profiles are not up to the task, you may be missing out on new ideal clients, repeat sales and other important opportunities.

A rebrand is not a quick and easy task. It takes an investment of time, effort and money, so it is important to rebrand your business for the right reasons and the right way.

If you’re thinking about rebranding your distributor business, here are five indicators that the time has come.

8. How to Avoid Price Shoppers and Attract Better Clients

Promotional products distributors are faced with brutal competition, especially from big companies that sell online, who sometimes have such low prices that make it impossible for them to even come close. Besides the price-driven online companies, there are many distributors that are willing to cut down prices in an attempt to compete.

Unfortunately, if you’re a small promo business, you don’t stand a chance of growing your business if you try to outdo those guys on price.

However, there is a whole other market that prefers to work with a boutique-type distributor business. Not everyone is looking to buy the cheapest with disregard of all other factors, nor are they looking to order online. This is the segment you must focus on in order to grow your business—the target audience you must identify and pursue.

9. The Real ROI of Social Media for Distributors

Many distributors tend to question the value of social media, thinking it’s too much effort for too little to no return.

ROI seems to be the default, catch-all question distributors have when it comes to social media looking to measure the results in a straight-line approach: How much did I sell from posting on platform X? Unless you are paying for advertising, you can’t use this formula.

Social media is about networking in your blue ocean (I’m referring to "The Blue Ocean Strategy" by Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim, a great book about the benefits of narrowing down your audience). In other words, to get the right people to know you, like you and trust you.

Today’s prospects and customers are active in many places at once across many channels, both online and offline, hence the need to be visible in all those channels. As you’ve heard before, you need to meet your prospects where they are.

10. Marketing Misconceptions Keeping You From Growing Your Promo Business

As the internet has reached a state of maturity, it is necessary for distributors to have an online presence to be in the game. In fact, it’s a provable fact that companies that invest in developing their brand’s online presence in a structured, consistent way, experience sustained growth.

However, smaller distributors have big misconceptions regarding digital marketing for their business, as shown in frequent discussions about online marketing on Facebook groups and other forums.

Since misconceptions do a disservice to everyone. I’m addressing the most common ones that seem to pop up time and again, so you can make any necessary changes.

This article was first published in Action Marketing blog. For more marketing articles, free webinars and guides specific to the promo business, visit the Resources section of ActionMarketingCo.com.

0 Comments

View Comments

Gloria Lafont Author's page

Gloria Lafont is a mother, grandmother and business owner. Throughout her business career she has started, bought and sold a dozen businesses in the branding and marketing field, including a distributor company. She’s currently president of Action Marketing Co., founded in 2007. Her company focuses on helping distributors increase visibility, generate awareness and drive traffic so they can connect with more of their ideal clients and generate more leads and sales.

Gloria is a big fan and supporter of education and the cultural arts, volunteering her time and donating marketing support over the years to help various organizations grow in membership and revenue. She also enjoys the South Florida lifestyle mix of business, beaches and arts.