Job Seeker Marketing: Marketing You!

My associate Neal Grielbling, the Pittsburgh Career Coach and owner of Future Design Studio engaged me on marketing techniques that might help his clients as they seek work they love. The result was a white paper entitled “Marketing You”. This document explores ways for job seekers to utilize marketing techniques that I’ve applied for organizations from start ups to Fortune 500 firms.

Rather than focus on resume writing or other techniques which are readily available to job seekers, Neal suggested that some of the principles I use to help small organizations better market themselves be applied to individuals marketing themselves.

The white paper covers:

1. Uncovering and communicating your personal brand
   

2. Understanding and utilizing prospect (employer) response variables
   

3. Developing strong response mechanisms
   

4. Creating compelling direct marketing messaging
   

5. Marketing techniques to employ in a job search
   

Neal was pleased with the resulting document, which is available through his website. If you know someone who is in a job search, pass along this information. In a tight job market, polished marketing can help set a candidate apart.

SLE

How Much Marketing in 2010?

Marketing plans (and some business plans) went out the window in 2009. Now it’s time to determine strategies and tactics for 2010. Is the recession over? Are we headed for a double-dip downturn? How much marketing should we be doing?

Business owners struggle to know how much marketing to do. Often times they choose based on reasons that make sense...until you see them in a list on a blog somewhere. Decisions based on:

1. How much can we afford?
   

2. What is our competition doing?
   

3. What’s the latest thing I can try?
   

What Can We Afford?

Budget is a concern, obviously, but determining budgets at the tactical level (how much direct mail can we afford to print...) is not sound business reasoning. The conversation should be at the strategic level, basing our activities on our goals (whether financial, project count or other goals). The key is choosing tactics (and their budgets) based on their return in the selling process.

What is the Competition Doing?

Many business owners cede their business decisions to their competitors...which assumes that their competition somehow is smarter and makes better decisions. Sure we sometimes HAVE to go to the trade show because our competition is there. Yet this thinking can lead business owners to spend their valuable dollars, time and effort on marketing tactics that aren’t the most effective for their selling process.

What’s the Latest Thing?

Sure, the latest thing could be the next big thing. But just like websites (back in the early days of the web) or social media marketing more recently, no tactic is going to be THE ONE to yield instantaneous and amazing results. But often business owners chase the latest marketing idea because they are frustrated by the lack of results from their existing marketing and selling tactics. That’s why it’s so important to understand how to integrate new ideas into the current selling process.

The first step to developing an effective go to market plan is understanding how much marketing to be doing. We’ve developed a downloadable video that teaches this first step in building a quantifiable process. It’s quick and easy, but can pay big dividends as you consider your 2010 strategy.

Not the video download type? Email me to schedule a one-to-one session. And start taking control of your marketing process.

SLE

The Web and B2B Sales Cycles

Brochure-ware. E-commerce. Web 2.0. The evolution of the web...

Where is your website on that list? Is it just “out there”? Is your web presence integrated with how you go to market? With how your prospects and customers use the web in the buying cycle?

The web continues to evolve as a business tool. We all understand the direct to consumer model...everybody’s bought from an online retailer. Yet there is still a disconnect in the B2B space about using the web. Is this an article about SEO (search engine optimization), social media marketing, or online pay for click advertising? Not really...

Sure there have been lots of media on, and you’ve received sales calls about, using social media like twitter and facebook or buying new web services. But I believe there is a fundamental lack of understanding about how the web affects the selling cycle.

That’s why we’ve developed a simple model to help organizations understand how buying behavior affects the selling cycle in industries from professional services to manufacturing and other B2B vertical markets.

The purpose of this model is understanding how the internet is used by prospects and customers in the buying cycle and how to integrate inbound web techniques with the direct selling model.

We’d love to show you this model. It will give you insight into how you can be thinking differently about your website and web presence and how they can impact your selling cycle and resulting sales.

Join us for our web event on January 11. You’ll leave with insight:

• How traditional direct selling models work
• What the web can do to improve your direct selling
• Why “drip marketing” and other techniques to eliminate competitors fail
• Ways to increase the integration of your inbound/online and direct selling efforts

Email me to receive the full program outline. This web event is free.

SLE

Networking Wine

I attended a great event with a presentation by Deb Mortillaro of Palate Partners. Deb’s company does a great job of helping people better understand wine and the food it goes with as well as selling some great choices (yes, I was able to sample!). Her topic for this business audience was describing prospects and clients and how we relate with them to types of wines. If you’re interested, email me and I’ll introduce you.

What does this have to do with Marketing?!?

Well it gave me a fun way to describe some of the people who are most helped by what and how we do things at Eckert Marketing/geniusmarketing.com. Maybe you know one of the “wines” described below...

New Wine

I’ll call the first, “new wine in old wineskins” – There are a lot of new ways to market via the web, social media, texting, etc. But many companies try to put this new stuff into the old model of wineskin – their traditional go to market/selling strategy. Now marketing via the web can be very productive, but considering how these newer inbound strategies will integrate with the existing go-to-market strategy is vital. Not all new strategies do fit; and sometimes adjustments must be made to maximize the effectiveness of inbound strategies. I have a great little model that delves into this subject...if you’d like to see it, email me.

Basic Red

Another type is a nice solid red wine – they have a good offering, but aren’t sure of the best way to make an impression - should they go with the full entree? Just the cheese and crackers? Some of our clients are like that...they know the importance of making the right choices as they go to market and we help them match their story, offering and sales process with the marketing that will make the most impact.

A Touch of the Bubbly

One client type is entrepreneurial – like champagne, lots of energy, full of life. This strength can lead them to see a new marketing idea, and being the entrepreneurial big thinkers they are, they chase after that one idea. Might be great! The next big thing! We help them consider the possibility and again, if and how this new marketing idea is best integrated into their existing strategy.

Bargain Shopper

Finally there is the bargain shopper. Sent to the wine shoppe for an important dinner party. They are overwhelmed with the choices, and seeing the $1 off tag on a particular bottle, they make their choice. These folks think about marketing by budget rather than by strategy. Now mind you, I won’t steer them to the $100 a bottle import, but choosing how much marketing to do shouldn’t be just about what’s the cheapest option... We are proponents of many low-cost strategies and tactics, but only when they will be effective in gaining the results. We can help unpack the choices and put together the most cost-efficient and effective tactics.

If you know someone who I’ve described, I hope you got a chuckle and will introduce me. Email me and let’s discuss how to get the right choices to meet the financial and strategic goals. Then we can sit back with one of Deb’s best and toast the results.

SLE

Let the Press Do Journalism

A client of mine was frustrated with their lack of success getting their news releases published. They spent a good bit of time writing, editing, polishing and formatting their releases to make sure everything was perfect. They then sent their releases by email and in hard copy to their local and targeted industry publications.

“All we get is a mention in columns of bulleted news items in the trade pubs,” he lamented, “and in the local newspapers, we never get a mention!”

I suggested that he try a different tact. Instead of sending a full story in a long narrative (some of their releases were three pages) as an attachment to an email, try just sending an email with a story idea.

He was concerned that’d he lose control of the message.

This is a common issue with smaller companies. They want to share their story with the world, for free, on their terms. That’s what the web is for!

Working with professional journalists, is a different animal. Reporters want to uncover stories that matter to them, their editors, and most importantly, their readers. So here are some tips I passed along to my client:

1. Send an email with a subject line that hints at the story subject.
   

2. Make the email short with one key point about the potential story.
   

3. ASK the reporter if their readers might be interested in the story.
   

4. Follow up with a phone call.
   

If you get no response, try something crazy... read the publication.

1. See if the publication has a place where they explain for what they are looking (most newspapers won’t, but trade pubs sometimes do...check their websites).
   

2. Look for places in the publication that might be difficult to fill, such as those “notes” type sections.
   

3. Use the publication’s website contact page to submit story ideas (many have segmented contact forms for different subjects). These go directly to the reporter that covers the subject.
   

Separately, try to get to know the reporters.

1. Go to events that they may attend...networking, business functions, charitable events they sponsor.
   

2. Call reporters and ask about stories they’re pursuing.
   

3. Refer them to sources who may be of help to them.
   

4. Build a relationship.
   

I know, that could be, well, work! Yet like anything else, getting to know your target audience (the reporter) what they need, and helping them get that (what they need) will go a long way to getting what you want. You want the reporter(s) to recognize your email or phone number and think of you as a resource.

The company tried the first approach and got a conversation with a reporter started. That will bear fruit down the road.

SLE

Speaking and Networking

On October 21, I am presenting at a BNI networking group of which I am a member. If you’re in the Pittsburgh area, you should consider coming. Not just because of my presentation, but it is a solid group of 35+ professionals looking to refer business.

Now you may or may not know BNI...it is a good example of an organization with solid brand building blocks that are viewed differently by different people. (An aside – the concept of brand building blocks and how perspective affects a brand is a subject I cover in my Seven Steps to Marketing Process...maybe I’ll blog about that next week.) Some see BNI as overbearing, some love the discipline. I can tell you my experience is one of a like-minded and caring community that works hard to help each others’ businesses grow.

Back to my talk – I am presenting two prospecting models, meaning how companies go to market to find new customers, as well as some insight to how prospects qualify companies. It’s a real “aha” and shows how to use the internet to gain more customers. Not why you should use facebook or twitter as a tactic, but a more strategic view.

If you’d like more detail, contact me and I’ll give you the full details on the event. If October 21 doesn’t work for you, let’s set up a time to talk and I’ll show you the models as part of a web meeting or over coffee. It’s quick, intuitive and immediately applicable to your go to market strategy.

SLE

P.S. If you’re interested in a speaker for your group or organization presenting quick application marketing principles, email me.

Take a Test Drive

“I don’t know you, I don’t know your company, I don’t know your product,” he said, “Now what did you want to sell me?”

A client a long time ago said that to me. He was the type to sit back in his office chair and be philosophical. This was one of the credos he used when helping young sales professionals in his organization. His point was simple: you need to make a connection, gain credibility and provide information in order to make a sale.

It is difficult, especially in this day, to make a connection with people when so many of our communications are not face-to-face. E-mail, websites, social media...they all connect us, but not in a “natural” way. That’s one of the reasons I use web / phone meetings for distance coaching...you get a voice and a visual.

Another great way to connect is video. That’s why I now have an introductory video on my site. It is just a quick video to give people some sense of who I am and what I’m about.

It’s also why I made my first downloadable coaching session – an introduction to how I work and what you can expect. It’s a nice model you can use to help answer the question: “How Much Marketing Should We Be Doing?”

This is a universal issue and most business owners struggle with a means to answer it. This video is a quick lesson showing a tool to use to determine if your current marketing is the right amount and to uncover issues you need to address.

So spend the fifteen bucks and learn something applicable to your business. It will be well worth the time (about 20 minutes) and money. If you have a question about it or need more custom help, email me.

SLE

Driving Sales

“We’d have to add a salesperson,” said the business owner, exasperated, “but we can’t afford that right now.”

That was the answer I received to my question, “What are the top three things you could do immediately to increase sales?”

I wasn’t completely surprised by this. The owner I was speaking with runs a sales organization. There go-to-market model is to direct sell prospects and customers. All the marketing items developed are sales support. Even there website is merely an extension of the sales literature.

There is a difference between a sales organization and a marketing organization. Direct sales are imperative in many industries, but often overlooked is the need to create an integrated marketing and sales process.

Adding more salesforce can drive more sales. Yet this is an expensive “all in” strategy. Another option is doing a better job creating leads and referrals for the current salesforce through inbound inquiry generation. This drives sales as well. Usually at a lower cost, and certainly at a lower risk and commitment level.

Sometimes sales organizations doubt the value of marketing. Afterall, anyone who has ever been involved in direct selling has complained about some deficiency in the quality of the leads marketing delivers. Probably true in some cases(!)...but that doesn’t mean you don’t ever use a turbocharger on your racecar because one you had years ago blew up.

The disconnect between marketing and sales is often about what we want to get out of the marketing process and deliver to the sales process. Many marketing elements are focused on building awareness and credibility. These are important, but not necessarily what will yield rich sales leads.

Here are a few things for a sales organization to consider:

• What are the first couple steps in the sales pipeline? Could a marketing element accomplish them? Example: If our product needs some technical requirement or other specification on the client side, how could we gain that information and know it before the sales call?
• What is our best call-to-action? A strong call-to-action will do more to self-qualify a lead. Testing multiple calls-to-action should be standard practice.
• Consider the right conversion tactic online. Trading information is standard operating procedure (i.e. contact information for a white paper), but is our offer and return balanced? Does it yield the right title in the right organization and other key information? Are people not signing up because the value received isn’t worth the fear of getting a sales call?

Marketing vs. Sales is a classic rivalry, but it needn’t be if the process is engineered together. Our pipeline analysis and gap/dam analysis could do wonders to make marketing feed sales and sales thank marketing. Email me if you’d like to discuss your situation. After all driving sales is a lot easier when all the parts of the racecar are working together.

SLE