Would you think a wedding proposal after a first date to be a little abrupt? The answer is probably yes. If you were on the receiving end of this proposal you might consider it at best over enthusiastic and at worst rude and presumptuous. Wouldn’t you want the person proposing to get to know you first?
Equally, one of the mistakes many companies make in their advertising is that they expect to get sales as a direct result of their activity e.g. a direct sale from a Facebook ad. The truth is that it’s presumptuous to place an advert and then expect to get a phone call and a purchase because today’s sales process should be a much deeper experience. The key focus of any advertising or marketing strategy is to gain data, to get to know your customer. This means that all your activities must be joined up to allow people to leave their data in exchange for value.
If you have placed a Facebook ad people will first see it, click on it and then it should take them to a landing page on your website where they can leave their email to gain a discount. The customer could then browse the website and make a purchase if they choose to, but if they don’t, because they have left their email address you can build a relationship with them which can lead to future sales. To remind yourself of the need to invest in this process of relationship with customers remember that you would hardly ever, having met a person for five minutes, get their phone number, phone them and propose marriage.
When we take time to get to know our clients and find out their specific needs we are empowered to then meet those needs in a specific way. We look at analytics and analyse customer behaviour, we see what they are searching for and clicking on, and then we can supply them with what they are looking for. We have become more intelligent as salespeople, saving our own and our customers’ time. Every piece of marketing communication we send out must direct people back to the website in order to acquire more data and thus the website becomes the hub of all our activity.
The website allows us to monitor what is working and what isn’t and also allows us to showcase our story effectively by showing video and embedding social media. When customers are on the website they can look at other products or services we offer. Our 360 ° marketing strategy puts the website at the heart of any strategy. If customers don’t buy straight away then this strategy offers the opportunity to sell later.
So just remember, show your customers respect, get to know them first, engage them and make a commitment, offering them something of value before expecting anything from them!
If you’d like us to lend you a hand to construct that path to purchase why not contact our expert builders?