Not all prospects are equal. Just because someone visited your site or store, does not mean you have permission to engage them. A portion of them will at some point give this permission based on their preferences and requests. The others will react negatively towards unsolicited marketing advances. We should know this because we are buyers, too.
The mindset of the buyer is critical to understand and capture.
The traditional marketing approach is to send a one-size-fits-all message to everyone and hope for a few responses. This is lazy, irresponsible and destroys your credibility. The ability to work with the few who truly are your customers is available today. Depending on the readiness of your buyer, it is wise to deliver the right message at the right time to nurture the relationship with your brand. With a marketing automation system, you can engage in a custom, one-to-one fashion based on the digital body language of your unseen buyer.
Different marketing automation campaigns which nurture the customer based on their digital profile need to be developed and triggered. The strategy and personalized approach with the right timing need to be developed with a sensitivity to effective nurturing.
Most people in that first experience with you are not ready to buy. Therefore, providing value becomes an important component of the marketing automation strategy. Value can take many forms. It starts with the question, “What is valuable to your buyer?” This requires a mindset shift from, “How can I sell?” to “Why does a person buy?”
The exchange of value builds trust over time. This is required in a buying atmosphere where choices are abundant and skepticism is high. Connecting in terms of value often revolves around pain or pleasure. Depending on your value proposition, it is important to get at the root of the buyer’s pain or pleasure and deliver value methodically and precisely, speaking to their emotion. A few examples include:
- Getting promoted
- Increasing revenue
- Overcoming boredom
- Feeling productive
Your product or service is a means to such an end. Your message must connect personally, relevantly and timely based on the reaction of the buyer through automated systems. When they emerge with a readiness based on your marketing automation triggers, then your sales process will effectively engage with your true customer.
The goal is to design for the few, not the many. This focuses your marketing automation to avoid the drag from irrelevant buyers and deliver value to the ones that truly will reward you with sales and loyalty.
