Mobile Marketing benefits are well understood in a B2C environment and it is relatively easy to implement. There are plenty of consultants, examples and applications to identify opportunities for companies to engage consumers on a regular basis. Engagement can be executed while consumers perform online research, shop perform home maintenance or just go about their daily lives working or traveling.
In the B2B environment engaging at a mobile level is a little more difficult but with some consideration and thought can be very beneficial to the customer and you, the business services or product provider. B2B contact must be performed with a degree of caution and care as the contact should not be frivolous. For example, if you want to get a promotion out to your prospects related to a new product offering or an update to an existing product than sending a message out to their mobile device is an excellent way to communicate with them rapidly. Performing such a communication after the successful implementation of a project or on the anniversary of a maintenance agreement would not be considered frivolous. Timeliness and applicability to the customer of the communication is key.
A study performed by Google in partnership with Millward Brown Digital reveals:
For example, after a recent car purchase, the dealership immediately took advantage of my mobile device to requesting feedback on the selling, purchasing and delivery process. I did not consider the connect undesired due to the immediacy and applicability of the request Now texting me about buying a new car one month later, seemed odd and was not desired. However, other contact inquiring of my needs to understand the cars features, wireless applications available, car club memberships made sense. B2B mobile contact can use marketing automation to provide similar opportunities such as additional training for existing or new employees or the ability to join a product or solution user group. There is everything to gain by sending offers to customers and prospects when they can respond using a mobile device. And according to a Dynmark report, SMS boasts a whopping 98 percent open rate. There is a much greater chance of customers and prospects responding to mobile marketing which improves stickiness and, from a sales perspective, the conversion rates.
Create promotions with rewards for completing surveys, online training, or attending webinars. Effective use of B2B mobile marketing increases sales and customer loyalty. The objective must always be to provide value to the customer which will increase customer engagement.
Finally, make your website mobile friendly. Businesses that do not provide a seamless mobile experience via their website often experience a drop in organic ranking. They may even see an increase in the bounce rate because Google now favors mobile-friendly websites. An excellent mobile web experience improves interaction with prospects, resulting in growing leads and sales.
Contact Raven Guru Marketing to learn how your business can expand its mobile marketing opportunities.
]]>Success in the attention economy was based upon the relevancy and importance of the information provided. Relevancy and importance of the information determined the amount of time spent reading information, frequency of visits and ultimately the number of opportunities to sell. Evolution of the attention economy was a must. As more information becomes available across a growing number of competing sources, then a scarcity of attention occurs and the opportunity to sell diminishes. Insightful marketers evolve their planning and activity away from the attention economy towards the engagement economy.
The Engagement Economy is about building personalized, authentic relationships that are supported by every component of the business to meet customer wants and expectations. It offers prospects and customers the opportunity to engage in a communication or meaningful relationship with the company. Contrary to some recent articles, the engagement economy is not a new concept. However, to truly engage prospects, there must be multiple levels of interaction committed to providing a unique customer experience.
Engagement can be driven by offering a prospect the ability to comment on the product, pricing, product life cycle or even offer new product concepts. Engagement can take the form of a user community that shares information or can be a contest related to either the product or the values of the company. Tesla allowing people to reserve the new Model 3 for a $1000 is an example of the Engagement Economy. The car is not available and the wait time is well beyond that of what would be considered normal. But the ability to get in line for such an innovative new product is exciting for many peop
le. How Tesla structures what follows will determine their understanding of the engagement economy and their success with such an audience.
Engagement is not something that is done once. Marketers that understand the need to develop longer term relationships and interactions will successfully exploit the opportunities presented in 2018.
Participation of prospects and customers in the activities of our marketing programs supports our ability to understand, appreciate, and sell to our target markets. It also makes our customer base stickier and thus more likely to remain members of our business ecosystem. Success in 2018 will depend upon how well we can apply the engagement economy concepts to corporate websites, marketing programs, and social media outlets such as LinkedIn, Twitte
r, Facebook, YouTube and others.
NEXT WEEK: Sales Channel Integration
Years ago, IBM created a sales technique that we refer to as FUD or Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. The tactic was not to promote sales, but to hinder or slow sales. At the time, IBM was not considered a technology innovator and its competitors often came out with products that were more advanced and cheaper. IBM's defense was to either delay the purchase decision until they could improve their product or create unease with making a vendor change for the buyer.
Fear was instilled with “What happens to you if you buy from this lesser vendor?” Uncertainty sown with “What happens if they're not able to deliver?” Finally, Doubt was raised with “What happens to the company or even you if the product doesn't work?”
However, many within our industry are unknowingly engaged in creating FUD with the same resulting buyer consequences. When we discuss new or old technologies and state there is no agreement on what it is or it can be anything, we are not helping our prospects. The best example if this continued ambiguity is Unified Communications (UC). Earlier this year I was at a conference where several people pointed out that there are many definitions of UC. I was confused by this admission. After these years of discussing UC, I thought we had reached a consensus on the definition and at a minimum could present it to a potential buyer. Given the acceptance of ambiguity in the room, I was wrong.
New technology is concerning enough for buyers but it becomes a major issue when the sales person can’t describe or frame it succinctly for the buyer. There are a couple of acceptable definitions of UC. I suggest, that if you are marketing or selling the product, you choose one. I describe Unified Communications as combining all forms of business communications. That includes voice, texting, voice mails, emails, video, conferencing or any combination thereof. UC unifies all communications methodologies. I don't think any buyer is going to be confused by that definition.
We must avoid ambiguity. It does not move the sales forward. Our role should be that of a trusted advisor when technology is unclear or its value suspect. This applies not only to UC but also to NFV, SD WAN and “the Cloud”.
Removing ambiguity accelerates decision making and improves your ability to win the business. The most successful marketing and sales people, are those that establish clearly understood benefits and value propositions. supporting buyers with information that makes them more comfortable which leads to more closed sales.
]]>Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communications ensures that all forms of communications and messages are carefully linked together. Done well it integrates digital and direct marketing, social media, advertising, PR, events and sales promotions. IMC ensures messaging consistency is presented to prospects and customers by all elements of the organization. However, IMC should not be confused with end-to-end or comprehensive marketing strategy and planning.
A comprehensive marketing plan will include the same activities as an IMC plan. But following questions may be unanswered:
A comprehensive marketing plan has each of the above activities in place with conscientious personnel faithfully executing their assigned tasks each day. An integrated marketing plan has that plus the processes in place to ensure consistency and proper direction of each activity.
There are five levels or areas of integration which should be mastered if IMC is to be achieved:
Benefits of Integrated Marketing Communications
IMC can create competitive advantage, boost sales and profits and orchestrates communications to leads and prospects by moving them through the various stages of the buying process. It has more impact than a disjointed myriad of messages and has a better chance of cutting through the hundreds of commercial messages circulating through the target audience’s media.
Finally, IMC saves money and time as it eliminates conflict and duplication of graphics, digital imagery and collateral.
Raven Guru Marketing has real experience in implementing IMC and is a strong proponent. However, it is essential that organizations perform the upfront work of segmentation and positioning to be develop a successful IMC strategy.
]]>Step Four – Branding and Brand Identity
Every business has a unique vision, strategy and business environment. These collectively define the expression of your brand and clarifies what you stand for so you can communicate your product to your audience in a way that resonates. Your brand identity is one of the most valuable assets of your business and needs to be crafted to authentically represent the business. Investing in building your brand and brand identity will help deliver your vision by differentiating you from the competition, developing a following and improving your bottom line. Your brand identity is about who you are – the product, solution or service, the quality and support you deliver to customers, and your value versus that of competitors.
Profitable companies have one thing in common. They have established themselves as a leader in their market by building a strong brand. A brand isn’t just what people can physically see in advertising and a logo but also consists of people’s perception of a company’s reputation and its customer service. For example: If the computer you sell is the fastest on the market, then that is a feature or fact about the product. Branding leverages that speed by creating messaging around the amount of work that can be performed or the amount of time saved per day by using a faster computer. Branding can highlight the aesthetics or intangibles of having the fastest computer such as making the owner feel better about his equipment and his company. Developing each of these into strong representations for your company will in turn provide you a successful brand identity in your industry.
While there are many attributes to consider when building a brand and brand identity, it is critical to develop a consistent presence, to be liked and to be trusted. Successful branding results in:
Branding enables your company to get referrals. Word of mouth referrals are the direct result of your company delivering a memorable experience with your customer.
Raven Guru will help build your vision into a recognizable brand that will leave a lasting impression for years to come.
]]>Step Two – Product
I got my start in marketing by way of Product Management and Product Marketing. It is important to understand that there is a difference between Product Management and Product Marketing but both functions work in close collaboration from product inception to delivery. So, I find Product Management and Marketing (PMM) needs to be closely intertwined with Engineering and the Marketing team to successfully deliver the specified product to the marketplace that meets the brand promise. PMM must be able to excel at strategy development and tactical execution. My top priority roles for a successful PMM team are:
PMM personnel need to understand the product, the marketplace and competitors. They also need to communicate the value of the product to assist marketing communications in developing collateral, videos, webinars, etc. Concluding with an overall product life cycle plan covering the initial launch through its evolution towards maturity. At which point, the product is either materially updated, replaced or discontinued.
Whether the product is a tangible item such as a phone, wearable tech, computer, or software or a less tangible item such as a service, the product benefits, features and cost need to be defined before marketing can communicate to the target markets. Without this understanding of the product and a clear set of value propositions then marketing will have difficulty marketing the product to perspective buyers. Surveys show that identifying and eliminating weak product ideas before product delivery result in companies having a greater likelihood of successful new products. Any misalignment between the product and the value expected by the buyer, will result in a poor experience, fewer referrals, potentially bad reviews, and ultimately disastrous results.
Raven Guru Marketing believes the pursuit of Marketing Excellence integrates the skills of PMM and the other marketing disciplines for a successful product rollout.]]>