Is this the week when you are going to work through your resistance to digital media and seize all the opportunities that the platforms offer to get you in the game and get as close to your customer as possible?
Look how successful and powerful the “referral” companies on google are (eg tripadvisor, booking.com in the hotel market). The power is with those that can get closest to the customer and your best ammunition is your brand, targetting and building your “know, like, trust”. You need to flip your sceptism, fear, resistance, old stories in the head to excitement that you are literally 3 connections away from your whole world on LinkedIn. It matches any dinner party circle and your route to the market is in your pocket. Stop scrolling through your phone and get it working for you.
The opportunities are so different and abundant to what was available just a few short years ago and it needs a different mindset. Old school was an intense amount of work of producing leaflets brochures, website, booking ads, planning PR, attending events, rinse, repeat. That controlled, staged routine is over. Convincing people to read your stuff has given way to you being able to create great content and story telling totally true to you and your brand (without an editor having the last say). The targeting abilities available to you are huge so you can set yourself up for when that client is ready to buy.
You need to be alive and you need to be posting content, being native, current and seasonal and talking directly to the particular client you are targetting, forget general blah and go direct, 1:1 content. That might mean 4 versions of one message for different segments, creating discussion groups, helping people (why wouldn’t you want to do them a favour if you like them as much as you say you do) and you have the opportunity to target so directly, what is not to love. For a small business this might translate that you work on one segment at a time and you go deep, you understand that core markets pains, you empathise and you show them the “afters” of buying your brand. Be personal to that target and build traction by creating your brand standpoint, awareness and being there soyou are the go to brand when they choose to buy.
A little bit everyday with an eye on the long game is what you need. Some of the resistance is down to short term planning, too wrapped up in the sales machine. The economics and targets are really important but balance this out with brand work and awareness too. Communication and connection throughout the human race is going on line and that includes referrals. This is mouse or to be real it is now word of mobile as that is where the searches are being googled, facebooked etc with information shared via the internet even between families and friends. You need brand content out there for it to be shared and you can take people through the “know, like, trust, try, buy” which in itself dictates that it cannot be just sales fodder/promotions/vouchers it has to be storytelling, awareness and brand building.
Marathon runners really have the edge over sprinters here. I am delighted to be a marathon runner (London, Berlin, Barcelona and Hull). If you need help with your lead generation I am here to help you get your story working for you.
Can I help you? Shall we have a 15 minute chat on the phone to find out? Call me on 07703 520490 or email me at laura@yourleadgeneration.co.uk
