Kick It Up a Notch Want to turn up the heat on your marketing campaign? Start by turning cold contacts into hot prospects.
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Remember when you bought your last car? You probably didn'tmake the decision overnight. First, you started paying moreattention to car commercials and ads, and then you looked at a fewdifferent models. Perhaps you did some research on the Internet andvisited dealerships to check prices. When you were ready to buy,you completed the sale.
Your own business prospects move through the buying cycle inmuch the same way. At first, they know virtually nothing about yourcompany, but over time, they become familiar with the benefits ofyour product or service-and eventually, they're ready tobuy.
Every business owner needs a marketing program that involvescustomers from when they first start "kicking the tires"to when they offer their closing handshakes. And for mostbusinesses, the sales cycle requires eight or more contacts with aprospect before a sale is closed. So to create a successfulprogram, your sales cycle must be supported by continuous marketingefforts that reach out to prospects in three stages: cold, warm andhot.
Cold prospects:These are either members of your particular target audience orcompanies you have placed on a list of prospects who know nothingabout you.
Warm prospects:These most likely make up the bulk of the prospects that are inyour company database. They are businesses or individualswho've been exposed to your marketing message but aren'tcompletely ready to close.
Hot prospects:These are the prospects you've successfully moved through yoursales cycle-cultivating them through multiple marketing contactsand sales efforts-or who have come to you as referrals with anexpressed need for what your company offers. Personal selling insome form, whether face-to-face, on the phone or even via e-mail,is often all that's necessary to add the final heat to closethe deal.
Feel The Heat
Marketing tactics also come in various temperatures, too, andyou should use a range of them to draw prospects in and move themcloser to a buying decision. An integrated marketing approach drawsupon a variety of media and tactics to convey one central messageor branding theme. But avoid adopting just a single tactic-such asrelying solely on direct mail to warm prospects or exclusively onPR to reach cold ones-while completely neglecting the tactics thathave the po-tential to motivate prospects who are in other stagesof your sales cycle. Combine your marketing program with some kindof interpersonal interaction, such as one-on-one sales contacts,for a well-rounded approach.
Case in point: Let's say your company manufactureshand-dipped chocolates that you sell wholesale to gift and gourmetstores and via retail on your company Web site. To reach coldprospects, you participate in gift and fancy food trade shows,where the theme of your booth is carried through into all yourmarketing handouts as well as the advertising in the show programs.An ongoing ad campaign in the trade magazines that reach youraudience carries the same message. Following the shows, your staffmakes "warm" calls to follow up all the leads gathered.The names of your warm prospects are added to your database, andthose retailers receive catalogs by mail followed by mailings aboutevery six weeks that continue to move them through the sales cycle.To turn warm prospects into hot ones and close sales, you sendbroadcast faxes with special pricing and promotions to createimmediacy, and your staff follows up the faxes with telephone callsto close. Hot retail prospects who've purchased from your Website receive special reminders via e-mail of birthdays or upcomingoccasions to stimulate repeat sales.
Do you have a well-rounded marketing program like the onedescribed above? To turn up the heat and increase the year-roundsuccess of your growing business, set up an ongoing integratedmarketing program that does an effective job of reaching out tocold, warm and hot prospects. And don't be afraid to mix it upa little bit-choose from advertising, PR, direct mail, specialpromotions, broadcast faxes and Web marketing. Combined with yourcompany's ongoing sales efforts, you're sure to find thewinning formula that's right for your business.
