Take a step back and look at your marketing – your white papers, case studies, blog posts, emails, articles, etc.
Were these put together at the last minute because of a specific need you had . . . Or . . . did you have a plan in advance and was each one created according to that plan?
Let’s Look More Closely at That
If you developed your various marketing pieces at the last minute because of a specific need you had, there probably has been no overall consistency to them. Each email, blog post, article, white paper and case study may have had no relationship to each other at all.
They also may look like they were written by different people – each with a different focus and a different voice.
As they read them, your prospects and customers may have been confused. They may have no idea of what you were trying to tell them. They also may have had no idea of how they would benefit specifically from the product or service you were offering.
This Type of Shotgun Approach Probably Cost You Sales
Yes, your marketing may have resulted in sales. Other prospects and customers did not get the information they were looking for. They probably purchased what they needed from your competitors.
I’m sure you would agree this is not what you wanted to do.
Is There a Better Approach –
One That Will Result in More Sales?
The answer is yes.
The starting point is to know the pain your prospects and customers have which your product and service will eliminate for them. Address this pain in every marketing piece you create. Also let them know why your company is the best one to eliminate this pain with the product or service you have.
How do you do that?
First – you identify your ideal prospect and customer. What are they like? What pain and needs do they have? What specifically will eliminate that pain and take care of those needs? Why is you company the best one to help them?
Second – You look at your answers to each of these questions and plan how to address these with your marketing. Your approach to new prospects will be different than that for existing customers.
New Prospects
New prospects don’t know your company at all. They have no idea of what your products or services are. They don’t know why they should buy a product or service from you.
So, you start by making them aware of the service or product that will eliminate their pain and most pressing need. You can do this in an email or a letter. You can also highlight it in a blog post.
In another email or letter, you introduce them to your company. Then let them know you have the product or service to eliminate that pain and most pressing need. Be cautious here. You don’t want to be too aggressive to make a sale in this piece. Your objective is just to make them know you exist and have the product or service they need.
You can also accomplish both of these in whitepapers.
Then start to go a little deeper. You send them a more comprehensive white paper really explaining how the product or service you have is the best for their most pressing need.
Follow up on that with a more comprehensive whitepaper about how your company is the best one to provide this product or service to them.
Next – Provide them a case study showing how you helped a company like theirs with the same need. Make sure this case study indicates how much sales increased or how much money they saved by using your company.
On a regular basis, continue to follow up with emails and letters going deeper with them.
If you prefer, you can add webinars to your marketing. They can supplement everything mentioned above.
The objective is to take your prospects from being cold prospects, to warm prospects to hot prospects ready to buy. You have a plan for how you are going to do this. You follow your plan. In the process, your prospects are becoming more and more familiar with your company and anxious to do business with you.
Existing Customers
Your marketing plan for existing customers cannot be the same as for new prospects. They already are aware of your company and the value you provide to them. So, you don’t have to send them information about your company. In fact, they may think less of your company if you do.
The problem you have with existing customers is they know you for the product or service they purchased from you in the past. If you have a new product or service, they won’t be familiar with it. In fact, they may have never realized you could provide that to their company.
Any time you add a new product or service, look at your existing customers. See which ones can benefit from that product or service. With marketing pieces let them know you have this new product or service and how it can benefit their company.
You can use many of the white papers, case studies, emails and articles you use for prospects. Just make sure you don’t use those which are designed to introduce your company to them.
Why Risk Sales with a Shotgun Approach?
A shotgun approach to marketing is rarely as successful as any company desires. When marketing material is developed at the last minute, there is too much opportunity for it not to be consistent with what has been used before.
Prospects and Customers can be confused. They can go to competitors and sales can be lost.
Develop a plan for your marketing in advance. As you need them, create each marketing piece according to your plan. At every point, you will know exactly where you are with each prospect or customer and what you want to accomplish with this new piece.
With a plan and developing you marketing materials in line with it, your marketing will be more consistent. There will be one voice throughout. There is less chance of confusing your prospects and customers.
You will convert prospects and customers into hot prospects and customers ready to buy faster. You will make more sales and these will occur more quickly.
