2010 is Coming, Where Will Your Prospects Find You?

The recession. We turn on the television and hear news reports. Get on the internet and read news reports. The recession is deepening; the recession is ending, who really knows. Regardless of what news reports say, businesses know that sales are down and prospects are holding tight to their money. Prospects are taking their time making purchasing decisions, using the internet to research companies, evaluate services and ask others who they recommend. The buying cycle has lengthened and prospects are well informed before they make a purchase. The dilemma for businesses is how to cost effectively reach potential buyers and become the chosen vendor when buyers begin to buy.

The climate for marketing a business has changed.

In the past businesses shouted at customers and bombarded them with the message to convince prospects to do business with them. Prospects begin to tune out marketing messages and marketers became louder and sometimes ruder. Things have changed. Prospects have greater control over the marketing messages that they receive and expect more from marketing then shouting at them “We are the best, buy our products or services.” We are in the age of the customer saying, “Yeah, well prove it to me.” If the marketer cannot prove their claims, prospects quickly click to the next website until they find what they are looking for.

What does this mean for marketers and business providers?

The future of marketing for businesses means that building a strong brand and creating brand awareness if more important than ever. You are in a global market place whether you run a corner store or an internet store. You are competing with competitors from around the world, not just down the street or around the corner.

Where businesses need to focus their marketing efforts is on building brands and awareness before they can concentrate on making sales. Marketing has become about building relationships of trust with prospects and building strong loyal relationship with current clients. Building a relationship with prospects and clients is about getting to know them just as if you would get to know a friend. It is truly understanding that it is about them and their needs and understanding that they know it is all about them. Whether you realize it, prospects know it all about them and they want you know that they know it. They want you prove that you know it and show how you are willing to cater to their needs. They are no longer willing to purchase cookie cutter services, they want solutions tailor made to satisfy their needs. They know that if you cannot provide what they need, the next vendor is just a click away.

How do you reach potential prospects and keep in touch with current clients?

Prospects expect you to be where they are. Why should I have to search you out, be there when I show up is what prospects are saying. They don’t want you trying to sell to them when they don’t even know who you are. They are asking, why should I buy from you? Why are you the better choice for me then the next business?

So, how do marketers and businesses go about reaching prospects?

• Get involved in social media. Social media is about interacting with prospects and sharing information. According to SocialTwist’s Social Media Sharing Trends 2009 Report the top the top channels of sharing include, email, instant messenger, social networking sites. How are prospects sharing information about things that are important to them and telling people, they know about your business.
  • Analysis shows that the most popular channel for sharing content is email. Nearly 60 per cent use email to share content. However, fewer people like to manually type in email addresses. Just about 10 per cent of email shares had people typing email addresses. Instant Messaging with 25% of total sharing was the next preferred medium followed by Social Networks with 14 percent.
  • Of all the email services used, Yahoo Mail with 44 percent is the most used for sharing followed by MSN Mail with 25 percent. Gmail enjoys only third place with 19 percent.
  • Yahoo Messenger is the most popular IM service among all others when it comes to sharing – it enjoys 49 percent of the total number of shares. MSN Messenger follows with 34 percent of shares. Here too Google comes at the third position with 15 percent of shares.
  • When it comes to social networking sites Facebook is the clear winner with a whopping 79 percent people using it to share with their family, friends and acquaintances. MySpace follows with 15 percent of shares. Twitter enjoys a meager 5 percent of shares.
  • Bookmarking sites seem to be losing out as a preferred channel for sharing when compared with other social media channels. In this space, Digg stands out as the most popular bookmarking site followed by Google Bookmarks and Delicious with 11 percent and 12 percent respectively.
  • When it comes to blogging services, Wordpress with 45 percent and Blogger with 42 percent are the most popular platforms for social media content sharing. The surprise element in this space is Typepad, which is never used.

Marketers and businesses are using these social media areas to build brands, create buzz and increase awareness of their businesses. Are you showing up in these places?

Social media cannot be ignored, whether you run an internet business, brick and mortar business or a combination of both. Marketers and businesses will have to invest in building their brand awareness, educating prospects and proving that they are the obvious choice for prospects to do business.

Businesses have to understand whom their ideal client is and where their ideal clients like to hang out. They need to know what their ideal client’s current problems are and how they like to be reached and educated. Businesses and marketers have to be prepared to provide relevant, informative information to prospects in a variety of forms. This is truly multi-channel marketing. Marketing messages need to be provided in a variety of formats, such as; website, blogs, audio, video, articles, reports, white papers just to name a few. Marketing is not something that cannot be implemented haphazardly; marketing must be planned and consistently implemented over a long-term period.

Creating a short-term, one hit marketing plan will no longer suffice. Prospects are taking their time making their buying decisions and businesses need to be there every step of the way if they want to be the vendor of choice.

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Tags: Brand Awareness, Branding, Brands, Buzz, Facebook, Generating Leads, Ideal Clients, Marketing, marketing plan, marketing strategy, Recession, Social Media, understanding marketing