Top 5 Ways Marketing Professionals Help Your Business
Here Is Another Top 5 List To Help Your Business Grow!
Okay, this will be a bold statement: “Marketing professionals are the unsung heroes of the business world.” There I said it. There is no glory, no fanfare, and no one — for the most part — understands what we do to help their business.
I am hoping to change some of that with this post!
So, Why Do Marketing Professionals So Often Get Ignored?
In today’s world, the act of marketing often gets confused with sales, and while the act of sales is important and ultimately the end result, they are two very different methodologies.
Many businesses operate based on “sales-out-the-door” — and they should — as, without sales, there would be no business. However, what is driving the lead conversions to the sales team is the creative methodologies of your marketing team.
That all said, here in the information age — as it has been for hundreds of years before — the way business marketing is done can be the difference between success and failure in bringing in quality prospects to whom to sell your service or widget.
Marketing Professionals Know That It Has Always Been This Way!
In fact, today’s funnel has been completely flipped on its head, finally giving validity to the power of not only the deliverance of leads but the deliverance of good, qualified leads that allow you to close the sales process faster.
That said, the biggest fault has also fallen upon the shoulders of your marketing team.
“A salesman’s mistake may cost little. An advertiser’s mistake may cost a thousand times that much. Be more cautious, more exacting, therefore. A mediocre salesman may affect a small part of your trade. Mediocre advertising affects all of your trade.” ~ Claude Hopkins in Scientific Marketing
Today’s purchasing funnel is now 75% marketing and 25% sales, whereas even as recent as 15 years ago — circa 2002 — ‘sales’ was the dominant focus to drive business at 60% sales and 40% marketing.
Here is my Top-5 list for how we marketing professionals can help your business.
#1 – We Know Why People Make Decisions…
Trendsetters like Claude Hopkins or Simon Sinek know that when you market to the “emotional-why”, you are marketing directly to the part of the brain that makes a decision. This ‘direct response marketing’ methodology is used by 100% of today’s successful businesses such as Apple, Inc..
#2 – We Focus On The Perspective Of The Buyer…
There have been many times when I have seen marketing that is all about the features. Unfortunately, it is little about the benefit. You have the best widget or service, or you claim to have a low price, you may even claim to have all the right colours & all the right sizes — and within your message, it was forgotten that all the prospective buyer wants to know is how you will solve their problem or fix their need. Remember, benefits sell; features don’t!
#3 – We Deliver Better, More Qualified Leads…
The shorter the cycle, the faster you can grow. Good marketers deliver leads to your business. The ones that are qualified can then be given an offer from the sales team. Quite often businesses have their sales teams out there trying to market, but they do it like salespeople. Some will be successful, but the majority will falter. Today’s discerning customer has more direct access to your competition, and the bigger the impact, the deeper the relationship must be! Simply, driving better/more qualified leads to your sales team will bring in your profits faster.
#4 – Brand Continuity…
All us marketers say that consistency is important, but “why” is it important? Brand continuity affects what people think about your company. People are emotionally driven to buy and as such, an inconsistent brand will not drive confidence. The more consistent your messaging, the more consistent your branding — whether via words, design, offerings or perspective. That’s why it’s so important to develop standards for brand consistency in your business.
#5 – We Are Professionals At Showing Value…
Price is often pitched as value and just as often, they are not related. There are two aspects to the definition of value: ‘desired value’ and ‘perceived value’. Desired value refers to what customers desire in a product or service. Perceived value is the benefit that a customer believes he or she received from a product after it was purchased. One-hundred percent of all generated value is delivered by your marketing team before they even talk to a salesperson.
And there you have it. If you found value in this post, please share it.
Are you looking for some quick insight and/or need some help? Phone calls are always free. Call Toll-Free throughout North America 1-888-502-3523
Are you using a Sales or a Marketing Message?
Your marketing message is a crucial component in reaching your target customer. The first thing to do, however, is to identify all customer benefits because this will in-turn generate interest.
STEP #1 How to Target Your Market By Answering 3 Questions.
Copy-Boarding is an exercise in benefit clarification. Copy-Boarding consequently flips sales-objections into benefits.
A simple copy boarding exercise nail down your messaging. These sessions take about an hour and are valuable in all your marketing copy. Book a Copy-Boarding session here.
So Are You Using a Sales or Marketing Message?
First of all, what are your tactics?
- “Tactics are the actions you take to implement your strategy. Think about these carefully so you can determine what response you’re trying to generate from your target audience. For example, you might want them to:
– Go to your website to get more information.
– Fill out an online survey.- – Call to speak with a salesperson.
- – Request that a salesperson call them.
– Attend a free webinar.
– Download a free white paper.
– Call for more information.
– Agree to a sales meeting or presentation.
– Attend a free seminar or workshop.
– Request a free product demo.
– Take a 30-day free trial of the product.
– Refer your services to others in your target market.
– Become an affiliate and sell your products and services.
– Buy the product with a credit card.”
Excerpt is from Robert W. Bly’s book The Marketing Plan Handbook.
Marketing messages are different because of the approach you deliver to the prospect.
Most noteworthy in sales vs. marketing messages — while both are aimed at increasing revenue — most don’t realize the difference between the two. This is mostly because most small organizations have too few employees to separate the two.
Marketing is the lead-up and into benefits for the prospective buyer; how it will affect them after they buy and start using. Sales simply is the offer; the guarantee; the close of the deal.
And regardless of the size of an organization, an alignment to your messaging must have continuity through sales and into the aftersale (or customer service). This is where Social Media is a crucial component of your strategy and effort-mix.
Are you still wondering about the effectiveness of your Marketing Message?
Schedule a time to do a copy-boarding exercise and discover the way you can take your message to the next level and get better results in both engagement opportunities and sales.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Customer Experience
Artificial Intelligence — It is no surprise that technology is amazing, but when technology out-thinks, out-creates, and out-plays us humans, are we ready?
What’s Next? Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Customer Experience… oh yeah, that is already here.
As a professor of human nature — I am not really a professor — Artificial Intelligence (or AI) fascinates me.
The level of “computations per second” needed has been exponentially increasing over the past 30 years and most recently we have begun to have the understanding of the quantum world and entangled particles, which is what led Dr. Feynman to have a vision.
“In quantum physics, entangled particles remain connected so that actions performed on one affect the other, even when separated by great distances. The phenomenon so riled Albert Einstein he called it “spooky action at a distance.” The rules of quantum physics state that an unobserved photon exists in all possible states simultaneously but, when observed or measured, exhibits only one state.” ~ LiveScience.com
The research being done on this is still in its infancy, however, quantum computers tap directly into an unimaginably vast fabric of reality—the strange and counterintuitive world of quantum mechanics.
The story behind the theory of ‘quantum computing’ is about 35-years-old when Nobel Prize-Winning physicist Richard Feynman fostered the idea of a ‘quantum computer’.
Physicists — like Feynman — have a unique way of looking at things and while the thought of increasing a computers speed had — in 1982 — been around for about Forty-years, the theory of quantum computing blew the best minds of the day, and in many ways shaped the path we have been on ever since.
The Next Big Step For Artificial Intelligence
It seems that there’s no question that AI will play a large role in humanity’s future. In fact, it is already here. Cortana, Siri, Alexa, Google’s voice all are early AI. But what is it missing? There are many schools of thought, however, there are two main agreed-upon hurdles — computation speed and Interface.
The fastest computers can do 33,860 trillion calculations per second — or in computing terms 33.8 petaflops.
Artificial Intelligence — Where Are We Today?
In 2010, the Tianhe-2 knocked the US Energy Department’s Titan machine off the No 1 spot. The Titan achieved a paltry 17.59 petaflops per second by comparison. By comparison, even further, the Quantum D-Wave 2 Is 3,600 Times Faster than Tianhe-2.
“Quantum computing differs from classical computing at its most fundamental level. While traditional computers rely on the alternate bit states of 1 and 0 to store data, quantum computers exploit the fuzzy effects of quantum mechanics, allowing its “qubits” to exist as a 1, 0, or both simultaneously, a.k.a “superposition.” So while a traditional computer will sequentially explore the potential solutions to a mathematical optimization problem, the quantum system looks at every potential solution simultaneously, known as quantum annealing, and returns answers—not just the single “best” but nearly 10,000 close alternatives as well—in roughly a second.” ~ Read more about the D-Wave
Artificial Intelligence needs Quantum Computing not because of speed, but because of the interface.
Your Website Is Your Window The World …
… are you ready to start marketing yet?
Your website is your hub for all your online business dealings
As a website and marketing developer, I have found that it is crucial for businesses to understand that having a website or that having an online-presence — no matter whether it is eBay, Etsy, Shopify, et.al. — is only one leg of the process and does not equate to online sales. It sets you up for online sales, but it is not the right tool for the next phase of this process.
Think of it like this. A carpenter has a toolbox full of tools, however, even with all those tools, a building will not get built without the carpenter putting his skills to the task.
Regarding your website “Understanding the all the components (the ones that drive conversions) is separate from the build — although still integrated with your overall strategy.” ~ Trevor Greenfield from Redwood SEO
Along with your website — other things to think about!
Getting noticed — via SEO, Social Media, et.al. — is only part of the plan. In today’s modern marketing, it is crucial to know the different awareness levels of your varying targets so your outbound messaging has the right timing to the intended target. This often overlooked ‘timing’ component is a crucial step.
More information about marketing your website…
Your Website — if designed correctly — will allow you to deliver the right message at the right time; a crucial component of inbound marketing, I suggest you contact me directly and we can chat about you and your business.
If you are looking for more information about marketing your website, I have written about this in two blogs that may interest you.
- VISIT: dickinsonent.com/cortex/the-right-message/ — where I talk about delivering the right message at the right time.
- VISIT: dickinsonent.com/cortex/marketing-messages/ — this is about the marketing messages that you will put out