subject: It's not the number of contacts you touch, it's whether or not you are touching the right contacts! [print this page] While marketing channels continue to flood the market one thing remains the same everything comes back to the development of seamlessly integrated communications that are based on cultivating and nurturing relationships with the right customers and prospects. And as we have talked about in the past, the best way to do this is to engage your customers and make your communications customer-focused so they feel you are their thought leader partner versus an annoying spammer much like a gnat that they would just like to swat and make away forever.
As it has been since the dawn of time, building relationships is the most important thing single most important thing you should focus on regardless of media channel. This will help you retain, cross-sell and up-sell existing customers, pick up new customers and develop relationships with prospects who may not be ready to buy right now but will be in the near future. Develop thought relationships by positioning yourself as a though leader with their best interests in mind and chances are when they are ready to make a purchase you will be top of mind based on the relationships you have developed.
There's a saying that goes like this "it's not the number of contacts you touch that matters, it'smaking sureyou aretouching the right contacts". And this is where basic 101 ROI methodologies apply regardless of channel. Ask yourself this, would you rather have 100,000 people following you on any of your social media channels or mail lists or 10,000 that are highly qualified either from a buying and/or an influencing perspective? There are not only a tremendous amount of cost efficiencies associated with this approach but it also frees up sales / marketing resources so they can focus on the gold versus the gold plated leads.
Here Are Just a Few WaysTo Build AND Keep Profitable Relationships:
Regardless of channel, make sure your messages are consistently branded so there is never any confusion in the market place; your goal is to become top of mind in their consideration set and it's not going to happen if you are not leveraging and position your brand in a consistent manner.
Whether it's through an email or an online newsletter, if you have a topic that will resonate with your audience, develop a landing pages that is based on providing thought leadership content on that topic vs. a ton of shameless plugs from a host of advertisers.
Always make sure all your communications have a "share" and "forward" button remember, only a true advocate is going to spread the word so make sure they have the tools to do so.
Do you have an inside sales team? Think about rotating emails and newsletters with a personal call on a quarterly basis add a human touch to the mix.
Want to make sure you are giving the people want they want? Reader surveys are a very quick and cost effective way of ensuring you are meeting their needs instead of yours.
Rome was not built in a day and neither are relationships. That is the single most important reason that consistency and relevancy is key! Be proactive, send articles you think THEY will benefit from, be patient and don't flood them to the point they are turned off, engage them with questions and articles they said they wanted via the survey and keep at it and soon enough not only will you have converted this group to customers but you can bet that they will be telling their friends and so on and so on.
It's not the number of contacts you touch, it's whether or not you are touching the right contacts!
