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Stressing Credibility as a Marketing Strategy

July 27, 2010 Leave a Comment

In this edition on recession marketing, we are going to discuss an area of improvement that many firms should be addressing already, but during a recession, is even more important: Company Credibility.

The value of this tactic increases dramatically during tough economic times because of gun shy customers and a decrease in available money. However, it is possible to rise above just general branded marketing and reach a marketing plain where you are considered essential as opposed to optional.

Credibility is simply a measure of your trustworthiness and proof of your claims. As business people, you require a certain level of credibility before investing your money in every venture. Good business people are by their very nature both skeptical and critical. During booming economic times, these tendencies can be easily sidestepped, but during a recession, the majority of buyers are incredibly risk averse and in survival mode, positions which cannot typically be bypassed without an extremely good and “safe” reason.

So now (more than ever) your firm’s credibility could be the major selling point during a downturn in the financial state of our world. There several ways to establish and enhance your firm’s place and fine tuning your marketing strategies is the first place to start:

Words are cheap. Everyone who has ever lied or told a “minor” untruth knows how relatively easy it is to make something bad seem good or vice versa. The fact is that in sales and marketing, although outright lying is looked down upon, stretching of the truth and embellishing are in some ways a part of doing business. The problem is that in a recession, a buyer needs exactly one reason to leave your company and run to the pack of starving businesses waiting to scoop them up. One stretching of the truth in your marketing can turn a customer or prospect off forever. During tough times you need to highlight your credibility.

Whether you are voting in an election or drafting a fantasy football team, the decision one makes is at least partially due to past performance. These same techniques should be used when marketing to prospective customers. A simple word of mouth assurance will not convince a customer to use your services. You need to take your past performances and compile them into a portfolio detailing the success of your business and how it has benefitted your customers in the past.

Tools such as customer reviews, expert opinions, and other verifiable verifications of your success and credibility in your field should be employed to prove to customers that you are legitimate. Prospective customers are very attracted by your firm supplying references for them to contact and check out the truth of your claims and your demonstration of successful endeavors in the past. Your marketing message should be geared towards giving examples of your benefit to customers in the past as well as proving that what you just stated was true.

One of the most important things to do when marketing your credibility is to prepare portfolios that are targeted at one particular business sector that you deal in. For example, we represent clients in industries across the board and are noted for our expertise in diabetes marketing. However, if we are pitching a financial services company, while we acknowledge our diabetes experience (to demonstrate our abilities to be a leader), we focus our presentation on specific portfolios relative to the client’s vertical, and how our past successes will lead to future ones. This quickly turns us into a powerful potential ally instead of a risk.

During a recession it is all about making yourself look like less of a risk, and if possible, come off as essential to any plans for moving forward. The more evidence you produce, the less doubt potential and current customers will feel, which will to lead to successfully hooking those accounts that have money and good business, but need to see your credibility to be onboarded.

Direct Choice Inc. is a full-service direct marketing agency that has worked with national and regional brands in a wide variety of vertical markets. In addition to this blog, you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Filed under Recession Marketing Tagged with company credibility, credibility, diabetes, diabetes marketing, direct choice, direct choice inc, direct mail, direct marketing, recession marketing

Growing Existing Customer Business

July 22, 2010 Leave a Comment

Thus far in our blog series on how survive and thrive in a recession, we have discussed why investments in marketing is so important in these times and how to develop sales leads strategically. In this edition, we will discuss a strategy that can be employed quite easily in any business whether it’s B2B or B2C, but is dependent on a company’s ability and willingness to focus on the customers they currently have and make the most out of that existing bond.

Business is an art and a science all wrapped up into one. There are equations, predictions and other mathematical tools that are essential to success, but only in conjunction with a unique view of how to use that information to best standout in the marketplace.

Business is about the hard facts of dollars and cents, but also about the customer, and anytime there is a human element involved, there is an opportunity to be creative.

When discussing expanding current customer growth during a recession, this combination of science and art needs to come into play. Business 101 tells us that it costs less to interact and attempt to grow sales from an existing customer than it does to chase down and sign a new customer. Lines of communication are already open and the business practices and expectations are understood from everything from prices to timelines. That level of comfort can take a good deal of energy over several months – sometimes years – to build in a new customer. However, a fair question to ask is, “if there was a way to expand the business relationship, why hasn’t it been done before?’ For these reasons, there needs to be internal thought put into how each of your clients could benefit from increased attention and ideas, and develop those thoughts into a solid business proposal. Developing strategies to explore these opportunities with current customers is a specialty of Direct Choice.

Another reason it is important to focus on existing customer growth is the human aspect of doing business. People in your organization know people in organizations and these relationships can grow beyond that. This clout is not something that should be taken for granted as easily established between business and customer. That bond will allow them to look at you in an attitude of trust and be more open to negotiate how you can both benefit from an increase in your business dealings. During these tough times, get innovative and show your customers that you are current and constantly striving for growth. Very powerful partners can be developed and advantageous dealings can be nurtured.

A company that cannot afford to go after new customers during slow economic times is forced to turn to the idea of growing existing customer business. However, companies that are still pursuing new customers should also incorporate this strategy, remembering that the amount of money spent nurturing old customers can be, and almost always is, less. So, when times are slow (and even when they are not), remember that you have a better chance of surviving and thriving if you and your current customers stick together and grow together.

Filed under Recession Marketing Tagged with business 101, business relationships, customer retention, direct choice inc, direct marketing, marketing, recession, recession marketing

Maximizing Sales Leads

July 16, 2010 Leave a Comment

In this second installment in our series on how to survive and thrive in a recession, we will discuss the necessity of good lead management in helping your company stay afloat and even grab more market share by prioritizing your sales leads.

Whether you sell products and services to other companies or to individuals, your sales lead and prospective customers are the fresh air of your company. It doesn’t matter if times are good or bad, a company need these leads to turn into sales to keep your company in business. But during slow times such as these, you need to manage your sales leads even more effectively for two main reasons.

There are fewer buyers out there looking to spend money.
You may have to cut back the number of sales employees you have or the amount of resources you can budget for securing leads and converting them to customers.

During a recession, potential customers are even more wary of the risks in taking a long-term gamble by choosing to do business with you. This makes each prospect more valuable and the task of separating “hot” prospects from “cold” prospects for your firm even more necessary. Obviously, pursuing potential customers that have a low chance of becoming actual customers can put a serious drain on your resources, so the key to managing sales leads well, particularly in a recession, is to identify prospects that are highly engaged and then nurturing those relationships to a sale. This approach often times differs from the standard, high-volume sales pitch when times are good and customers are numerous and ready to spend. Ranking leads can be done by expert salespeople, but the problem is that a lot of important sales work is done by all members of your company, so utilizing a sales lead scoring system can be used to standardize the amount of time and effort that you are going to pour into each lead.

Using a lead scoring system or lead management will help the leads that have a high percentage chance of becoming profitable come to the forefront and receive attention. Ideally, the process you put in place would highlight the sales leads that have the greatest chances at success or the higher pay off if they become customers. Meanwhile sales leads that may result in little revenue or have low chances of becoming actual customers will be prioritized towards the bottom.

Another potential way to aid your sales and prospect identifying during a recession is to implement referral / reward programs for current customers who recommend your services to other businesses or people they know. This approach usually works best in B2B situations and are based on the assumption that “birds of a feather fly together.” Your current leads or customers should know others who share the same demographics or characteristics of your target market. However, this mentality of having your own customers create a portion of your sales and marketing for you only works if there is a quid pro quo. By offering your customers a practical and cost feasible incentive for each prospect they have contact you, you can dramatically incentivize your referral program.

During rough economic times, it is important to make the most of every precious sales lead you have. That does not mean that you should go chasing every single lead with the same devotion and at the same expense though. Not all prospective customers are created equal. Implementing a lead management or ranking program, whether it is a software package you purchase or your own spreadsheets, can cut back on the waste of pursuing dead ends and optimize your sales dollars-to-revenue ratio. Sales lead management can also include a referral program that uses simple and relatively inexpensive rewards to give current customers incentives to send good sales leads and prospective customers your way. These two used separately or together will help reduce waste in your sales team and make the most of current sales leads. Recession survival is about being aggressive in select areas of business and that includes pursuing good sales leads to a final sale.