This video was originally posted on Facebook and received, at the last count 4,250 views so we thought it was topical! Consequently, we are sharing it here too. Don’t you love it when the custom thumb nail is so flattering! #not
[This is a direct transcription. Please excuse any typing errors.]
Sharon’s been talking to a lot of potential new clients over the last couple of weeks, because as you know the momentum’s building for our Dominate Your Sector Programmes that we have running at the moment, and throughout next year.
There were a few observations. One of which was why things currently aren’t working in marketing. You have a few things to say.
I’ve been having some good conversations over the last couple of weeks. I’ve noticed one theme that has been coming out quite strongly. That is business owners and their marketers talking about and expressing some frustration, about different marketing activities that they’ve been using, social media being one.
They feel it hasn’t been working for them, or not perhaps delivering the results that they were expecting. Their response to that has been varied. Sometimes people will just pull back altogether, and stop sharing certain kinds of content because they aren’t getting an immediate result.
The truth about content
The reality is that content marketing works; though it’s not a quick win strategy.
It’s about being committed to it for the medium to long term. It doesn’t mean to say that a social share going out is going to convert someone, and you’ll suddenly get an email in your inbox saying, “Oh, I saw this Tweet, and I want to work with you.” It doesn’t quite work like that.
Social media and content marketing positions you as the authority and the expert in the market. It helps build noise and awareness in a busy business sector because you’re all operating in busy markets.
It begins over time to build momentum. Sometimes people stop doing certain marketing activities because they are looking for a certain email campaign, or a certain email or a certain webinar to provide a result and provide placements and business. The reality is that we don’t always know which piece of the marketing jigsaw puzzle has been that final convincer.
Someone may well have been on the receiving end of your emails for several months. They might have been reading some of your blog posts and over time, it’s built and they suddenly pick up the phone. Why do they pick up the phone at that point, and not before? Here’s the fact.
The buyer’s cycle.
Yes, the important buyers cycle that many people forget about. The reality is that at any one time, only 3% of people are ready to buy there and then, when they open your email, when they read a certain blog post, when they’ve just been on a webinar. Only 3% are going to act and respond, because they’re ready to buy: NOW.
That means 93%, the absolute majority of people, are not ready. What you and I must do in our business with our marketing is nurture those relationships. Demonstrate that we understand what some of the problems and challenges are, and we create content to help our client or candidates understand what they need to know at any one point.
Then they go through that buying cycle, they become ready. When they go through that buying cycle and they’re ready to buy, because you’ve positioned yourself so well, because you’re a regular in their inbox or feed.
When they’re ready, it is you that they email. It is you that they pick up the phone to, because you have developed that know, like, trust relationship with those prospects. Remember, these strategies work. They really do. What it does mean is that as people are going through that buying cycle, that you might be wanting to think about developing a different kind of content so it helps move them through that buying cycle to the point of engaging your services.
Lesson for today. Just remember, just 3% are going to be ready to act at any moment in time, therefore you need to build a relationship and be persistent!
You’ve got to be prepared to be in the content and social media marketing piece for the long haul, and my, can it really work and deliver for you.
I know it really works, because when I’m on calls with people that respond to our marketing, and they want to talk, 9 times out of 10, they will talk about how long they’ve been following us on the blog. How long they’ve been listening to Denise’s podcast or seeing videos. You know it works. It’s a great convincer. Stick with it. It’s worth it.
Important
As an ambitious recruitment organisation, THE marketing strategy to master is email marketing. It will consistently deliver both candidates and clients.
In a special complimentary training Webinar, we give you the template for writing emails we use for our clients and the exact 4 campaigns that are working now.
You can register here.
