You’ve told them why, now tell them what
Jerry L. Kennedy | TLT Social Media Marketing April 2013
Be sure to emphasize a clear, specific call to action.
Probably the easiest way to show off your expertise is by having a blog on your Website.
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BY NOW I HOPE YOU’VE TAKEN the first step in your online marketing efforts and have pinpointed the “why” of what you do and crafted that why into a compelling story. If so, congratulations!
It’s now time to move on to the next step in the process of building your online marketing strategy—communicating to prospects that respond to your why with a clear, specific call to action. In other words, now that you’ve got their attention, you have to let them know what you want them to do.
Let me pause here to say that “I want them to buy from me” is not the answer we’re looking for. Unless your Website is an online store where folks can immediately make a purchase and put in a credit card number, the next step in the process is not going to be a purchase. For most of you, it’s going to be a step along the path of building a relationship with the prospect, of gaining his trust by demonstrating your expertise in your field.
How do you do that? Probably the easiest way to show off your expertise is by having a blog on your Website. Blogging allows you to share insights about the latest developments in the ever-changing world of lubricants, offer advice on best practices for maintenance, and share the stories of clients who’ve had success working with you. Remember, a blog doesn’t have to be text-based. It can include videos, podcasts, pictures—you name it!
A blog is a great way to provide information to your prospects that positions you as an expert, and it has the added benefit of being a no-risk way for your prospects to engage with you. That’s why I firmly believe that your first and most frequent call to action on your social media networks should be a link to a blog post. All of the major social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+) provide simple ways for you to syndicate your blog feed so that a link back to your Website will automatically be created on your profile each time you post a new article on your blog.
Once you’ve turned a prospect into a regular reader of your blog, you can level up the relationship by asking for his email address and permission to send occasional marketing communications to them. Your Website should have an opt-in box of some sort that is easy to find and easy to complete. This is where folks will leave their email address and name as a way of letting you know they want to engage more deeply with your business.
You can (and probably should) offer something of value in exchange for the email address: a well-researched white paper, some kind of discount offer or a free assessment of some sort. Whatever you offer, though, make sure it is of genuine value, not a gimmick or something that is available elsewhere without having to share an email address. If you’re going to build trust with your prospects, don’t try to build that trust on a gimmick.
If you’ve provided a steady stream of great information through your blog and something of real value in exchange for your prospect’s email address, they should by this point be looking forward to getting further communication from you in the form of some kind of email communication. In addition, if you’re providing consistently good content, you should be steadily building a good-sized list of email addresses.
How can you make the best use of that list and of the trust that it embodies? That is the topic of our next article.
Jerry Kennedy earned his stripes as an operations and sales manager in the lubricants industry. He is currently the co-founder of CDK Creative, a digital marketing agency that brings his real-world sales and operations experience to the world of online marketing. Learn more or request a consultation at http://cdkcreative.com.
Email him at jerry@jerrykennedy.com.