Product and Industry Knowledge Importance
The world has changed. Buyers have changed.
In this age, the old methods of marketing are no longer effective. We are in the information age, and with reviews, product descriptions and alternative suppliers only a few clicks away on Google, it’s important to establish yourself as a leader of your industry. Statistics show that 97% of the time, cold calling is ineffective. This supports the idea that trust is now a key part of the buying process; a customer wants to know who they are doing business with prior to committing.
An overwhelming 81% of people surveyed advised that friends and their social network influence their purchase decisions. Opinion and feedback are a lot more accessible in the digital age; prospective clients will consult your company website, social platform profiles, public reviews, and ultimately speak to other customers of yours to educate themselves about who they’re figuratively “getting into bed with”.
It is suggested that companies who engage with their buyers via social media platforms tend to establish better relationships and resultantly their customers are more loyal. Trust is paramount – if you are seen as a massive faceless corporation then your potential customers will not relish the thought of having to deal with you. We all know what it’s like when you ring up with an issue, spend 25 minutes on hold, get transferred between 5 people and end up speaking to somebody who’s grasp of the English language is equivalent to that of Manuel on Fawlty Towers.
In this age, the old methods of marketing are no longer effective. We are in the information age, and with reviews, product descriptions and alternative suppliers only a few clicks away on Google, it’s important to establish yourself as a leader of your industry. Statistics show that 97% of the time, cold calling is ineffective. This supports the idea that trust is now a key part of the buying process; a customer wants to know who they are doing business with prior to committing.
An overwhelming 81% of people surveyed advised that friends and their social network influence their purchase decisions. Opinion and feedback are a lot more accessible in the digital age; prospective clients will consult your company website, social platform profiles, public reviews, and ultimately speak to other customers of yours to educate themselves about who they’re figuratively “getting into bed with”.
It is suggested that companies who engage with their buyers via social media platforms tend to establish better relationships and resultantly their customers are more loyal. Trust is paramount – if you are seen as a massive faceless corporation then your potential customers will not relish the thought of having to deal with you. We all know what it’s like when you ring up with an issue, spend 25 minutes on hold, get transferred between 5 people and end up speaking to somebody who’s grasp of the English language is equivalent to that of Manuel on Fawlty Towers.
Statistics
have proved that website driven traffic converts higher than other mediums; on
average 6% of website driven traffic is that of social media influence. Over
time, cost of marketing decreases and the value of your consumer base rises –
once you have expanded your reach sufficiently and provided rich contributions
to the community, they will recycle your content and advertise your company to
their own social networks.
The question remains however, “how do we get the reputation necessary?”
Well it’s simple logic really. Rich content and an understanding of your demographic. If you can provide the stories and information, address the concerns, and answer the questions of your target market in an effective manner – you will see a good ROI. Do you remember the insightful and interesting articles you read on the internet, or do you remember the shameless blunt adverts that tried to force you to buy products you don’t need? It’s rarely the latter.
You need to engage your audience – get involved! Primarily you will need to grow your base of followers – this is best done by finding out who follows the leaders of your industry, who follows your competitors, and who follows you? This is your marketing demographic – these are the kind of people you can socially engineer to buy products from you effortlessly. Well… pretty effortlessly.
The question remains however, “how do we get the reputation necessary?”
Well it’s simple logic really. Rich content and an understanding of your demographic. If you can provide the stories and information, address the concerns, and answer the questions of your target market in an effective manner – you will see a good ROI. Do you remember the insightful and interesting articles you read on the internet, or do you remember the shameless blunt adverts that tried to force you to buy products you don’t need? It’s rarely the latter.
You need to engage your audience – get involved! Primarily you will need to grow your base of followers – this is best done by finding out who follows the leaders of your industry, who follows your competitors, and who follows you? This is your marketing demographic – these are the kind of people you can socially engineer to buy products from you effortlessly. Well… pretty effortlessly.
When you
know who is interested in your industry, then you can place yourself in their
line of sight. This is easily done by engaging with the social community –
start commenting, replying, and getting your name showing up all over the
networks your target market consult. Sooner or later, your buyer will wonder
who you are, and why they don’t know you properly since they see your name
everywhere they go – this will expand your reach, and drive buyers to come and
research.
If you focus on top influencers in your industry you can attract their followers – how often have you been looking at a company’s profile, and then spotted an affiliate you like and jumped onto their profile afterwards? Statistically, this is a common scenario – for example, you’re looking on Sony’s profile, and then you spot Playstation 4 commenting, and pop onto theirs afterwards. This is social engineering.
If you build it, they will come.
So, like the proverbial story of Noah, you have generated enough attention and hype to bring your followers to your digital Ark. They are beginning to arrive in pairs, but you will need to give them a reason to check out what’s aboard – they aren’t going to bother coming into your Ark if it looks more like a canoe after all. If you can couple a clean and optimised profile with valuable and rich content, your prospective buyers will not need to find shelter elsewhere. Metaphorically of course (I am in no way endorsing inviting homeless people to sleep in your business premises).
You need to create high value and top quality content, whether it is articles or e-books, videos or podcasts – create something revolutionary, something your buyer will benefit from and tell their social network about. Perhaps you could even repurpose existing content, encourage engagement, comments, likes and shares – address the buyers questions and concerns in further marketing approaches. If a few buyers ask what you mean by “xyz” then next time, write an explorative article about “xyz” – you know that it’s something your audience want to know more about! Let your demographic dictate your content wherever possible – give the fans what they came to see.
I can tell you what they likely didn’t come to see – a company using social media solely as a broadcast platform. If you are continually assaulted by aggressive advertising, how long before you get annoyed with them? How long before you completely hide them from your newsfeed? Come play Candy Crush Saga! No.
It is important to establish yourself as a thought leader, an expert – gain recognition for your knowledge and willingness to nurture your community and this will expand your social reach. People will talk about how you helped them solve this, or told them the answer to that – people will want to listen to what you have to say. If you are really proactive, you can jump the gun here, research your demographic – check out who is following industry leaders, look into their hobbies and interests, read their questions and concerns, and then market your articles, posts and blogs to be relevant to the core audience you are targeting.
If you focus on top influencers in your industry you can attract their followers – how often have you been looking at a company’s profile, and then spotted an affiliate you like and jumped onto their profile afterwards? Statistically, this is a common scenario – for example, you’re looking on Sony’s profile, and then you spot Playstation 4 commenting, and pop onto theirs afterwards. This is social engineering.
If you build it, they will come.
So, like the proverbial story of Noah, you have generated enough attention and hype to bring your followers to your digital Ark. They are beginning to arrive in pairs, but you will need to give them a reason to check out what’s aboard – they aren’t going to bother coming into your Ark if it looks more like a canoe after all. If you can couple a clean and optimised profile with valuable and rich content, your prospective buyers will not need to find shelter elsewhere. Metaphorically of course (I am in no way endorsing inviting homeless people to sleep in your business premises).
You need to create high value and top quality content, whether it is articles or e-books, videos or podcasts – create something revolutionary, something your buyer will benefit from and tell their social network about. Perhaps you could even repurpose existing content, encourage engagement, comments, likes and shares – address the buyers questions and concerns in further marketing approaches. If a few buyers ask what you mean by “xyz” then next time, write an explorative article about “xyz” – you know that it’s something your audience want to know more about! Let your demographic dictate your content wherever possible – give the fans what they came to see.
I can tell you what they likely didn’t come to see – a company using social media solely as a broadcast platform. If you are continually assaulted by aggressive advertising, how long before you get annoyed with them? How long before you completely hide them from your newsfeed? Come play Candy Crush Saga! No.
It is important to establish yourself as a thought leader, an expert – gain recognition for your knowledge and willingness to nurture your community and this will expand your social reach. People will talk about how you helped them solve this, or told them the answer to that – people will want to listen to what you have to say. If you are really proactive, you can jump the gun here, research your demographic – check out who is following industry leaders, look into their hobbies and interests, read their questions and concerns, and then market your articles, posts and blogs to be relevant to the core audience you are targeting.
Encourage
your demographic to follow you on other social platforms – “if you like what you’ve just read, check out
my other blog posts at whatever.com or drop me wall post over on Facebook”
for example. This cross platform interaction keeps yourself on the buyers radar
wherever they go – if you limit yourself to a single social medium, you are
limiting your exposure. Be creative, post polls, ask questions, and incite
debates – whatever it takes to get the community engaging with you.
Another statistic for you now – did you know that a whopping 57% of people surveyed make decisions on purchases before speaking to a sales rep? That’s correct; our buyers are doing their own research, and removing the opportunity to be pressured into an impulse buy with subtle sales swagger. And where exactly do they do this research? [/rhetorical question] I think we already see where this is going…
Social platforms are varied in approach and great for reaching out to a vast audience – it has been deduced that the majority of users follow companies in hopes of incentives, discounts and rewards – but also for news, information and developments. If you leverage your demographic effectively, you will drive awareness, brand identity and traffic, and once you’re established firmly on their map for rich content, they’ll pop by from time to time without needing to be reminded – they’ll want to read your latest article, and if they like it, they’ll share it with their own social network, effectively advertising for you.
So to summarise, really research your demographic – find out their hobbies, interests, look for connections and common themes – do most motor traders like driving films with fast cars? Do most taxi drivers use social media during the night shift? These kind of indicators can be ideal for targeting content and scheduling tweets and posts. Engage with industry leaders and competitors, get your name out there and generate interest from your demographic – make them come to you. And get some feedback, encourage positive customer reviews, and ask people to share your content if they like it.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Another statistic for you now – did you know that a whopping 57% of people surveyed make decisions on purchases before speaking to a sales rep? That’s correct; our buyers are doing their own research, and removing the opportunity to be pressured into an impulse buy with subtle sales swagger. And where exactly do they do this research? [/rhetorical question] I think we already see where this is going…
Social platforms are varied in approach and great for reaching out to a vast audience – it has been deduced that the majority of users follow companies in hopes of incentives, discounts and rewards – but also for news, information and developments. If you leverage your demographic effectively, you will drive awareness, brand identity and traffic, and once you’re established firmly on their map for rich content, they’ll pop by from time to time without needing to be reminded – they’ll want to read your latest article, and if they like it, they’ll share it with their own social network, effectively advertising for you.
So to summarise, really research your demographic – find out their hobbies, interests, look for connections and common themes – do most motor traders like driving films with fast cars? Do most taxi drivers use social media during the night shift? These kind of indicators can be ideal for targeting content and scheduling tweets and posts. Engage with industry leaders and competitors, get your name out there and generate interest from your demographic – make them come to you. And get some feedback, encourage positive customer reviews, and ask people to share your content if they like it.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
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