The relationship economy
Jerry L. Kennedy | TLT Social Media Marketing October 2013
Follow these three steps and you’ll be on your way to making customers for life.
If you are honest and authentic, your best potential clients will immediately be attracted to what you have to say.
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BY NOW YOU’VE REALIZED THAT MARKETING AND SALES in the digital age is about more than effective funnel building or lead generation and sales processes. Sales in the digital age is about relationships. The core of any good digital marketing effort is affording your audience the chance to come to know, like and trust you. Those three steps are the foundation of building solid relationships with your clients and prospects in this new economy.
Social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter, as well as other platforms such as a personal or company blog are essential for creating a space for prospects to get to know you and your company. Sharing your thoughts, opinions and ideas around your industry and related topics in a public forum is an important step in forming a relationship with potential clients. The most important thing to remember, though, is to be yourself, to represent the real character of your company in an honest, authentic way.
But won’t that alienate some folks? Absolutely it will. In her book,
The Power of Unpopular, speaker and blogger Erika Napoletano shares the following bit of wisdom: “Being unpopular holds the power of making critics work in your favor…critics make us better.”
The point is simply this: If you are honest and authentic, your best potential clients will immediately be attracted to what you have to say. The folks who will be the most difficult for you to work with (because their values are so different from yours) will immediately recognize that your message doesn’t resonate, and they will move on. In the long run, this will save both you and them significant amounts of time, effort, energy and, ultimately, money.
Think back to every friendship you’ve ever formed. After hearing the other person talk about a particular subject and getting to know them a little better, you probably found yourself wanting to spend more time with them. As you did, the consistency of their behavior and conversations caused you to begin to form a particular opinion of them, and you began to develop an affinity for their company.
The same is true of your potential clients. So did that Facebook update or blog post get their attention? The only way to hold that attention is to consistently publish honest blog posts or other content that is in alignment with your mission as a brand, your purpose, your why. So long as you focus on staying true to your core values, your intended audience will hear it and love you for it.
Many companies fail at this because they try to be “all things to all people.” Stop it. It’s not possible. All you end up with is a lukewarm, milquetoast message that will appeal to no one.
You know those folks in your inner circle who are ever the same, as unchangeable as the cycles of the moon and sun? You know, the ones you can count on? Be one of those folks in your clients’ eyes. If you show up authentically and consistently, your clients and prospects will know what to expect from you. As a result, they will begin to trust that, in a given situation, you will behave in a manner that is consistent with your character.
After all, that’s what character is—your reputation, the traits and qualities that you consistently display and, thus, come to be recognized for. And character leads to trust.
Finally, why is it important for your clients to know, like and trust you? Because, as author and business trainer Jeffrey Gitomer says, “All things being equal, people tend to buy from their friends; all things not being equal, people still tend to buy from their friends.”
Become a friend to your clients, build strong relationships with them by using digital media tools to give them the chance to know, like and trust you, and you’ll be well on your way to making customers for life.
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.