This is Part Two of the series on trust. You might wish to begin by reading Part One found elsewhere on this site.
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make in regards to marketing is attempting to market a product or service to those who do not need that product or service. Playing the numbers is a 1950's mentality approach to marketing that holds little value in today's environment.
In this environment, presenting people with a message that holds no interest at all for them, with no prequalification whatsoever, will not create trust - it most likely will instead destroy any trust they might have previously held in you.
You cannot sell anything to someone who does not want to buy it. Effective marketing today demands that you first qualify your potential buyers before being so bold as to jam their inboxes or mailboxes with your message.
We need only to look at all the commercial skipping technologies available today to see the value in this statement. TIVO, popup blockers, spam filters - the list goes on and on. Over 90% of those who can skip sales messages DO skip sales messages. John Q. Public is slammed with hundreds of unwanted sales messages every day, from all directions, and John Q is simply fed up.
You do not want your business to be lumped in with spammers and purveyors of such vulgar communications. This does nothing to create credibility or trust in the minds of your potential clients. Frankly it creates nothing more than resentment and mistrust.
Trying to force an unwanted or unsolicited sales message on a potential client is like is like trying to force a hook into a fish’s mouth and then expecting it to bite. This will not work. You must instead offer something the fish wants to bite. The fish will only bite when the fish wants to bite.
Spammers are not the only parties guilty of these archaic marketing methods. Inexperienced Internet marketers (established businesses or not) form a large majority of those marketing in this environment. These newbies are especially prone to fishing by force. Remember: it takes but one unsolicited sales message these days to result in your business being quickly blacklisted and sent to the spam box for eternity
True professionals understand the value of opt-in marketing in both the electronic and the real world. Though much more research is required up front, opt-in marketing actually results in less work and less wasted effort and resources than simply throwing a lot of something against the proverbial wall and praying that some of it sticks. Though hurling stuff at the wall may not cause failure immediately, approaching marketing from this perspective creates an ugly downward spiral - a vortex that grows exponentially and constantly demands more and more resources to yield less and less results.
Sending your message to only those who have previously demonstrated an interest in your product or service will always produce far better results. This is day one, Class One, Chapter One in the modern marketing textbook.
It is also the final test in Trust Building 101.
Posted by Don at Free Publicity Focus Group
Monday, December 28, 2009
The Single Key That Leads To Internet Marketing Success Or Failure - Part Two
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Creating Awareness In A Global Marketing Environment
In the 'old days', creating awareness of a product or service in the marketplace required a simple and very straightforward approach. Most of us just advertised in the media available at the time. These outlets included newspaper, radio, television and magazines. Frankly, it was a no-brainer. We decided on an ad budget, determined the appropriate percentage of the budget to be allocated to a particular vehicle, created and placed the advertising and tracked the results.
All of that has changed.
In this environment, an effective marketing strategy must be concentrated in four distinct, key areas:
Search Engine Presence and Optimization
A very large percentage of the buying public now looks at the Internet as not just a choice, but rather as the first choice when making purchasing decisions.
Traditional Outlets (Newspaper, radio, TV, magazines, etc)
These are still important if the product or service is offered locally versus globally. However, many people will choose the Internet first even when making local purchasing decisions.
Social Sites
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social sites are also being used by a very large percentage of the buying public. If a business is not there, it runs the risk of being invisible to a large segment of its potential new client base.
The 'Blogosphere'
Bloggers are fast becoming the new media. It is urgent that any business create awareness of products or services here or risk losing those who look to blog reviews and opinions when making purchasing decisions.
It is a much bigger game, and tracking ROI has become very difficult.
In addition business owners must be aware of the shift that has occurred from outbound strategies to inbound strategies. In years past, creating awareness was primarily an outbound strategy. We found potential customers and clients and delivered a message using the tools of the times. This outbound strategy was a 'yell in the client's ear' approach that was based primarily on advertising in the vehicles available at the time. Commercials, billboards, direct mail and like vehicles formed the basis of the marketing toolkit.
In today’s environment, businesses must marry that outbound strategy with a laser sharp inbound strategy. The inbound strategy allows the potential client to easily find the product or service they seek. Search engine optimization and Internet publicity strategies are the primary components of this inbound strategy.
It is a much bigger game and the learning curve is very long. However, though there is much more that must be dealt with in this environment, the ability to take the little mom and pop corner store to the global marketplace brings something to the table that was perhaps not there before.
It is really fun.
Posted by Don at Free Publicity Focus Group
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