This is an article on how to spin a web of one-to-one marketing activities that traps more customers for your business. Businesses should be like aggressive spiders that spin its web carefully to trap prey. If you have observed spiders, they are incredible to watch as they weave a geometrically correct web. It’s easy to associate the web with a business sales and marketing plan. You see, a business will attempt to spin its web of sales and marketing activities to capture customers just like a spider.
It is interesting to think that just a few years ago we didn’t have as many options as we have today. Without the internet our opportunities would be limited. We would probably writing about a bug plan because bugs have 6 legs. If we take the example of the spider, spiders have eight legs and in many cases a business should have at least eight legs to its sales and marketing plan.
The Basic eight legged Plan Our marketing plan needs to take care of the basics. There are 4 primary ways communicate which are, in person, telephone, direct mail and email. Let’s look at the basics and then cover an option for each one. This plan will complete our one-to-one spider marketing program. The idea is to drive customers to the web. It’s the same for the spider as it is for business. If you are doing business on the web, you need to drive customers there to capture the order. Here are eight marketing legs to consider.
In person – personal one-to-one sales appointments are at the top of the list. Nothing builds business better than a sales call. Just make sure the sales person is following a selling process. Telephone – the telephone (aside from voice mail) is ideal for building business. Getting through to the right contact is often the challenge. Direct mail – sending post cards, flyers, brochures and newsletters keeps your name in front of prospects and customers so you build your brand recognition for future business. Email – Sending emails to prospects and customers is an ideal method for capturing new business. Business buyers prefer to communicate with established vendors using email. Trade shows – Trade shows are networking events and networking is one of the best ways a business can reach more prospects in one action. Marketing emails – Emails that are traceable are designed to capture data on who opens an email and what links a prospect clicks on. This gives your business great information to target. Variable Print – Printing and mailing pieces that are personalized with variable customer information will increase the response rate dramatically from 15% to 35% and higher. PURLs - When a business uses Personalized URLs, the personalized linking of marketing pieces to personalized web pages, you create dynamic activity that can be measured. The sales and marketing objective in business is the same for spider webs. If you build a larger, stronger web, the more it attracts prospects. Do you have all the legs you need to create a successful sales plan? If you don’t have one of the legs, maybe it’s time to evaluate your business plan and make adjustments.
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