AIA Corporation, Appleton, Wisconsin, hosted its first virtual Marketing Lab event earlier this month, bringing together nearly 90 owners and seven speakers over two days of hands-on learning and collaboration. Topics covered included social media, email marketing, corporate business, and website and email analytics.
“In today’s competitive sales environment, marketing can no longer simply complement a sales strategy,” said Katrina Willis, senior vice president of marketing and supplier relations for AIA. “But with limited hours in the day and the inability to keep up with the latest trends, we know this can be a challenge. Because of this, we wanted to provide our owners with direct access to experts who can share relevant information, tools, and best practices needed to start and run a successful promotional product marketing campaign. “
The event began with keynote speaker Chris Burns, a digital marketing expert, entrepreneur, and author who provided tips and best practices on using various digital marketing strategies such as email marketing, social media, content marketing, and SEO to get the mix right find and implement a program that creates value.
Burns then hosted a social media panel discussion with industry experts including Charity Gibson, national accounts coordinator at Peerless; Melissa Haen, Goldstar’s North American Marketing Manager; and Christina Maag, an AIA owner from Hoopla. The group shared best practices for using Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to create visibility and grow the business.
“The Marketing Lab was incredibly productive and informative,” said Joe Miller, owner of AIA LogoTools. “So much has changed in the past year and it is always helpful to be aware of the latest marketing trends so we can stay relevant and connect with our customers and prospects.”
AIA Marketing Lab was produced by the AIA Marketing Team, a full-service agency-style department that works with owners to help their business grow. Through the Experience AIA platform, all owners have access to AIA’s on-demand advertising library, which includes email templates, digital flip books, custom presentations, supplier sales materials, and more.
In addition, owners can take advantage of AIA’s monthly campaign management offering or hire AIA to support custom marketing projects.
Marketing Lab participates in the AIA educational program plan, which aims to meet the changing needs of today’s distributor. Other programs include Ask the Expert, a series of webinars that connects owners with experts on topics ranging from customer behavior to PPE to marketing trends.
“We look forward to making AIA’s Marketing Lab an annual event while also providing monthly updates so we can continue to provide our owners with access to top marketers and opportunities to work with their peers to ensure they aren’t just one Have a marketing strategy, but it is also designed to meet the specific needs of the company and the promotional products industry, ”said Willis.
You can find more information about AIA at www.aiacommunity.com.