I worked in sales for over two decades, usually doing the marketing myself or with other sales people. In the beginning, we were never consistent and we never measured our effectiveness. Our marketing was almost useless back then. The only saving grace we had was the Trade Show we attended each year.
In the Beginning
I started sales by working for a Satellite equipment manufacturer. Besides the trade shows, our only other marketing was an ad we put in a trade magazine. When a prospect was interested, we got a postcard in the mail. We mailed them product sheets relating to their request. But most of the enquiries were from consumers not businesses. The consumers almost never bought. We were a B2B company and were probably advertising in the wrong magazines.
One time I found a whole bunch of these postcards in the sales secretary’s desk. She put them there because she didn’t want to send out the responses. I don’t think it made a difference anyway.
So how did the business survive? And grow? Sales. The sales people had to pound the pavement all the time. Cold calling and travelling. And the tradeshow. The Satellite industry is a niche market, so everyone in it would go to the big show in Las Vegas each year.
It wasn’t a great start, but at least we started. We learned and improved and grew.
Those first steps
The main reason for that backstory was to show that you might not get your marketing off to a great start, but start anyway. You’ll get better at it. We did.
Okay, those first easy steps I talked about…
If you have an email or mailing list, you can start sending out emails or newsletters. Or both. Newsletters mailed to your customers always work better than emailing. But it’s also more expensive. Pick whichever way makes most sense for you. Send them out on a consistent basis. The frequency isn’t as important as the consistency.
It’s one of the easiest ways to start marketing. Find someone to do the writing. Either someone internal or hire a freelance copywriter.
What to Write about
A lot of companies only send out content about what they are selling. Basically, product sheets. I think that’s a mistake. Your customers quickly get bored and hit delete without ever looking at them. it’s best to change things up once in a while. It’s all about being noticed and remembered if you want to stand out.
Send some emails about your products and services and sprinkle in emails about:
- your principle employees.
- Case studies
- What you’ve done in the community.
- Add some history about the company or its founder.
- Maybe some interesting trivia about your industry
Inserting an interesting story every now and then will make your prospects and customers feel more connected. They might even look forward to your emails or newsletters.
Your sales people will have something to chat about when contacting customers. The best salesmen try to get a rapport going before making the sale. Give them some ammunition to work with. They can elaborate on the stories or trivia for example.
KISS
Realize that this is being very simplistic. Getting started in marketing has so many options and so many items to consider, that it can be pretty daunting. Just start easy. There’s really no right way to do it.
You don’t have to get all complicated and expensive. Start with a small budget. Get sales on board. Get started.
If you have any questions or need some advice, give me a call or send me an email. I’m happy to help.