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As I reflect on the meaning of Thanksgiving Day, a holiday that is right around the corner for those of us in the U.S., I thought about my "Sales 101" on-the-job learning years ago. I was living in Toulouse, France, in the late ‘80s and was starting to spread my wings in the business world, more by chance than personal drive, to be honest. Our corporate office gave us the mandate to grow, and I volunteered to help.
When I worked for a large publicly traded company, we had lots of ways we could spend our marketing budget, but no real sense of which activities were responsible for delivering specific sales.
During a recent meeting, a prospective client asked me a simple question:
“Do you have any data on which activities drive lead generation?”
Without knowing it, he wanted to benchmark his company’s marketing activities.
If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it is that there is no substitute for face-to-face contact when developing new business opportunities. When we had no choice but to conduct virtual meetings using Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or other meeting software, we did it because, literally, our lives, and livelihoods, depended on it.
Inbound marketing – a business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them -- is replacing outbound (traditional) marketing as the preferred way that increasingly younger groups of buyers, specifiers, and influencers in manufacturing and distribution companies receive sales-focused communications. These individuals are Millennials (Gen Y) who are ages 26-41 and the oldest Gen Z-ers, ages 22-25.
As recently as several years ago, the term Inbound Marketing meant little or nothing to many manufacturers and distributors of industrial products. With the pandemic having forced companies to perform sales and marketing activities exclusively online, inbound marketing gained momentum.
We’ve all been there. You’re sitting at the dinner table about to dig into the best plate of spaghetti and meatballs you’ve ever seen when the phone rings and the telemarketer on the other end of the line asks to speak with you so he can sell you something.
From manufacturing to tech and beyond, we're hearing the same refrain: we need good people and we can't find them. As unemployment drops to pre-Pandemic levels, it seems harder than ever to get qualified applicants in the door, especially for skilled, long-term positions.
Everyone is interested in something. As a licensed pilot, I have a passion for flying and also like fast cars. Based on my website visits and my purchases, I receive emails related to those hobbies from marketers trying to sell me things or experiences. Those marketers, whether they know it or not, are engaging in Smart Messaging, and you should, too, if you are not already doing so because it can help you obtain a greater return on your investment in marketing activities.
Prices for goods and services are increasing left and right between inflation and supply chain issues. That increase isn't just hitting your bottom line at home, at the gas pump and at the grocery store - it's encroaching on your marketing budget too. How could you possibly get all of the marketing initiatives that you planned for this year done while having your dollars stretched to their limits? And can you still get them done well so they make a difference on your KPIs?
We’ve put together some tips on how to make the most of your marketing budget. In this post, you’ll learn:
