Marketing By Any Other Name...
by: Trish Lambert
What does the word "marketing" mean to you? When you say "we need to do some marketing" or "we need a marketing plan," what is the end result you are picturing?
Of all the functions that contribute to business growth, marketing has got to be the least standardized. Not only do the activities associated with marketing vary from company to company, but the purpose and goals of marketing differ widely. In many cases, marketing is a synonym for sales, which in my opinion is one of the biggest strategic mistakes a company can make.
Marketing is not sales. But marketing better be contributing to revenue generation or you're wasting time and money. And probably lots of both.
Here is a simple way to think of marketing: your marketing activities need to make your sales process easier. How they do that will vary depending on your company and market. Product marketing is very different from service marketing. Business to business marketing is very different from business to consumer marketing. Marketing high cost goods and services requires a different approach from marketing commodities.
Even in the same industry and marketplace, how one company markets will differ from the way its competitors market. Just watch a couple of beer or car commercials on TV and you'll see what I mean. This is because company culture, personality, and brand will impact marketing activities and messages.
So, I ask you: Is your marketing program making your sales process easier? Be careful when answering. There are nuances to marketing that are important to consider. Some activities are more direct than others and so are much easier to gauge. An example is direct response marketing. Another is e-commerce web sites with incorporated shopping carts. In both cases there is a clear link to the sales side. This type of marketing can be very easily quantified and its impact on sales can be accurately measured.
Some activities, though, are more subtle. Things that get your company better known in the marketplace will help the sales process, but not as clearly as direct response or "click here to buy" activities. They are qualitative in impact but no less important.
Effective public relations, for example, will certainly influence your target market by keeping your name top of mind in the people you want to buy from you. This type of activity, of course, is nowhere near as measurable as more direct things. Does this mean you shouldn't do it? Absolutely not!! It does mean, however, that you need to stay awake and find ways to gauge how successful these more subtle activities are in making the sales process easier.
Here's the bottom line. Take time to clearly and accurately define what marketing means specifically for your company, and define how it can make the sales process easier. Don't just accept any published definitions, no matter how exalted their sources.
Is Your Content Actually Connecting?
Is Your Content Actually Connecting?
by: Trish Lambert
The written word is king of the marketing hill these days. Between the intangible nature of services and the intangible marketing challenge known as the Internet, having content that increases interest and drives sales is a service firm imperative.
When selling services, content is your "free sample," the equivalent of the people in supermarkets giving out little cups of various kinds of food products for you to try before you buy. OK, well, maybe not exactly like that, but thematically the same. Your content conveys your company's personality (known in more stuffy business circles as your culture) as well as your expertise, which are both part of the criteria applied by prospects when making buying decisions.
So here's the question that constitutes the title of this article: Is your content actually connecting? You can have loads of articles, white papers, web pages, and email messages, but if the words in those pieces aren't making a strong connection to your market, all that content is worthless.
Here are some suggestions for creating connections with content:
Be context specific. A piece of content needs to talk to a specific audience at the right level. If you market to financial advisors, for example, assume that your reader understands the financial planning field at least at an intermediate level if not higher. Don't write "Finance 101" stuff for these folks. If, on the other hand, you are a financial advisor selling your services to small and solo business owners, assume that your reader is knowledge-deficient in the exact areas where you shine. Content for the first group would be way beyond the second set of readers, while content for second set would bore if not insult the first group.
Write like you talk. Said another way, write like your company talks. The style, voice, and tone of your content will be very different if you have a more informal "shorts and t-shirt" way of doing business than if you are operating out of an urban high-rise and "dress for success" in designer duds. Keep your language and style consistent with how you want to be perceived.
Stay away from the third person. Use first and second person in your content. If the piece is authored by one person, as with an article or a white paper, use first person singular; if the speaker is the company, use we and us. Talk directly to the reader using you and your.
Be inclusive and at the same level. Involve your reader. Instead of saying "if one looks at this situation," say "if we look," or "let's look." And instead of being instructive or positioning yourself as the guru on the mountain, stand next to the reader. "The challenge we face is..." is far more attractive in the reader's mind than "the challenge facing you is..." Avoid potentially condescending or patronizing phrases like, "You need to understand..." or "It should be obvious that..."
Finally, be passionate. We are all passionate about what we offer, and we need to be proud to show it. I, for example, think that good, authentic content will pave the way to quality relationships with great customers. That's why content is a practice all by itself at 4R, why I talk about it so much, and why I enjoy creating the right content for my clients.
by: Trish Lambert
The written word is king of the marketing hill these days. Between the intangible nature of services and the intangible marketing challenge known as the Internet, having content that increases interest and drives sales is a service firm imperative.
When selling services, content is your "free sample," the equivalent of the people in supermarkets giving out little cups of various kinds of food products for you to try before you buy. OK, well, maybe not exactly like that, but thematically the same. Your content conveys your company's personality (known in more stuffy business circles as your culture) as well as your expertise, which are both part of the criteria applied by prospects when making buying decisions.
So here's the question that constitutes the title of this article: Is your content actually connecting? You can have loads of articles, white papers, web pages, and email messages, but if the words in those pieces aren't making a strong connection to your market, all that content is worthless.
Here are some suggestions for creating connections with content:
Be context specific. A piece of content needs to talk to a specific audience at the right level. If you market to financial advisors, for example, assume that your reader understands the financial planning field at least at an intermediate level if not higher. Don't write "Finance 101" stuff for these folks. If, on the other hand, you are a financial advisor selling your services to small and solo business owners, assume that your reader is knowledge-deficient in the exact areas where you shine. Content for the first group would be way beyond the second set of readers, while content for second set would bore if not insult the first group.
Write like you talk. Said another way, write like your company talks. The style, voice, and tone of your content will be very different if you have a more informal "shorts and t-shirt" way of doing business than if you are operating out of an urban high-rise and "dress for success" in designer duds. Keep your language and style consistent with how you want to be perceived.
Stay away from the third person. Use first and second person in your content. If the piece is authored by one person, as with an article or a white paper, use first person singular; if the speaker is the company, use we and us. Talk directly to the reader using you and your.
Be inclusive and at the same level. Involve your reader. Instead of saying "if one looks at this situation," say "if we look," or "let's look." And instead of being instructive or positioning yourself as the guru on the mountain, stand next to the reader. "The challenge we face is..." is far more attractive in the reader's mind than "the challenge facing you is..." Avoid potentially condescending or patronizing phrases like, "You need to understand..." or "It should be obvious that..."
Finally, be passionate. We are all passionate about what we offer, and we need to be proud to show it. I, for example, think that good, authentic content will pave the way to quality relationships with great customers. That's why content is a practice all by itself at 4R, why I talk about it so much, and why I enjoy creating the right content for my clients.
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