What They Never Told You About Practical Marketing

Our last blog post gave some insight into how we started Connective Pros on a budget of $0. We spoke about how we utilized free software to make our content appear professional and drive conversations about Connective Pros. We also spoke about our consistency and how important it is to be present for our audience. Connective Pros still utilizes these free mediums, and we invest in applications that we have studied to ensure that they yield results for ourselves and our clients.

Marketing can be intimidating. It is a broad term and it encompasses a mix of traditional and new medium tools that are used to drive sales. Marketing can be described as the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. It is essentially the driver that will ensure that your business prospers. Selecting the best mix of tools will ultimately determine your success. It persuades the customer to make a purchase of your product based on a variety of factors. These factors can include credibility, value, quality and cost-effectiveness.

This post is not for the experienced marketer who utilizes complicated software that predicts trends and determines consumer behaviour. This post is for the business owner who cannot afford marketing but wishes that they were able to. This post is for the business owner who dreams of scaling their business to drive the figures needed to earn a higher income. These are practical tips that you can start doing today! Simple ideas and concepts that we have used and have given us success! The only investment is time, patience and understanding the problem that your product or service can solve.

Email Marketing

Every week, Connective Pros sends ten unsolicited emails to businesses with a full proposal that includes our services. These ten businesses are carefully selected. We firstly ensure that they are small or medium businesses that may be struggling online to create valuable content for their audience. Thus far we have not received negative feedback with respect to this unsolicited approach. Through free Customer Relationship Management software, we can confirm that these emails are read by these business owners.

Has this approach been successful for us? Yes, it has! While conversion has been lower as compared to our other tactics, we have been able to gain leads and carry conversations. We even had some companies offering to collect some of our business cards or place our flyers on their notice boards. Interestingly, in the midst of a busy work week, a recognized conglomerate received our proposal. Our email roster should only include small to medium businesses but somehow this large conglomerate was included and went unnoticed.

This followed a phone call, a meeting and a subsequent proposal that we submitted for branding work. The work was not on a national scale, but rather the execution was for territories beyond our local borders. The client was impressed with our portfolio of work and was eager to meet us. However, our proposal was not accepted. We were provided with a counter-proposal, but when we evaluated the level of work required, we did not see the project as worthwhile to our team. That client would have been spectacular to work with, but in terms of the level of attention and detail required for the project and the subsequent offer, our team had to turn it down.

Identify Leads

As a small or medium business owner, you may have heard the term ‘Leads’ tossed around a few times. It is simply someone who may be interested in purchasing a product or service from you. We have recently started this approach to identify leads and engage with them. This approach may work wonders for knowledge workers, especially if you are working from home during the COVID-19

pandemic. The only downfall of identifying these leads is time and energy. You have to be extremely convincing and be able to win a potential client or customer over.

We have started taking a closer look at Facebook Jobs. It is a platform that illustrates a wide range of businesses that have problems that require a solution. They are seeking employees to step in and solve the problem. Your challenge is to convince that employer, they do not need an employee, but they need you and your team! You need to explain to them that you can offer them something that is better and more valuable than an employee. It is a golden opportunity for consultants at home.

For example, if someone is looking for yard maintenance at home, this is the perfect opportunity to organically push your landscaping business via email with a complete and comprehensive proposal. If an employee is seeking an administrative assistant, this is where you push your virtual services. You must highlight to the employer the real benefits and cost-effectiveness of consultancy work, as opposed to hiring a traditional employee. In the context of Connective Pros, we send proposals to businesses that are seeking Social Media Managers, Digital Marketers or Communication Professionals. It is a free tactic that anyone can use.

Fostering Relationships

If a client is interested in meeting with you, you must ensure to do your homework. At Connective Pros it is imperative that we know a bit about you and your business before we have a discussion. Our team likes to have a little bit of insight so that we can discuss your vision and your immediate goals. This dedication to research allows us to find common ground with our clients, and it is important that you find this common ground as soon as possible.

In the event that you were not able to win the client over, you should change gears and focus on maintaining that relationship. Every interaction does not have to be a sales pitch. A causal message, sharing concern about the growth of their product or service over a period of time is vital. Lend advice to those who are interested in your business. Illustrate to them that you have a genuine interest in their growth and success. In essence, we never really lose a client. We always gain a connection. How we foster that connection is much more important, as it determines your future outlook.

Fostering relationships is not complicated. We need to simplify our interactions and ensure that they are genuine. The gesture of wishing someone Happy Birthday can go a very long way. However, you need to take these moments one step forward. Instead of posting a message on their news feed, why not send a personalized message. The message can be based on a moment that you once shared with them. For example, “Hey when I met you at the event last week, I would have never guessed that you were a Leo! Happy Birthday and have a great one!”- Striking up a conversation and finding out more about each other, is a great way to leverage your existing network. They may not be interested in your work or what you do, however the people you interact with are powerful tools when it comes to word of mouth marketing. Word of mouth marketing is grossly undervalued as compared to the power of the digital space.

Relatable Stories- Use that Facebook Status!

A good story posted on your Facebook status can work wonders for your marketing efforts! Our team always emphasises that you must embody your brand. You cannot expect others to notice who you are or what you are doing without making a concerted effort to push your activities in the limelight. Accomplishments are one of the key elements that have some of the highest organic traction. However how you relay these accomplishments is key to how successful that status update will be.

Have you ever noticed that when an undergraduate posts their certificate with first-class honours the engagement is very high? This is not an accident. Your network appreciates your overall growth.

Similarly, any stories that reflect a legacy of change, or positive impact will also garner the attention of your audience. Conversely, admitting failures and explaining what you did to become better also gains respect and confidence from others. All of which must be compacted into a story that attracts the attention that you need. These approaches can work well for businesses and for individuals seeking to propagate their brand in the online realm.

Leading your status update with a profound or catchy first sentence can be helpful. Your aim is to discourage your network to stop scrolling through their news feed, as you have an announcement to make and you want it to be heard. It is imperative that the first few words of your status update speak to your network so that they can relate to what is being said. For example, “I never thought that I would have done this, but today I decided this was my moment…” An opening line such as this has all the hallmarks of appealing to your network’s sense of doubt, and willingness to accomplish anything in their lives that may have been shelved. The story that follows must interlink with what you do in your business. This increases brand awareness through a priceless organic approach.

The Power of Messenger

If you have not already, you need to dive deep into the possibilities that exist with WhatsApp Messenger. It is a quick, convenient and easily accessible platform to keep all your clients and customers up to date with the latest offerings that you have available. You can easily set up broadcast lists to segment your audience depending on the product or service interests they have with your company. It is also a great way to check-in with them occasionally so that you can get insight on how your product or service is suiting their needs.

WhatsApp Messenger opens a new door of possibilities for the small or medium business owner. For example, Newsletters are used by most established companies to communicate with both their internal and external staff. At Connective Pros, we refer to the Newsletter as a Public Relations playground, as there are limitless opportunities to place news-related content that may be of use to your customers. While some Newsletters can be lengthy, WhatsApp provides an innovative opportunity to create newsletters in the form of a singular square image that gives short insightful bursts of information as it relates to your company.

Your small or medium business can have a Newsletter as well. It may not be the same as a big conglomerate, however you can have the same function on a smaller scale with equal effectiveness. The cost to create is free. There is free graphic software online that can create your square image with your text and your logo. Once completed use WhatsApp’s free messenger application to get news about your business immediately to your contact list. You can be bold and creative with very little. You just have to adapt and use the resources you have available to you.

There are no excuses to cease marketing your business. To do so does not require huge budgets, fancy software and statistical trends. We admit, having all the bells and whistles can positively impact the growth of your business. We do not discredit these approaches, as Marketing in its truest form works wonders even for the small to medium businesses. However, the harsh reality is that Marketing is not the most affordable business practice. It can be quite expensive. These approaches are meant to give you the support that you need, especially in circumstances where financial resources are limited. If you have absolutely no idea where to start, we can help you! Remember our team at Connective Pros provides free consultations to all our clients! Give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!

Our Connective Pros team offers several business solutions in Public Relations, Marketing, Media and Communications. When we provide tools to you, we want you to understand the most effective methods on how to use them. We want you to receive the best mileage from every product or service that you purchase from us. If you are still unsure you can always contact us via connectivepros@gmail.com and we will happy to provide you with additional details on all our services.

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