Are you engaging enough?
Having the right marketing mix is not enough in today’s always-on, always-connected world. You need an interactive component that facilitates feedback.
“You could be the greatest content creator on the planet,” Pulizzi wrote, “but if you don’t work the channels, no one will know about it and your business won’t be positively impacted. At the top of your list of distribution techniques should be commenting on the right blogs.
Not sure how? Here’s a handy list:
- Find out where your customers and prospects are hanging out. Use tools such as Google Alerts and Twitter (or a reputation management system) to find out what blogs are making an impact on your customers.
- Develop a list of at least 10 to 15 key blogs in which you are going to be engaged.
- Make an informative comment on each of those blogs at least once per week.
Realistically, this should only take an hour or two per week, but the payoff will be tremendous.”
“Feedback is a gift” is the battle cry of Constant Contact, where surveys, polls, and requests for suggestions are incorporated into email marketing. As Eric Groves explained in The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing, “By encouraging your audience to tell you what they would like you to educate them about, you are sure to deliver something of value to them.”
What’s in your toolkit?
How are you staying in touch with customers as you grow your network? Automated tools can help you stay connected and pick up where you left off after periods of inactivity. Drip marketing is one of these strategies, a method of continuously collecting small amounts of data on an on-going basis to stay connected and relevant to your base. O’Hare is bullish on drip, describing its benefits in his blog: “Studies have shown that 85% to 90% of your prospects do not close immediately. Many won’t close for 6 months or more. 95% of all sales reps stop contacting a prospect after the 3rd attempt to get the sales process moving forward. 75% of all sales are made after the 4th contact with the prospect.
In summary, you have two things going on, many leads take a long time to close and typically those types of leads get abandoned. There is a solution. The solution is drip marketing automation. ”
Differentiate daily
In the end, differentiating in this business goes beyond taglines, blogs, and social media. It’s all the ways that you make a difference every day to every stakeholder in alternative financing, and your ongoing effort to be their best alternative.
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Dale S. Laszig is a freelance writer and payments industry consultant who helps clients design, promote, and deliver
secure, leading-edge technology solutions.
She can be reached at 973-930-0331 or Dale@DSLdirectllc.com.
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