First of all, there’s no one definition of marketing—let alone new marketing—that people agree on. For some, it’s trying to understand what the market wants, creating products to meet those wants, and making people aware of those products. For others, it’s getting the message about products out to the marketplace. In my simple engineer’s view of the world, marketing is about finding prospects, and sales is about turning those prospects into customers.
Direct mail marketing was built on the concept of “the list.” And that’s what it was, literally: a list of people to whom you could send a highly targeted, persuasive letter. The quality of your list was determined by its response rate (the percentage of people who would take advantage of your offer). New marketing is based on this basic idea, but refines it with email and other electronic media replacing direct mail pieces. Because the cost of electronic communications is so much less than sending a printed piece through the U.S. Post Office, new marketing doesn’t have to “make the sale” on the first contact with a potential customer. Instead, the new marketing approach is to build a relationship over time, using periodic (but still targeted) communication. Moreover, the communication channel is now two-way. In particular, one thing that can happen very easily is for a recipient to ask to be removed from your list. Incidentally, getting yourself off of paper-based direct marketing lists is also a lot easier now: just visit www.DMAchoice.org. (You’re welcome.)
New marketing still revolves around building a list, but the nature of the list is different. Rather than a list of mailing addresses, or even email addresses, the list may be people who are “fans” of your company’s Facebook page, who follow you on Twitter or subscribe to your blog via RSS. They’re all people who’ve indicated they’re interested in what you have to say.
But before people can indicate they’re interested in what you have to say, they have to know about you. There are a zillion ways this can happen. People see an advertisement, hear about someone using your product or read a story in a newspaper or magazine, and decide to find out more. Heck, if you know who they are (for example, all the wineries in Sonoma County, or left-handed plastic surgeons), you can send them a postcard via snail mail.
And then, my friends, you need to get them on your list. But how?
The answer is straightforward. Offer something of value in exchange for being added to your list: A white paper; free shipping on their first order; an interesting and insightful blog; an invitation to a (free) event; and so forth. Remember, a person may only visit your website once. Creating a way to stay in touch is as important as making a sale—perhaps even more.
As much as you’d like for people to buy at first sight, that’s a little like expecting to get married at the end of your first date with someone. It might be love at first sight, but more than likely, you’re just trying to get someone’s number so you can talk to them some more. And that’s the goal of new marketing: getting permission to continue the conversation.
So, what to give? Think like a potential customer—what would be interesting, entertaining or useful to them? If someone has a good blog (one with information I find interesting, entertaining or useful), I subscribe to it. If a company has a Facebook page with personality (and maybe a special deal once in a while), I’m a fan. Dell has sold millions of dollars worth of merchandise via Twitter, because people know they get great deals by following one of its several Twitter accounts (www.dell.com/twitter). And I’m happy to give up my email address for something I perceive as valuable (and I unsubscribe if the signal-to-noise ratio begins to drop).
Every time you communicate with your list, you need to be delivering value of some sort. The expectation of value is what keeps people reading what you send them, and delivering it consistently prevents them from removing themselves from your list.
At the same time, you should also be getting value, in the form of feedback. For potential customers, the question to be asking is some form of “What problems or challenges do you face?” You can survey them about how they make decisions, or why current solutions dissatisfy them. Your list has a lot of value, even though these are people who haven’t become your customers.
Armed with the information you’ve gathered from your list, you can create solutions to their problems. Invite your list to test out or review your proposed solutions. You can limit the number of participants, which makes it all the more attractive. Let people vote on features. And never, never, ever sell, rent or otherwise spam your list. Period.
“Ah,” you say, “but what if people on my list don’t respond?” Well, all I can say is it’s a sure sign something is wrong. When you’re giving away good stuff (informative, entertaining, useful, remember?) and no one is reciprocating, it almost certainly means they don’t care enough to buy a product. It might also mean your stuff isn’t as good as you think it is.
But assuming your list is growing and interacting with you, you now have one that’s tailor-made to buy the products you’ve created. By the way, don’t invest a lot of effort in that first incentive for your list. You really want to know whether your list is, in fact, willing to buy from you or just freeloading.
This sort of marketing can work really well for B2B, since you probably know where your target market is. Send them a postcard with a great offer they can sign up for on your website (or by “liking” you on Facebook or following you on Twitter). Then work that list. The trick is to turn that initial snail-mail investment into a lasting asset.
Is this new marketing a lot of work? Yes, if you’re starting from scratch. But it’s also much less expensive and has potentially higher lifetime returns than your other marketing activities. Think it won’t work for your business? Tell me why at mduffy@northbaybiz.com.
