What’s the biggest B2B marketing trend you’ve witnessed in the last 2-3 years? There’s been a shift towards a bigger reliance on 1st party CRM data. No longer are brands relying on 2nd & 3rd party data alone. Sophisticated marketers are using ...
Sadly, it’s true. And here’s just a few examples.
You hit a link on some online ‘sponsored’ message, and your phone rings in 3 seconds #$%^$#, or … you get a text immediately. Immediately #$%^$#!!! What? … #$%^$# … I only wanted to get some info emailed to me and, I really don’t want your salesman/woman calling or texting me at 10:00p on a Friday night. Seriously, I don’t. Stop it #$%^$#.
You try to find a phone number on a website, only to find they have no phone number, and ONLY an option to email them a request. Uhhhh #$%^$#, did your customer ‘service’ team all get fired, or sent on vacation? Really, now I do want to talk to a human, and I’m a paying customer; can’t find a human to answer a question RE my account, to save my life.
Oh, back to the first one. And now, you stalk the #$%^$# out of me, with dozens of emails, calls and/or texts, and it’s barely been 24 hours. Really? … #$%^$# … and you think I want to be your customer now? No, I don’t. I’ll find another to give my hard-earned dollars!!
Or often, I’m not looking to buy now, unless it’s shampoo, and I’ll order that online and, it’ll be at my door in a day or two. I’m just interested in learning more about this insurance option, on my own time, or home refinancing, on my own time. In the meantime, I’ll just go grocery shopping at my favorite #HEB, or #Randalls, and I’ll find what I want, in person, like a human – and me still shopping for my own groceries, and choosing my own apples.
Get this. Go to your local branch of your ‘major’ bank and ask to speak to a customer service rep who’s sitting there to answer customer’s questions. So you ask your question. They pick up the phone, and call the same 800# you could call, and they ask the question of their ‘rep’ online, with a code word at the front so they know it’s an internal inbound ‘branch’ call. Uhhh, really, this is how you do it now? #$%^$# – What happened to your customer service, did they all get fired, or you forgot to train them to help me with even basic questions, in person? I’m paying you – I’ll find another bank to do business. Today.
And let’s not forget now, the robo dial calls and texts, even though you’re on the DO NOT CALL list, and it’s been checked and verified. Did you forget to check that, any of you? I spent time listing myself there to avoid these antagonists frustrations, and you maybe ‘forgot’ to purge that list, so you can email me instead. One email would be nice, not 30 in a week.
One big time client has 180,000+ emails in his work email inbox. He’s shared, he can’t get the first email answered before there’s another 10 follow-up emails and now, many scold you for not answering the first email, or say “I’m sure you’ve been busy, did you forget to answer my prior email?”
Really? #$%^$# … uhhh no, you’re stalking the #$%^$# out of me, so I’ll just BLOCK you. How’s that for cutting off your robotic marketing? … now what, you’ll camp at my house or office, and catch me heading to the grocery store? Seriously?
Marketing, this is not. Sales, this is not. Yes, there’s a powerful benefit to online targeting and yet, there must be a limit to stalking #$%^$# that’s going on today. It’s insane. Insane.
Get the point? It’s not that difficult – it’s basic human psychology. Very basic, i.e. it’s not that difficult to understand and, even yourself as an example, you don’t want it either. Yes.
And to think, we stalk #$%^$# them to frustration and agony then, we wonder why they don’t buy. Hold on while I finish LMAO, OMG – what the hell? Is this for real? Someone must be punking me, right? Where’s Ashton Kutcher when you need him? Yikes.
In our business, we speak with marketers every single day – EVERY.SINGLE.DAY of the week. And guess what, they’re all mostly very frustrated. Their sales teams are frustrated, and no one’s much answering the phone any more, rarely responding to emails (unless it’s a known contact), and uhhhh … getting a H2H or F2F meeting these days is near impossible anymore. It’s an epidemic we call ‘bunkering’ and it’s a sad result of a shameful practice.
Read the articles, there are many on these topics, and it’ll only get worse, except for those marketers and sales managers who want to give their customers a more bona fide and productive experience. Honestly, these days, it’s not that difficult to set yourself (your company) apart and above the competition. To start, stop stalking people – it’s not working to produce the result you want and, IN FACT, it’s producing the opposite affect.
If you want to reach people, i.e. your customers, how about sending them a little gift, or a nice gesture of goodwill, or offering them an advantage to doing business with you? Or, what about NOT stalking #$%^$# them? Simple steps cause big results, and this ‘marketing’ madness must come to a halt or, you’ll soon find yourself with fewer customers.
Company after company (large and small) are denoting the reality of this situation and, luckily, some are taking prompt action/s to reverse the saga/mess and, building valued relationships with their customers and prospects. It’s not that difficult but first, you must stop the insanity.
Shared in truth and a bit of humor, and happy to chat any time. These topics are important, and apply mostly equally to both B2B and B2C targeting. Some products/services do well with the online-only options, yet many do not. Think carefully how you’re cultivated a relationship the customer WANTS to have with you and your company.
Try being a customer of your company, and see how it goes. I’ve personally coached many CMO’s to do this, and create a fake profile for a test and, 95% of the time, they call back crying and/or screaming. Yes, they found the truth, the reality of overwhelm on their own, firsthand, and they wouldn’t want to be a customer of their own company.
Sadly, that’s both humorous, and horrifying. It’s time we take smarter/better action, and caring for our customers better, more intuitively, and giving them an experience they’ll want to repeat. Now that’s marketing, and that’s sales – like time-tested and proven over and over.
Building a successful business in any market requires an ambitious marketing team and a strategy that works for you. When expanding your business, you need to be able to trust your marketing team to maximize your reach without overspending or launching campaigns that do not resonate with your target audience. Knowing how to determine the effectiveness of your current marketing team is essential before launching massive campaigns and investing financially in ad spending.
Hold weekly or bi-weekly conferences and meetings with your marketing team to ensure you are moving forward with plans and to avoid wasting time or your investment. Inquire about their marketing plans and ask why they have chosen the methods they prefer. Consider your audience and the way they are most likely to find your website or online presence. Does your audience browse using their mobile phones? Are your prospective customers interested in a newsletter subscription, or do they discover new offers and promotions via social media platforms such as Facebook? A great marketing team is able to relay necessary information to you while highlighting what is likely to work best for your followers and consumers simultaneously.
Resource: How to Build a High Performance Marketing Team
The most important metrics to monitor with a marketing team include conversions, email opens, and click-through rates on your website, advertisements, and email newsletters sent. Monitoring the metrics of individual campaigns your team launches provides valuable insight into what messaging, subject lines, and promotional copy work best for your target demographic.
Resource: How to Measure the Effectiveness of Marketing Campaigns
Keeping track of your marketing team’s progress is extremely important to remain on track with any goals you have set in place. Ask important questions and hold your marketing team accountable. There are a few ways to improve your company’s marketing game by setting requirements from your marketing team such as:
Resource: 6 Contrarian Questions to Ask When Hiring a Marketing Agency
When you understand what a good marketing team entails, ensure your own marketing team meets your standards and delivers on their promises. With the right marketing team by your side, expand your business while boosting loyalty, trust, and commitment from your prospective customers.
When managing a marketing campaign, sometimes you need some extra help and guidance. That’s where we come in. Our campaigns range from business to business because we fit our campaigns to your needs. Check out what campaigns we have to offer and see which is best for you and your business! Businesses who have used our services have seen up to 341% ROI because of our campaigns! Get in contact with us, and let’s see what we can create together!
Though it may seem a bit counter-intuitive, it’s rather easy – the targeting tactics work well, and better than ever before.
Adept marketers frequently use our solutions for many targets, and this spans everything from thought leadership platforms, sales assets, multi-touch prospecting platforms, affluent marketing, trade shows and conventions, pharma point-of-care, and more precise databases.
Yes, it may seem a bit obtuse – people will often put so much emphasis on the magazine (like inside book advertising), they forget it’s really direct marketing. Thus, it’s never about the magazine – it’s always about the target, exactly precise targets.
The magazine is only a simple delivery device, the envelope that gets vital messages in your target’s hands. And, for good reason, the magazine is also why your ‘envelope’ is warmly received, appreciated. People like to be recognized – it’s very basic Psychology 101 – human psychology works.
It’s a Trojan horse, and very reliable marketing … a valued tactic that delivers ongoing messages directly into the hands of the exact customers and prospects (targets) you care about reaching the most, those you want to cultivate most.
It’s not a ‘mass’ medium – it’s all about the exact placement, any niche target, and content that matters, i.e. appreciating relationships you value in business, for acquisition and retention, both short-term and long-term growth goals.
Yes, for any target you can fathom, you literally deliver your custom messages placed on the covers of high-value magazines and, then deliver your call-to-action content, even for direct-to-digital platforms. And, you do so reaching them in-home, in-office, or in any collection of geo/demo retail locations or doctor’s offices. It’s precise, and compelling.
These campaigns deliver reliable results, and sales teams who’ve used cover wrap assets LOVE their campaigns, always.
Our best prospect is a Sales Director, as he/she understands the pain-points of reaching vital targets, which is very difficult these days. It delivers valued touch points.
Q: How often do your customers say ‘thank you’ for blasting them on social media? … A: Uhhh, likely never. Never.
With value-added precise database targeting, our client’s targets appreciate them for including them, and they say thank you – thank you – THANK YOU!!
And in waiting areas, customers appreciate the info shared in close proximity to their dentist, veterinarian, doctor, barber, hair stylist, i.e. any secondary influencers for the products or services you’re promoting – geo/demo targets, and local targets.
It may sound complex yet, essentially, it’s a very simple process … we deliver it for you turnkey, and do the heavy-lifting for our client, and agency and magazine partners – it’s a well-constructed and sequenced plan.
For smartest messaging, we recommend a human ‘message’ be included, a personal ‘letter’ from one of your key executives, your CEO or other leaders, influencers – it’s the human ‘voice’ of the company, i.e. a human-to-human connection, which is even more powerful today, especially amidst digital fatigue. It cuts through the clutter.
Your custom cover wrap content is also consumed more consciously, and for longer periods of time (vs. digital), for example. It’s the gift that keeps on giving … and it’s why people appreciate it so much, chosen for VIP customer status.
The value of ‘co-branded’ content cannot be underestimated – it literally lifts your brand via the association, and your multi-page cover units are visually stimulating. Thus, they cause a natural inclination to engage the info shared. They feel special, and 80% readership is a expected, proven with many audience types – consumer and business.
You can now digitally ‘tag’ cover wraps with devices like NFC, Digimarc, video, buzz cards, and creative units like gatefolds, textured printing, variable printing, and pullouts too. It’s kinda like, what’s old-is-new-again, but with the newest interactive innovations added as well.
Those who receive your special issues are first notified via an announcement letter or card, i.e. “please enjoy receiving Fast Company magazine” … for example. Your gesture stands out, gets noticed, and delivers an ongoing series of productive touch points, which builds interest, loyalty, reciprocity and sales.
As an example, a tech client recently targeted 2,000+ high-level CIOs, all of whom were enterprise or channel targets. Within only 6 months of this campaign starting, the client reported a 56% engagement, compared with their digital engagement stats, which was considerably less potent and more costly per event.
Their sales force was elated, got the bounce they needed and, they renewed their next year six months earlier than needed, simply to lock inventory with magazine partner.
We also build retail platforms in any footprint of geo/demo targeting, i.e. spas, hair and nail salons, auto dealers, tattoo parlors, country clubs, athletic facilities, coffee shops, and any of 200+ location types – each chosen by exact geo/demo radius, demos, address, zips, etc.
When the targeting objectives fit, there’s nothing like the precision of magazine coverwrap campaigns to deliver smart results. It’s a direct marketing tactic that’s often misunderstood and, we hope to assist your biggest ideas – 888.241.6634,719.
If you’d like to learn by phone, we promise – your time will be valued and, at least, you’ll know more about effective direct targeted marketing tactics, and options.
Understanding the full potential of these options is smart, for all marketers today (even digital marketers) and, especially when used tactically as shared above.
When engaged for proper targets, with powerful messaging sequenced over time – that’s how we deliver the valued client results we deliver consistently over time.
Please reach out if you’d like more info, new ideas, or to chat with one of our 40 client leaders. They are adept with the most-valued and productive targeting. We’ll first want to understand your targets better, and goals, and will provide options (unless it’s not a fit, and we’ll let you know that too).
In today's overwhelming marketing world, there's never been a better time to stand above the
competition with a smart messaging campaign that delivers the impact you need for growth.
In today's overwhelming marketing world, there's never been a better time to stand above the competition with a smart messaging campaign that delivers impact needed for growth.
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