Hmmm, nice thought...but what of the new business marketing cocktail? A common question of many clients is just which is the best channel mix? The answer as ever, isn’t that simple - and lies somewhere in the design of what's best mix for your business, your proposition and your markets. And much easier said than done....and like your first cocktails, don’t get put off if it’s a bit sour at first - keep working on it.
So to help, here’s a checklist:
1. Make time for new business marketing. There’s always the existing client or customer work and so...you’ll never have enough time! But that’s an excuse you can’t afford to hide behind. And likewise, whilst you need to make sure all of your collateral is up to date, don't use that as an excuse not to get prospecting.
2. Establish strategic foundations. Establish the propositions, mindful of your brand, its positioning and personality. Are you a hero, a rebel or a sage brand? The more the proposition and campaign theme can relate back to your brand and ‘reason why’, the more powerful the communications and your 'hook'.
3. Multi-channel. By that we mean don’t just rely on just one channel or technique to attract business. Think across the full channel range.
4. Think data. Successful new business marketing is underpinned by segmentation, testing and learning - and it’s fuelled by data. So develop an ethos of continual data collection and analysis.
5. Inbound marketing. Once you’ve weighed up the proportion of outbound to inbound you want to undertake, try a range of content and channel mixes. Blogs are hugely important but you can do more (see our September blog on the Made in Britain campaign)
6. Outbound Marketing. There’s a lot written about whether or not to use outbound approaches (direct mail, telephone appointment setting) - but well researched, targeted, clever (creative) proactive approaches work. Does it work for you, now? Test it and see.
7. Keep it continuous. If you bunch your new business activity into sporadic efforts you’ll have gaps in the pipeline. It can take weeks or months to convert initial enquiries so you should always have some prospects that you're developing into a live client or customer. Think activity levels.
8. A culture of new business marketing. Everyone has a role to play. Ask your whole team to keep an eye out for new opportunities. Things they may have read about e.g. job changes (on LinkedIn, Twitter, Trade press etc). An employee may not be ‘sales person’ but they should feel empowered and motivated to sell your organisation’s propositions wherever they are.
9. Keep your new business marketing visible. Add new business reporting as an agenda item in your board and senior management team meetings. Discuss what’s working and what isn’t. Set up either shared Google Docs, basecamp or a CRM platform that everyone can access.
So, can we buy you a cocktail? ;)
f you’d like to re-appraise your demand generation strategies and implement better prospect and account based marketing - do get in touch for:
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