Meet with non-competing business associates you admire and even your customers. Other people to know may be in your local chamber of commerce, junior colleges, a community business association or in local business schools.
As a marketer or salesperson, help your customers feel they want to do something. Maybe they need more information, a sample of the product or service or “buy this product and you can do this or that or whatever you want to do.” Inspire them.
Every business is unique. When I started my first company, I did a lot of reading and research for my company marketing and sales. I had a lot of questions to ask potential customers to arrive at a program that works for them.
Building your marketing and advertising is like building a home. There are many pieces, some equal in use and some are unique.
The result is a very practical home meeting the needs of many people. Our newsletter, blog, papers, and so on, copywriting has the same criteria.
Only the best copywriting can capture more sales and customers.
Subscription payments lower the barrier to entry for products and services and allow more potential customers to purchase your product. While they may pay a larger amount over the long term, they can get immediate access to the product.
Proofing is also important. It is often tempting to rush when you are working under a deadline, but it is always better (and much cheaper) to correct a mistake before printing begins. Show your last design to several people, include those who have not worked on the project.
So, what is different today? We have the technology to meet face-to-face. For example, any good salesperson would say, “I need to set the table on why my product or service is better.” A small ticket price salesperson must also set a table to get a sale. It is not what you know or who you know, it is what you know about the person you are selling to. What does he or she know about you?
imagination for converting more people to customers.
Let’s face it, the variety of ways to get a customer in a B2B or a growing business is an unknown number.If you were looking at a map of planet earth, the customer attraction tactic may be to send a message to everyone on the planet. Is there an app for that?
A ridiculous example? Absolutely. But honestly, it does feel like that at times, right? The one missing link in B2B small business marketing is the lack of creativity throughout the marketing strategy, planning, copywriting, advertising and sales.
Look at our creativity featured image. There is graphic design, branding, and print design. Print design for this post means whatever the advertising and communication channel is used to deliver your message.
The light going on in the persons brain starts the thinking about the next marketing effort. Scattered around are some of the tools required to use for building the strategy and marketing message.
For example, creating the copy for the campaign. When you start copywriting for the next customer message, but before sharing with your team, consider weaving creativity –
Your copywriting must grab the attention of the readers.
The copy must focus on them and not your company.
Differentiate your product or service from your competition.
Tailor your copy to relevant niche customer segments or profiles.
Use as many of your customer’s favorite communication channels as possible.
Tell them why they should buy from you and no one else.
This is about as quick and concise to mix creativity using direct marketing copywriting. But without creativity in your organization, you are lacking a critical tool which can keep your marketing stale.
Your company is not going to stay the same forever and that goes for your creativity.
Usually, a good product and service will help your company grow. As that happens some of the one-to-one personal dialogue become harder to maintain. Further, customers are evolving, the market is ever-changing and there is more competition, direct and even indirect that you face daily.Match your products to the wants and needs of as many customers and prospects as possible. Looking at this bigger picture, can help develop more creativity.
Salespeople need to keep their focus on customer needs and be creative.
The knowledgeable salesperson can start a conversation with a customer where they left off the last time they talked. When customer comments are added to a marketing database,reviewing thecommentscan make a marketing message more relevant to both parties. No time is wasted, and a good salesperson used it as a leg up on the competition. That was truly a branding moment at its finest.
Writing good proposals is an example of knowledgeable data users for use in sales. No matter how hard you try to piece together good copywriting, if your data is bad, then your copy is bad.
If your data is good, the writing will get to the point quickly. Your objective is to get the reader’s attention and attract the reader’s interest, quickly. Three to five seconds is a reliable model. The copy does not need to sell but to generate immediate interest, such as sending the reader to a website landing page. Another awesome creative moment.
Digital marketing.
In the age of digital marketing via numerous communication channels, people do not hesitate to move on to something else quickly. Even the fastest and most motivated readers cannot read everything they wish. When you are direct, and your readers know your point immediately, they are more willing to connect with you and eventually make a purchase.
As with all the direct marketing strategies, customer-centric, direct mail, data driven, and digital marketing, they work harder together when built with creativity. If you are into digital, try writing copy designed for mail, direct response, or direct marketing. This copy not only focus on direct-2-customer creativity, but uses customer data fromcompany segmentation tools, prospect and customer profiling and relevant copywriting leading to a potential purchase.
Summary.
Direct marketing plus creativity, provides more ways to get customers to buy – such as:
Create a picture of your customers’ buying patterns.
Create customized offers for your marketing channels such as direct mail, email,sales people, advertisements, digital channels,or social media.
Create an increasing number of marketing responses, leading to better relationships and eventually, more revenue.
Learning what is relevant for each data segment.
Add and correct customer information into your marketing database.
The backbone of direct marketing copy is simple – reach your customers in a timely manner with relevant communication, a strong offer and a product that exceeds your customer satisfaction.
Thanks for reading and please share with others – except your competition! Your time is truly appreciated.
Learning and doing, marketing, and selling ideas, is what you’ll find at your Direct2Customers community.
It’s what we do. It’s what we love to do.
Thanks again for reading. Questions? Mdoc@direct2customers.com or 800-251-3608
But hold on a second. Are more choices still a good idea?
My experienceas a business owneranda direct marketing geek, I know that sometimes less is more when it comes to choosing. In other words, choice comes with a cost.
For example, if you are selling a new app every mother would want, you may be tempted to offer a variety of response avenues: email, contact us page on your website or a landing page, social media, and even a toll–free phone number. Just like my direct2customers marketing community. The logic is that everyone prefers a different method, so if you offer them all you increase the number of orders you get. Right?
Not always. Sometimes, all those choices work against you because choosing between them may take an extra split second, which is enough to cause someone to put off responding until later. Once that happens, you may never get the answer at all.
It may seem like a subtle distinction, but there is a difference between offering choices and introducing extra decisions. If the “choice” of response method becomes a “decision,” you can reduce the number of buyers and even orders.
For a reader-oriented medium such as a blog or content marketing, it is often best to offer a reader-oriented response and nothing else. That means forcing people to respond and provide no other avenue for response. Since there is only one way to reply, there is no decision to make.However, your copywriting must be crisp and to the point ofwhat you want them to do.
If you own orwork for a companythat does most of its business online, driving people to asingle contactlinkin your copy, makes the most sense. Again, there is no decision on how to respond, so there is one less hurdle for prospects to jump.
Is this always the best approach? Yes and no, depending on what your marketing contacts prefer. The only way to be sure whether to offer one or multiple response methods, is to test. If you offer several ways now, look at your data tracking to see how many answers come in through each type.
You might be surprised to find that one is favored to a much greater extent than the others. This could be the basis for testing whether one type of response can increase or decrease your total response.
Thanks for reading and please share with others – except your competition! Your time is truly appreciated.
Learning and doing, marketing and selling ideas, is what you’ll find at Direct2Customers community.
The goal of writing great marketing copy is to get people into taking action.
Like buy my product or service.
The more you address specific human elements that motivate your audience, the greater your chances of moving them into action, calling, e-mail or buying.
So, what moves people, besides a big truck?
People cannot resist a bargain. People seek pleasure and satisfaction. People like exclusivity. And some are even moved by greed.
People seek to improve themselves. They want to save time. People seek security and safety.
People seek power, stature, fame, flattery from others and inside information. They are often envious, revengeful and proud.
People want to make money, save money, save time, stay healthy, become more knowledgeable, increase their status, boost their prestige.
This is a never-ending list as we try to understand the human mind and how it relates to purchasing your products and services. You need not attempt to solve the human condition in every direct marketing copy you write. But it’s recommended to learn continuously about your customers.
What you need to do is think carefully about what you sell, to whom, and how best to make them want to act.
It’s a complicated activity and, at the same time, it is easy. Your direct marketing must lead people to consider worthy opportunities to improve their personal situations. Train your mind to react to them.
It becomes much easier when you take the time to keep learning more about your customers and provide products and services that exceed their expectations.
Some of those expectations may even be in the preceding paragraphs. It’s all about learning and doing.
but you must mine your lists and categorize each to get the shiny gold you want!
Today’s customers, prospects, sales leads and so-called contact listof maybes can be reached using a ton of tactical marketing channels daily.
The glaring question most people search an answer for “Which marketing channel is the best one for us to use?” The best answer may be all of them. What channels do your customers respond to? All your contacts in your databases control the marketing communication they use in their company.
Trying to look for gold in a stream by your house or office is probably crazy. Sending a message using a marketing channel your contact does not respond to, email for example, is like waiting for a sunrise on a stormy, cloudy day. Time wasted is lost.
Fortunately, today’s databases can process a host of data, using a variety of options to reach the right customer using their preferred channels of communication. In addition, there are a variety of niche segments to consider, so an open mind may be your best option.
Here is a list to help you get started and to assure your team is headed in the right direction.
IDEA: Put a value on your corporate database so it is not viewed as an expense.
Match your products or services to customers’ and prospective customer’s wants/needs. You want your data to give you a summary of your customers’ buying patterns. Knowing customer data will help you customize offers for use in any marketing channel. If you’re looking for an increase in answers, you may find gold in these channels.
Select new list purchases that fit the profiles of existing customer data. Use your Website landing pages in conjunction with an email newsletter you send regularly.
Maximize personalization in your customer channel selection communication and more than one offer. This is a proven method that increases response. Address your customer by name, title and add additional data from their last purchase date. You may want to add a discount or another offering that will pique their interest.
Provide ongoing interaction withcustomers, especially the ones receiving your email newsletter. Out of sight is out of mind. Your goal is to stay in touch with your customers to learn their preferred communication channels. Be careful. Too much too soon could shut down the lead spigot.
If there is no preferred communication channel, start the conversation using direct marketing mail. Make an offer of value on a landing page on your website. You want to gather some additional data, creating an awareness that triggers consideration and beginning to build your brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Pinpoint timing and frequency of promotions. See who responds and at what time of the year. Use the results to spread offers to your customers and your prospective customers. Make sure to collect the results and add it to your data. Some large companies with a diverse customer base use a special customer event once or twice a year to help fill the sales pipeline.
Measure response and be responsible for results. Direct marketing mail is measurable. More than any other medium, it can be evaluated for its impact on a specific goal. When results are not satisfactory, go back and learn what went wrong.
Collected customer data will help to determine offers to share with others in your lists. If a customer makes a request about your marketing enter it into your company data fields. As you test different offers and promotions, compare the responses of each to see if some produce better results than others. Most important, listen to customer suggestions for future deals!
Demonstrate that your customers are valuable assets. Check your customer data and customer service data for ideas such as having a workshop, personal presentations of new products, or a customer rewards/salesincentiveprogram. These programs have a history of building brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Show customers you care about their opinions. Conduct a customer satisfaction survey through direct marketing mail. Add an offer to increase the rate of surveys. If you hear back from inactive customers, you can tailor an event or promotion to bring them back to active status. If you have a sales team, train them to ask questions and learn what you want to know
Always remember that a clean customer database is a quality database. Quality customer database results are valuable business tools that in turn is a quality asset for your business. When you communicate us.
Thanks for reading. I appreciate comments and ideas for future articles.
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