Blog
Stan Robinson ,SHR Marketing
How do you handle prospects who don’t buy now?
Most prospects will not purchase on their first contact with your business. This is true whether you initiated the contact or they contacted you. How do you keep good prospects engaged with you over time when they are not even at the beginning of a sales cycle right now?
Everyone in sales has called back a prospect who previously said that they may purchase at some point in the future, only to hear that they just signed a contract with a competitor. Even worse, they usually say “I forgot that you carried the product we needed, if I had remembered I would have called you.”
Content marketing is one way to make sure this doesn’t happen to you. Providing valuable content to your prospects without sales messages is a low key way to stay in front of them and build a relationship.
This approach has several advantages. First, it reduces the cost per sale as you are no longer investing time pursuing leads that will not convert for some time. Second, prospects are more receptive to receiving helpful information than they are to sales calls. Third, consistently providing prospects with valuable information helps raise your status in their eyes.
The content you provide can take many forms - a print or online newsletter, a blog, social media, teleseminars, webinars, podcasts, videos, white papers, live or online events, case studies, recorded interviews and others.
For sources of content start with your internal staff who are experts on your product or service. You can also reach out to outside experts as guest writers of articles and blog posts and for interviews. An advantage of delivering content via different media is that some people prefer reading, others like audio content and still others would rather watch a video. In addition, providing the same content to your audience via different media helps to reinforce your message.
If you have any comments or questions, please let us hear from you.
Stan Robinson
SHR Marketing
stan@shrmarketing.com
Derrick Guest, CEO Griot's Roll Film Production& Services.
Cloud Forecast: How to create a video marketing strategy using the cloud.
So if you have run across a television ad or got a spam email about using cloud computing to store your files, photos, videos, etc., as a small business owner, you might be holding your head to stop it from exploding! You may be saying to yourself “I’m still trying to figure out how to use social media for my business.” Well you need not fear Griot’s Roll is here. First: let’s be clear about what is cloud technology. It allows you, the user, to store, share, or backup your data or files on huge servers, and gives you the freedom to access those severs no matter where you are in the world. Using the cloud offers the business owner flexibility of accessing files stored on the cloud from any computer while on the road. It also gives others–designated by you the user–permission to access the same information from anywhere without having to email, fax, etc. So, no more worries about running out of space on your hard drives, or losing information due to computer crashes. The cloud can also be a great tool for those who want to access your business information on any platform, web browser, mobile, tablet, etc.
Not too late to give a gift: I have always believed that the season for giving should be all-year-round. So it’s never too late to give something to your customers. If your company uses online video on a regular basis then you can kill two birds with one stone by storing all your videos on the cloud. Let’s say you offer videos about traveling, or you have training videos as part of your business. You could create an account on Dropbox to give others access to those training or travel videos from any platform (mobile, tablet, etc.) regardless of location. You can also leave your Mac or PC at home and use any computer provided you have your Dropbox account information. You can send your customer’s season’s greetings cards, or real-time information they can use about your service or product. Your customer or recipient need only have a Dropbox account as well, which is free.
Put your heads together: I always tell my clients that the best laid plans are the best made plans. To create a marketing strategy on a regular basis, if you don’t sit down with your team–whether it’s a team of two, or two-hundred–you are doomed to fail in business. My suggestion would be at least every quarter of the year to a have a marketing strategy meeting with your team. To do this more effectively, meaning cost as well goal objectives, Skype Video Conferencing call might be a great idea. Or, if you are a CEO who has great ideas in the wee hours of the night and wishes to record a video just for your team then you might want to use a Google Video account. You can use this as part of your Google Apps account for your business. This will help keep your entire planning method private and secure, as well as a convenient means for everyone to share ideas without having to be in the same room. Google Apps has both free and paid accounts for as little as $5.
