social media

Boosting Sales by Sharing Your Expertise (part 2)

(originally published in Costco Connection Magazine, September 2014)

Know Your Customer

There is no single content marketing approach that will work for all businesses. For example, a software company that sells exclusively to online customers might create a blog to boost inbound search engine leads. Conversely, a local moving company might offer a free moving tips e-book to boost the effectiveness of its radio and newspaper advertisements.

Although every business must determine its own strategy, content marketing should always flow from a clear understanding of how customers investigate your products and ser- they validate buying options).

Next, develop buyer personas—general snapshots of people who make purchasing decisions for your products and services. Buyer personas can be based on demographics, job responsibilities or how prospects prefer to receive and consume content. You can research buyer personas by studying your website analytics, analyzing search trends or polling your existing clients and customers.

“Brainstorm with your staff and salespeople about common questions your prospects ask before they ever arrive at your site,” says Scott Benson of Benson SEO, a Washington, D.C.–based inbound marketing consultancy. “Then, build your content marketing strategy around answering these questions. This ensures your content is useful and relevant, and can help smaller companies compete for competitive search terms.”

For example, Toronto-based Costco member inFlow Inventory, an inventory management software company, developed its content strategy around keyword research that showed prospects searched for an “inventory template” before purchasing inventory software. Taking advantage of this insight, the company created a blog post listing downloadable inventory templates. This strategy boosted inFlow’s search rankings and attracted thousands of website visitors who later became customers.

Promote Your Content

To ensure that your content spreads beyond your own website, develop relation- ships with industry websites and influencers, trade associations and journalists who cover your industry. Use your content to earn third- party credibility, grow your brand and expand your network by earning endorsements from sources your prospects trust.

Voices.com in Ontario, Canada, a company that connects businesses with professional voice talent, created an extensive online resource center with free educational webinars, video tutorials, articles and e-books. David Ciccarelli, the company’s co-founder and CEO, credits third-party credibility with landing major clients, such as PBS, Microsoft and the Discovery Channel. “Content marketing is our single most effective source of new business, especially when it’s been mentioned or published on high-profile media sites, including Wall Street Journal and Forbes,” he says.

“Social media can advance your content marketing efforts by connecting content with more people in your target market,” says LinkedIn group product marketing manager Lana Khavinson, who cites how AmeriFirst Home Mortgage uses social media to pro- mote its blog articles, e-books, infographics and videos that help people navigate the home-buying process.

“LinkedIn connects us with real estate agents and builders 
who refer their clients
to us for financing,” says
AmeriFirst inbound marketing
specialist Dan Moyle. “Combining con-
tent marketing with social media helped our website go from 3,000 views per month, with virtually no lead conversions, to over 5,000 views per month, with 2.5 percent converting to new customers.”

As consumers increasingly go online to research products and services, it’s imperative that businesses maintain websites with fresh, useful information. However, content marketing should not be viewed as a panacea. It is most effective when integrated into an appropriate marketing mix for your business, which can include search engine optimization, social media, advertising, lead nurturing, strategic partnerships and offline marketing.

“Content marketing is not a silver bullet that will drive your entire marketing program,” says expert Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing. “But when approached realistically and strategically, content marketing can boost your website traffic, generate more leads, establish your expertise and lower new-customer acquisition costs. Patience and consistency is key. Content marketing is like brushing your teeth: It should be done on a regular basis and never end.”

Experts agree that content marketing should be approached as a marathon, not a sprint. “Content marketing establishes trust that can lead to sales,” says Sheridan. “But you have to commit for the long haul and not expect instant results. But when you commit to being the most helpful teacher in your industry you can earn attention, loyalty and ultimately more business.”

Daniel Moirao On Thinking Like a Meeting Planner

Daniel Moirao

Daniel Moirao is the past president of the National Speakers Association Northern California (NSA/NC). As a professional speaker himself, he’s delivered keynotes to professional associations, public education institutions, as well as international curriculum associations and numerous start-up businesses.

“Nothing trumps the marketing power of face to face speaking engagements,” says Moirao. “Public speaking is the best way to establish a reputation, attract new opportunities and generate that leads that can turn into customers and clients.”

As president of the NSA/NC, he saw first hand that successful speakers understand how to position and market themselves to speaking opportunity gatekeepers. “Although technology has changed how people communicate, there’s still a need for speakers at events, meetings and conferences. New speakers must understand the key is blending traditional and online strategies to stand out and land speaking slots while building a long-term foundation for a successful speaking career.”

Build Your Foundation. “Many early stage speakers don’t recognize how much marketing is involved in getting speaking engagements, especially now that there’s fewer speaking opportunities than a decade ago,” says Moirao. “You can’t just post YouTube videos. As a beginning speaker you need to work hard to establish a reputation that gets people calling you.”

Companies need information from experts. This has led to more opportunities for speakers to present on webinars. “Webinars are a great way to get your foot in the door by delivering value that can lead to live speaking engagements,” says Moirao. “I recently delivered webinars to three organizations about all of which became face-to-face clients. Each time, after the second webinar, all three have said asked, “Can you do a live event for us?”

Thought leadership. Recognition from the outside world matters. “Speakers must project a credible brand. It’s not enough to declare yourself an expert. You need third party validation to get your foot in the door, facilitate conversations with meeting planners and will ultimately make getting speaking gigs easier.”

If you’re just starting out, Moirao recommends creating a one-year plan to position yourself as an industry expert. Generate and include media clippings in your speaking kit. Blog about topics that relate to your talks, publish articles in trade media, and create an overall platform designed to impress meeting planners.

Develop Your Online Presence. Meeting planners use the Internet to discover, evaluate and validate that speakers know their subject matter and that others recognize their expertise. Therefore, your website should clearly display your availability as a speaker, including your speaking topics and a list of past speaking events and recommendations from meeting planners.

Take steps to boost your online presence. Your blog should showcase key speaking topics to help meeting planners quickly grasp your expertise. Approach social media strategically to create a good impression with meeting planners who visit your social media platforms. Respond to influencer blog posts or participate in LinkedIn Group discussions. “I know one speaker who attracts speaking engagements from all over the world by posting articles from other experts in LinkedIn groups, says Moirao”

Connect with well-known thought leaders. Meeting planners judge you by the company you keep. Look for ways to affiliate and connect yourself with thought leaders so that meeting planners see you as a contributor to your industry.

“When you’re connected to reputable experts, your credibility skyrockets,” says Moirao. “I know a speaker who got several business thought leaders to write acknowledgments for her book. Now, she’s shoulder to shoulder with recognized thought leaders, which generates a powerful first impression when a meeting planner checks her out for a speaking opportunity.”

You have to be consultative. “Speakers can’t just entertain or motivate an audience,” says Moirao. “Now, meeting planners choose speakers who deliver practical value tailored to particular audiences. They expect speakers to research audiences beforehand to discover their challenges and concerns and develop presentations with useful information that attendees can implement immediately.”

Moirao advises speakers to help audiences see the big picture, overcome information overload and provide immediate actionable tasks. “Audiences are better informed and don’t want surface knowledge they can easily find online,” says Moirao. Speakers should see their role as helping audiences grow beyond their current capacity. This means staying current in their industries your industry and building a reputation to establish long-term relationships with gatekeepers that lead to more speaking opportunities.

7 Steps To Get “Slightly” Famous

A few years ago, marketing was simpler. A professional service marketing strategy, for instance, could embrace public speaking, article publishing and book authorship as a marketing strategy likely to reach prospective clients. A small businesses marketing strategy could combine networking, community engagement and build a loyal customer base through word of mouth.

Today, an overabundance of social media noise and content marketing compete for your prospects’ attention. BtoB sellers struggle getting past voicemail as buyers conduct their own online research. Traditional advertising is less effective for professional services marketing and small businesses as consumers increasingly shun sales pitches, turn to online review sites for validation and expect companies to help them make informed decisions throughout the buying process.

Few would argue that the battle to win new clients and customers has intensified. But a key question remains: have the rules of small business and professional service marketing changed? Is social media now the most effective marketing strategy? Will content marketing, and seeking Facebook Likes, Twitter followers and LinkedIn contacts drive your small business or professional services marketing strategy as a primary channel for generating leads and closing sales?

The “Slightly” Famous You

Though the past few years have brought many changes, the underlying rules for building an effective small business or professional service marketing strategy remain the same. If you’re a professional service provider or small business owner, there really is a proven blueprint for rising above the noise and distinguishing your business from a sea of look alikes.

What’s the secret? Becoming just famous enough to make your name come to mind when prospects look for your product or service. When you become Slightly Famous in a strategically targeted market niche you won’t have to rely on advertising. You’ll be regularly featured in blogs, newspapers and magazines. You’ll get invited to speak at conferences. Your name will spread and you’ll grow your online presence.

Your Slightly Famous marketing strategy will help you get more business-not only more, but the right kind of business-and they don’t have to work so hard to get it. Although your efforts will take different forms, underlying them all are seven basic principles.

1. Targeting the best prospects

Building your business around your best prospects will help you avoid a poorly conceived marketing strategy. You must know who you want to reach and what their needs are. Instead of starting with tactics like content marketing and social media marketing, Slightly Famous marketers instead determine their most ideal target prospects first, which can be as simple as asking your best customers the right questions.

2. Developing a unique market niche

Slightly Famous entrepreneurs base their small businesses and professional service marketing strategy around carefully select market niches that they can realistically hope to dominate. Occupying a niche where your products or professional services fit the needs of a target market means you won’t compete with similar businesses solely on price.

Dan Poynter started writing books about parachuting over forty years ago. Rather than try to fight for attention in general bookstores, he sold books to skydiving clubs, parachute dealers, and the U.S. Parachute Association. He developed a reputation in skydiving circles, and has enjoyed steady sales of his books for more than four decades. Best of all, he has the market all to himself!

3. Positioning your business as the best solution

If you’re a professional services provider or small firm surrounded by similar businesses, you must differentiate yourself with a strong positioning strategy. The process starts by evaluating your business features against competitors to ensure you deliver unique benefits to your target market and achieve the market position you want. Key questions may include:

  • Do you save people time or money?
  • Do you make money for people?
  • Do you apply proven processes or models?
  • Are you more expensive, less expensive?
  • Do you offer better or faster service?
  • Do you offer a stronger guarantee?
  • Do you use technology to respond faster to a customer’s needs?

You don’t need to be completely original as long as you offer something different from (and superior to) your competitors.

4. Maintaining your visibility

Your message must be out there, if not continuously, then often enough to keep your name alive in customers’ minds. This is especially important as prospects are inundated with marketing messages and can easily forget you.

Visibility is a cornerstone of every Slightly Famous business strategy. But instead of making the goal of growing unfocused lists of social media followers your top priority, Slightly Famous marketers are strategic. They place their core message in front of as many relevant target customers as often as possible.

5. Enhancing your credibility

Visibility, of course, is only a means. To produce results, visibility must be combined with credibility. This means that you need to embrace visibility strategies that display your distinction, competence, expertise, authority, and leadership.

Fred Tibbitts, Jr. founded Fred Tibbitts & Associates to help food and beverage companies reach global markets. He strategically cultivated his professional service marketing strategy around building a reputation in his industry as a well-connected and knowledgeable global beverage-marketing expert who is fluent in all the details of his business.

Tibbitts monitors global beverage trends on a daily basis while staying in contact with account managers at hotels and restaurants. He hosts a series of special events, “Fred Tibbitts Spring & Autumn Dinners with Special Friends,” in key markets, including Hong Kong, Singapore, and New York. Tibbitts also pursues content marketing by contributing a column to Hospitality International Magazine and numerous industry publications.

6. Becoming a thought leader

The Internet has created empowered consumers who lend their attention and loyalty to companies that demonstrate a top-down commitment to integrity and thought leadership.

Thought leadership marketing is a comprehensive strategy that combines public relations, developing an online presence, producing educational content marketing via blogs, white papers and articles, and demonstrating community involvement or by establishing your reputation as a generous contributor to your industry.

7. Establishing your brand and reputation

Slightly famous entrepreneurs use their smallness and specialty in ways that corporate giants can’t touch. They make sure their brands strike an emotional chord by bringing their business “soul” to the forefront of their marketing.

Brand recognition and reputation matter when it comes to generating sales leads. Your brand identity will become the touchstone of your entire business. It will ensure that all your marketing efforts pull in the same direction. You’ll waste less time, make fewer marketing mistakes, and stand out an increasing cluttered world.