Sales Reps can create their own demand if they think and act more like marketers.
There is too much noise getting in the way of buyers hearing your voice. Cold calling is an outdated strategy that does work, but is not the most effective way to attract buyers. These are seven simple and effective marketing strategies that you can use as a Sales Rep to create demand in your territory.
Inbound and Content Marketing
Good content is the cornerstone of any Inbound Marketing strategy and will help you break through the noise. What is good content? Great question. Short of being Seth Godin, good content is anything that answers the questions your prospects and customers have, not only about your stuff, but their world in general. Simple content/inbound marketing strategies that would work for sales reps include:
#1
Creating a Blog – Setting up a blog is easy. If you stick to answering the questions your prospects and customers have, you will never run out of awesome ideas for blog posts that will help you get found. You will also become a go to expert helping you get a seat at THEIR table.
#2
Using Social Media to interact with your prospects – Seriously. This works. If your target audience is on Twitter or Linkedin in particular, you will have no problem finding them and interacting with them. All you have to do is remember one rule. It is not about you, its about them. Remember too, this is really not about being social. You need to have purpose and direction as well as some solid goals about who you want to meet.
#3
Online Video – It is rediculously easy for you to create an online video presence for yourself. You don’t need to spend a billion dollars either. All you need is a simple video message that you can post out on the web, either on a site like Youtube, or even better, Wistia, and your on your way to using Video SEO to get found. Note again, your videos are not about you, they are about solving your customers problems.
#4
Email – Good marketers know that effective email has nothing to do with presenting your stuff. Good Sales Reps no better too. You need to use email to present information that your audience will find useful. Most importantly, you need to create subject lines that will get your email opened. Guess what works best? Subject lines that say something about your target and absolutely nothing about you.
Consider these two examples:
“Accentures Committment to Sustainability”
“Easy way to convert powerpoint to video”
I know you can guess which of these subject lines had the most success. Note, this was a real world example that I used directly. Note also, both subject lines were for the exact same solution. My open rates exceeded 40% using the first version because the subject line has everything to do with prospect and nothing to do with me.
Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing is the process of using a combination of mobile web pages, sms codes, QR Codes and mobile ads to reach a mobile audience. Much of what marketers do as it relates to mobile marketing is absolutely easy for a Sales Rep to replicate.
#5 and #6
SMS/QR Codes and Mobile Sites – Mobile web pages for Sales Reps? Yes!!! And you can link them to SMS Codes and QR Codes as well. How? Sorry about this, using OUR Mobile Marketing Service!!! Imagine having a cool text code on your business card that links to a mobile video series about everything that rocks about you.
Cause Marketing
Cause Marketing is when Nonprofits get together with Companies, combining resources to achieve a common goal. Are you as a Sales Rep going to embark on a full Cause Marketing campaign? Absolutely NOT!
#7
But that doesn’t mean you can’t make yourself available as a resource to a few Nonprofits in your territory and build your own personal brand by aligning with organizations with a social mission. You could even select those causes that you think your target audience identifies with. The only thing that matters here is sincerity. If you do it only to make money you will not achieve the desired result. Again, make it not about you but about the cause. Even better, work with your marketing department to come up with some awesome cause marketing campaigns that you think would enhance your ability as in individual contributor.
