We’re one month in with the Covid-19 crisis, and you’re probably thinking about what next with your business. You’ve closed your doors, cancelled trade shows and moved your business online. Before you cut your marketing budget, consider the following insights on how your company should be marketing in turbulent times.
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Communications in a time of crisis. Provide communications, transparency and consistency.
Over the last several weeks, consumers have grown increasingly panicked about COVID-19, depleting goods like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Schools are closed, offices are urging employees to work from home and small businesses that rely on foot traffic are seeing their in-store sales take a hit.
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Content Strategy For Corporate Communications
Corporate communications need a concrete content strategy, prioritized by purpose and audience. But the corporate communications program is typically reserved for large companies. Generally, small and medium-sized companies are usually focused on lead generation. In contrast, large companies will invest in media relations, hosting news events and distributing press releases to the media to garner coverage.
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Relationship Marketing or account-based marketing, whatever you want to call it, is where you’ll want to be. Relationship marketing has changed some of our bland marketing tactics. Take email nurturing; thankfully, the days when we set up an email nurturing campaign and then forget about it are gone.
That’s good news!
Consumers are tech-savvy, and we know when we’re getting played by an automated message. Relationship marketing helps you manage your important clients on a one-to-one basis.
We’re faced with more critical decision-making issues while keeping up-to-date with technological advances, content trends and buying behaviours disrupting every industry or personal life – the fact remains is that no large sale happens in a vacuum.
Limitations of Inbound Marketing
Here’s the other thing we need to consider. The online world is a busy place. It is getting harder, rather expensive to get noticed with even the best inbound marketing program. Inbound marketing has its value but relying solely on these tactics to get sales leads to come to your door isn’t a doable strategy.
Outbound Marketing Has Its Place
I do love outbound marketing. It’s where you’ll get the big sales and meet the people who will change the world. But, outbound marketing doesn’t provide the precision data that inbound marketing offers.
Blend both tactics in your marketing plan is best, and yes, which includes account-based marketing. Let’s take a deeper dive into Account-Based Marketing and where it should be placed in your marketing strategy for 2019.
Benefits of Account Based Marketing
Account-based marketing is aimed at sales lead generation. It usually combines inbound, outbound marketing and account-based marketing, creating programs to convert and nurture qualified buyers. Account-based marketing also establishes the main lead in your company who will learn and manage the account.
Align Sales and Marketing Teams
Your lead, sales and marketing teams need to work together to builds relevant communications with target accounts. Another area is the CRM. Ensure that it is set-up in a manner where everyone sees who is managing or nurturing the account. You’ll be able to better identify target accounts, develop a communication strategy and outreach tactics. These teams will also better understand quality sales leads and agree on what success looks like when reviewing the campaign’s progress.
Build Relevant Resources
Because your teams will be aligned, your marketing team will develop relevant and valuable communication tools and resources for your account.
Forget Automation
Make it personal. Call, visit and learn all you can about your account’s industry. Be honest about your company’s capability. It will help cement your relationship. People are tired of the sales pitch. And, like any solid relations, give it time.
Involve Your Marketing Team At Every Step
People know when they’re added to your irritating, dull nurturing funnel. Marketing needs to be present at every stage of the funnel, providing quality content and understanding where the lead is in the buying process.
Relationship Management
Once we get the right client, we have the power of the relationship that has remained a constant for any business. In the end, we need to stop replacing technology and quantity with quality and real relationships.
The Marketing Boutique 