The first step to a profitable web marketing campaign is to get people’s attention. After you have their attention, you can generate leads and begin a conversation with them. This is the second stage of an effective web marketing strategy.
“Relationship Marketing” and “Social Media Marketing” are buzz words that get thrown about constantly, so my goal on this page is to provide you some important concepts about how to build a relationship with the people on your email list, the people following you on Twitter, etc.
These relationships can lead to a lot of sales…if you do it right. Relationship marketing, social media marketing…whatever you want to call it…can also be a colossal WASTE OF TIME, depending on your approach! This waste of time is what so many business owners fear, and it’s really unfortunate, because that fear can hold you back from truly benefiting AND profiting from these tools effectively. If you want to benefit and profit from web marketing, this phase an essential part of the process!
Let’s make sure you have a clear perspective on how platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, blogging and yes…even email, can be used to create mutually beneficial relationships. I also want to point out the 3 biggest things most people do wrong, so you can avoid wasting your time.
Let’s discuss the wrong stuff first 😉
Focusing on the sale – Hitting up your new followers on Twitter with an automatic direct message to come subscribe to your blog or even a direct sales pitch just isn’t going to work. People do this on Twitter, Facebook and all over the internet. In an effort to “make more money”, some marketers resort to simply blasting sales offers out to their email subscribers every day. I’ve seen some email their list as often as 4-5 times per day. This surprisingly remains a very common practice, despite the fact this type of tactic just doesn’t convert. Yes, you’re a business owner, and your ULTIMATE goal is to make sales. And you will…trust me, you will! But blasting your “friends” hard and fast with high pressure offers is not going to be well-received. Give it time. The tactics for actually making money are coming, so keep reading!
Talking to the wrong people and generating the wrong kind of leads – One of the things we discuss on Dangerous Tactics is how to generate valuable, targeted leads for your marketing campaigns. It makes sense that in order to make lots of sales, you need to sell to people who actually want and need what you’re selling, right? Unfortunately most business owners new to web marketing spend a lot of time talking to the wrong people. I work with a lot of real estate professionals as clients in my consulting business, and one of the biggest complaints is that Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks never produce any valuable leads for them. They want to write off social media as a waste of time until we look at their social media activity. Usually we end up seeing that the majority of people they’ve been talking with are other real estate professionals! If you’re a Realtor, are you likely to buy a house with another Realtor who’s located in another town? That’s about the worst “lead” you can get! Instead, a real estate professional needs to be talking and forming relationships with real prospects, people who are actually good candidates to eventually buy what they’re selling. This isn’t just true for real estate; people from all different industries can spend a lot of time talking with other people in their industry. This is very rewarding in a lot of ways, but when it comes to lead generation, it’s horribly ineffective. I tell clients all the time…if you’re not getting the results you want, it’s not social media’s fault. There’s a problem with your approach. Let’s find the problem, and you’ll start seeing positive results quickly!
Assuming that a relationship will earn you business – There is something that happens with the “relationship marketing” phase of marketing that causes a lot of heartache. Business owners get STUCK in the relationship marketing phase, and they fail to ever move on to the remaining stages of marketing…making offers and repeat/referral business generation. It’s important to understand that a relationship is a relationship. It is awesome, valuable, fun, edifying and mutually beneficial in many ways, but it does not entitle you to a sale. Just because you’ve spent time talking with people in your social network doesn’t mean they’re all going to buy from you. Statistically, it’s inevitable that some will. But if you want to make impressive profits (I know you do!) on a regular basis, you need to conduct business in the remaining phases of marketing also.
How to Win with Relationship Marketing
If you step back and look at the phrase “relationship marketing”, it just makes you feel kind of dirty, doesn’t it? If the idea of manipulating your relationships with people in order to make a buck kind of turns you off, you’re not alone. This isn’t a phrase I invented; it’s just the phrase commonly used to describe the act of marketing to your social sphere of influence.
Most of us are very comfortable with the idea of having friends. Most of us are also very comfortable with our friends know what we do for a living. We just don’t want to be pushy or sleazy or manipulative…but we also need to make a living. So what gives? Can relationship marketing actually be conducted ethically and profitably at the same time? Yes it can. You just need a strategy that works!
Social media and relationship marketing are topics I write about pretty frequently here. One of my goals here on Dangerous Tactics is to give you all the tools and resources you need to make full use of new media marketing technology. The benefits to your business can and will be significant if you learn the concepts here and apply them!
Don’t listen to the “gurus”
Relationship marketing can be conducted with email, blogging, Twitter, Facebook…any platform that allows communication between two or more human beings at the same time. Does this include the telephone? Why yes it does! “Social media experts” and gurus of all types try to convince you that social media is some kind of magic technology that will save your business; all you have to do is give them a lot of money, and they’ll enlighten you to a “new” and “better” marketing platform that magically sends tons of business your way.
The fact is that relationship marketing and social networking are as old as time itself. We’ve been conducting business within our social sphere of influence for eons. It has always been…and remains…the best place to conduct business. We just have new tools now that enable us to do this in ways that make better use of our time, and we can now be more targeted, personal and effective with how we communicate.
Do you HAVE to use Twitter? Do you HAVE to use the email marketing tactics we’ll discuss here? Do you HAVE to utilize all the relationship marketing tactics I share with you on this blog? Nope! You only need to learn this stuff if you want to benefit from it. The benefits are significant. And yes…making a great income is part of the deal, but the choice is yours whether or not you want to dive in and take things to the next level!
If Relationship Marketing Interests You, Read These…
- Why People Who Like You Still Don’t Buy From You
- Are you selling on accident?
- Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Success in Social Media?
- Top 10 Myths and Mistakes About Blogging and Internet Marketing
- How to Use Twitter Professionally
- Why to Write a Plan for Your Blog
Do you have any questions about anything you’ve read here so far, or do you want to learn more about how to conduct your relationship marketing more effectively and profitably? Put your email in the form below, and I’ll send you a copy of my latest marketing report for free. This will give you some additional insight! As a subscriber, we can also talk by email. Feel free to ask me any questions you want! I respond to everyone as quickly as I can. Pop your email in the form here, and let’s keep talking!