When I was in media sales, this is what gave me my edge. I learned vendor marketing in radio. It was the toughest year of my professional life swimming in the shark tank, but I learned my lessons well, translating them into print and later the internet. It was understanding the power of customized promotions melded with content, strategic marketing, public relations and trends that allowed me to eventually leave advertising sales, start my own company and strike out on my own. However, I use vendor marketing every day and it's instrumental in building my companies and products.

There are 27 platforms of vendor marketing that generate income in addition to functioning as advertising and/or public relations. Considering that advertising is generally considered an expense rather than a source of revenue, this is the kind of news that clients perk up over. It can be, and a rather profitable one as well.

To do vendor marketing, you have to know what promotions, events, anniversaries and holidays are happening and when. Then you need to take that little box of conventional thinking and rules, flatten it and recycle it. Convention doesn't cut it. Creative thinking, that's the key.

I designed the 2012 Event, Editorial & Promotional Calendar around that key, making it portable and something you can take in with you to a client, mark up, scribble in and plan what you need, no matter if your client is a car dealer, agency or the local furniture store. The LEEP gives you entrance into where the real money is: brands. Regional managers, district mangers, brand managers...the people who control the budgets that the advertising agencies can't touch. The people who are directly responsible for increased sales within their region and have the decision making ability to agree to something different. If you've got a client you've been wanting to meet, gift them a LEEP in exchange for that first meeting. It's the best chatchki they'll ever receive. I can guarantee the first thing your new client will do is look up his or her birthday and see what's on that day. Everyone does. Now you've broken the ice. Go get 'em scrappy!

The LEEP will make your job easier...not to mention make you a heck of a lot more fun at networking events, (and first dates). People love little random factoids and knowing what today is...it's a fabulous icebreaker.

One caveat of course. The LEEP deals with dynamic information and thousands of different sources and each date is therefore ‘subject to change without notice.’ Strikes, weather, disasters, wars and a litany of things can cause dates to move. Still, it's the closest thing you'll ever have to a crystal ball...and 1000 times more reliable.

Sources include the US and other nations' governments, the United Nations, various professional organizations, non-profits and NGOs, news stories, public and private institutions, websites and cultural customs. We've also included current events as they unfold, events we feel will continue to impact culture, commerce and society including the major uprisings in the Arab Spring, major disasters and Occupy Wall Street movement. With the LEEP you'll always have ingenious ideas and something interesting to say.

As a media or advertising rep, how do you LEEP?

1. Use it to generate more revenue. If an organization has set aside a specific month, day or week, find out if additional co-op dollars are available from manufactures to capitalize upon that event. Check with the regional managers of companies and organizations that are affected by the special event. Often they will have funds set aside to increase awareness that you can use to develop a promotion or event dovetailing with the national or international event.
   
   
2. Use the calendar for advertising and promotional planning with agencies and individual companies. Most marketing is planned 6-18 months in advance. Traditionally, fiscal years begin in September and budgets are finalized in July and August for the next year. The heightened awareness due to the PR push will make their products/services more desirable during that time.
   
   
3. Use it to bring in new clients. The calendar is a tremendous icebreaker for new business development and a great strategy for securing that first meeting.
   
   
4. Use it to plan your own PR push for new products and services. For example, if you are releasing a book on diabetes, October and November have several weekly, daily and monthly events designed to bring awareness to the public about diabetes maintenance, treatment, avoidance and living with the disease. This would be the ideal time to plan a book tour.