Integrated Marketing Campaigns Increase Sales
When it comes to small business, the owners are often a vital part of the sales and marketing team. If not “the team.” And, many hit the streets on a regular basis to engage in hand-to-hand combat; presentations, seminars and local business events. This is especially true for service professionals such as attorneys, accountants, architects, business advisers, life coaches and consultants.
So, you just returned from an exhausting, long day of face-to-face marketing. It is by far the most time consuming and costly sales tactic but also one that can produce high closing rates. And, most importantly, you now have an excellent opportunity to follow-up with not only the people you met but also your target prospects that couldn’t make it that day. How so?
It is easy to follow-up with the prospects you met as well as reach your online social network while doing so. Here are a few tips to consider:
- Trash that “thanks for attending, let me know if there is anything I can do..” email. Engage your prospect with a keynote summary of your presentation that includes an added “bonus” and I don’t mean a coupon here. Write-up your notes and add the questions asked as well as the answers provided during the presentation. However, don’t email the notes or the presentation. First publish the information online; preferably your blog. Send a link to your online content in the email.
- Now your offline activities are being integrated with your online marketing tools.
- A limited number of prospects will see your email. Potentially dozens if not hundreds or thousands can access your useful information online.
- Your making an effort to engage your prospects.
- Talk about the questions asked during the presentation on:
- Social networks and forums
- Your blog, your customer’s blogs and others read by your clients and target prospects
- Let everyone know you have additional and important information to add; Part 2 of the story for example. Normally there isn’t enough time in a presentation to adequately cover all of the material. For your top prospects, invite them to subscribe to your blog and/or email newsletter; better yet, subscribe them yourself and ask them to confirm the subscription. Inform them you’ll be adding Part 2 to your newsletter or blog – give them a reason to want to subscribe.
- Collect feedback and publish the comments online with your presentation. If a prospect emails the feedback to you, go to your blog and publish the comments for them. But don’t forget to reply to the comment online and directly to your prospect.
In fact, all of the recommendations above include one very, very important aspect of sales and marketing – engaging your prospects. Without engagement, building a meaningful relationship is impossible given there is a lack of emotional attachment. We’ve all seen it before. “Information” is presented to the target audience. Considerable time is spent “marketing” the material but the content fails to hit an emotional cord with the target due to lack of engagement.
What else is important? The steps covered above are typical processes in a marketing campaign. Unless you gave that presentation for sport, your in business to do business. An integrated marketing campaign is an absolute necessity if you want more business.
Here’s an excerpt from an article on follow-up marketing I published previously on our company blog:
“Instantly, I felt I was getting special treatment and all I really received was a simple document. I shared my experience with several friends. Engagement in action – it works when you know how to set up communication strategies for every new prospect or client.
Several much shorter and concise follow-up communications were sent to me by the concierge. The messages included service features that were easy to digest, remember, and most importantly repeat to others. Following up with a new client or prospect with the right message, at the right time, is a key element of your marketing strategy.”
Many marketers fall short here. They often fail to incorporate the “process” into their marketing plans, or lack the resolve and resources to promote their campaign beyond the early development stages. [Source: Word of Mouth Marketing: People are Talking by Greg Magnus, AIM Custom Media, Glen Allen, VA – December 2005.]