08/31/2018
❗PODCAST ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW❗ But first, some backstory...
I had a flip phone until 2014. Samsung Galaxy and Apple iPhones had already cranked out 5 generations of technology. ☎️📲 I was a laggard. And, maybe a little intimidated...and stubborn.
Similar to my past embarrassing flip phone loyalty, today in 2018 many companies are intimidated and acting like stubborn laggards with their marketing strategies. And yes, change is hard and we all have short-term goals to hit. I understand, but think about this...
Marketing teams are still sending email blasts that hit brick walls (especially in business to business selling). Traditionally-minded leaders are telling their teams to buy lead lists and spend all the budget on tradeshow booths. Social media? Yep. How about sporadic posts, with limited organic reach, and any paid activity is a one-off boost or sponsorship. Hooray, impressions! And, while I personally believe cold calling is NOT dead, my friends in the industry aren't always updating the tactics, performance goals, and expectations for their reps that set appointments.
The thinking is well intended, but the problem is these tactics worked back in 2014. Traditional marketing alone does not work well in 2018. And, if you're reading this, it's your responsibility to be both excited AND clear about communicating the possibilities of evolving.
👩💻 Potential buyers and existing customers are smart (and more resourceful than we can imagine). They don't want to be interrupted in their busy days. They're already getting bombarded with spam (or spam-like noise) constantly. In reality, the actual humans that we hope to do business with go to their favorite search engines. They type in their questions and get ALL the information themselves (and maybe even in more abundance and less biased that your marketing team could ever provide to them).✊
Plenty of companies out there are not leveraging the power of targeting on the internet. I know, because I was there. 🤦♂️🙆♂️
🤔 And, I get it: all of us don't feel good about the personal data the major internet players are collecting about us.
BUT, as business owners, IF we choose to use these platforms ethically, we can put our message RIGHT in front of the exact buyers, decision makers, and internal champions that probably care. This fascinates me!
Outcome Studio recently launched a podcast to demystify trending digital marketing approaches and discuss ways that traditionally-minded sales and marketing teams can integrate some of these tactics, in a straightforward way. Give it a listen (Episode 1 outlines the tone, expected subject matter, and motivations for the show):
🎧 On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/outcome-studio-podcast/id1434103834
🎙️ On the blog (with timestamp notes): http://outcomestudio.com/blog
The desired result: I hope to equip all my sales, marketing, and leadership/ advisory colleagues in the IT industry with the tools to build stronger customer relationships and stay top-of-mind into 2019. I know that CFOs, Directors of Sales, and VPs of Operations (or similar non-marketing roles with influence) are giving my peers push-back. Join me in being knowledgeable, self-reliant, and articulate about the power of internet marketing when paired with those tradeshows, happy hour events, and cold calls.
💻 As a special bonus, if you work at IT, software, or engineering services organizations, we help you talk the talk! We are breaking down technical concepts with experts in a way that will help you better communicate your company's solutions (for example, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, virtualization, UI/UX, and internet of things).
We can't wait to get your feedback. Thank you for listening. -Aaron
