Stop DM’ing me your pitch.
This was a headline on my Facebook feed this morning. (Obviously I follow a lot of marketing websites!) In this example, you could replace the DM’ing with emailing, LinkedIn messaging and the like. It really doesn’t matter the format or means of delivery, it’s the message and the timing that is wrong.
How can I improve my direct marketing conversion rate?
Many business owners and managers are feeling the constant pressure of so-called social or business friends pushing the “ I want to connect with you for a mutually beneficial relationship’ line. This is why in business to business sales a strong, solid relationship is so important. We’re all a little overwhelmed with the amount of people reaching out to us without even getting to know us. This form of ‘farming’ yields very small results for most businesses. But it can work if you are an established business or brand. This means if you get an email from a company called ‘Nike’, ‘Apple’, ‘Iconic’ or if you’re in Australia, Harvey Norman or JB Hi FI, you are more likely to open the email.
Not because you are interested in the products, but you are familiar with the brand.
This is why so-called social media entrepreneurs like Gary V, Grant Cardone, Tony Robbins and Australia’s Adam Hudson from Reliable Education do so well. They build a relationship with their followers, they build their brand as trustworthy and reliable without hitting you with a pitch first up.
You learn about their rise to fame, their failures and bond with them over common problems and successes. You build an online relationship with them and then because you ‘trust’ what they are saying or the pitch that they deliver you eventually buy from them. Some of these influencers will not even openly push their products, but as they have developed their brand exposure you feel the need, the desire to have what they are having. You will see a secret entrepreneurs club if you follow them on line: Dean Graziosi will talk about his mate Tony Robbins and pitch his product or webinars, Adam Hudson and other celebrities will pitch Grant Cardone’s seminars to help boost their popularity and brand those people to a new audience.
It is vital to build the brand first and then the sales will follow.
You follow Gary V, you buy his book. You follow Tony Robbins, you buy an introductory webinar. Once you buy the book, you’re hooked and you buy the ‘meet and greet’, you buy the business coaching. Why? It’s because they have built a relationship with you. It’s not the touchy, hands on relationship, but one which is on line, relatable, visible and constant. Get the idea? These people are the face of a business model that combines brand exposure with call to action advertising.
They are ‘always on’. This means that wherever you look across social media, email, B2B platforms like LinkedIn and even Youtube, they will be touting their brand. You would be lucky to find someone in your group that is not aware of any of these people. They are the brand.
How do I start to build a successful marketing plan?
To succeed in business you need to build your brand first. This means you need to be ‘always on’ where people are spending their time. On traditional platforms like radio and TV, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Youtube and always on Google. You pitch the same message over and over again that relates your business mission statement to the world.
What makes you relatable? Where do your customers spend their time? What is the most cost-effective way for you to make sure that your message is constantly on and visible to your prospective customers? If you can answer those questions, you have taken the first steps to building a marketing plan to increase your brand exposure. Once you have built the plan, implement it. Once you have developed your brand exposure, start the pitch. That’s your call to action.
Cheryl Jowitt is co-founder of Rebel Connect PL, a family owned and operated Australian business that provides total marketing solutions. Rebel Connect clients have access to advertising across the company’s radio networks, Rebel FM & the Breeze and Rebel Agency, a digital marketing solutions company providing website development, SEM and social media marketing strategies.
