SAMMY Winners Share Best Practice Marketing Tips
Winners of the 18th annual SAMMY Awards illustrate how creative and economical marketing collateral helps build brand awareness and business success. Learn who won in each category and pick up effective concepts for your own company.
Program sponsors present SAMMY Awards to industry’s top marketers.
Alarm Engineering
Best Display Advertisement
Sponsored by ADI
Display Ad Informs Parents They Can Stay in the Know
Talk about a fortuitous moment to cross paths with a satisfied client. Ron Boltz, President and CEO of Salisbury, Md.-based Alarm Engineering, was attending an afterhours event when a residential customer quipped, “Your system is worth its weight in gold to me. Whenever my teenage son tries to sneak out of the house, I know about it!”
Now there’s a customer testimonial a company could hang its hat on to promote interactive services. Boltz would tuck that little nugget away and later share it back at the office the next morning with the sales and marketing coordinator, Lillian Overby.
A playful SAMMY Award-winning display ad that touted “Being a Teenager Has Never Been Tougher” was born, or soon to be.
“The intended message to our prospect was, ‘Alarm Engineering keeps the bad guys out, and keeps the good guys — your kids — safe, by keeping you informed as to your children’s activities and providing peace of mind,” explains Overby.
The staff went through several iterations of the verbiage placed on the top and mid taglines as they were sensitive not to suggest to potential customers that their teenagers are always up to no good. “However, we did want to get them thinking about all the ways interactive services can keep them in the know,” Overby explains. “Hopefully, while adding a bit of humor getting parents to think about how they might have snuck out a time or two when they were teenagers!”
ASG Security
Best Promotional Giveaway Item
Sponsored by ISC West
Giveaway Item Puts Pet Owners at Ease
A big concern for pet owners is that their four-legged friends (or feathery companions) are safe when they’re away from home. Recognizing this, ASG Security of Beltsville, Md., took steps to provide their pet-loving customers with some peace of mind by offering a pet window/door decal. The item alerts first responders to the existence, number and type of pets in the home in the event of an emergency.
The SAMMY Award-winning giveaway was the brainchild of Jim Boots, ASG’s vice president of residential sales & marketing, and was designed by the firm’s Manager of IT Operations Lauren Fleetwood. It comes with a refrigerator magnet that can be customized with up to nine local emergency numbers, including the homeowner’s veterinarian.
When sending the materials to customers, the firm embedded the magnet in a postcard that underscores the danger pets face from carbon monoxide poisoning and home fires. The marketing piece also includes how ASG can provide a solution to those threats.
In addition to sending out the postcard, ASG Security also promoted the decal on its social media outlets to anyone who wanted one and received an overwhelming response.
“We were getting hundreds of people — 300 to 400 daily — saying, ‘Send this to me,’” says ASG’s Bob Ryan, senior vice president of sales & marketing. “It was unbelievable; I never saw anything like it. But it just shows you the power of social media. When you offer something that has any perceived value and there is no cost, people will come.”
Related Content
Security Is Our Business, Too
For professionals who recommend, buy and install all types of electronic security equipment, a free subscription to Security Sales & Integration is like having a consultant on call. You’ll find an ideal balance of technology and business coverage, with installation tips and techniques for products and updates on how to add sales to your bottom line.
A free subscription to the #1 resource for the residential and commercial security industry will prove to be invaluable. Subscribe today!
