Know-How Exchange : Customer Behavior

If you can solve a problem for me that is causing me pain, I (and others) will be willing to pay for it.

So...do you know what the top "problems" are for marketers trying to deal with direct marketing in the digital world? (Hint--you wrote this question because you haven't solved the top one, cutting through the clutter.)

You can use free content to earn your credentials and create interest in your paid/subscription content. Create and promote a great blog that has good, action-oriented ideas. Use the blog to point to your site that offers readers levels of access--and explain what the benefits are of premium membership. Now think about how to make upgrading from free to paid membership urgent--can your experts create really valuable white papers or audio recordings that are so hot and so on topic that getting them alone is worth the subscription price?

It's all about meeting an urgent need. Stay ahead of the trends and offer great insight from people who know what they're talking about, and you offer value in a niche that is changing daily.

As Gail says, find the problem/pain.

Also, do a SWOT analysis to figure out how your offering is different from all the others out there. Why is your information any better than your competitors'?

Since there's so much free information out there, to get me to subscribe you'll have to have something of big value, or do all the weeding through the Internet to identify the best of the best. If your experts aren't well-known names, then you'll have the extra step of having them build their names by writing articles (for other respected journals), blogs, etc.

Angela

So what you're trying to do is to present a strong value proposition to a particular segment without sounding like a sales pitch?

First, you need to be able to articulate your value proposition very simply and clearly, in terms of what it means to the proposed customer.

Write it out in their language, workshop and refine it to its barest essence, making sure it sounds like what you would want them to say about your products and services. Even if that's not exactly where your products and services are right now - it should say what you want the prospect to be thinking about you, once you achieve that state of being able to deliver everything the Value Proposition promises.

Next, figure out where it would place you, competitively, if you could deliver exactly what the Value Proposition says you will.

Workshop that with customers. Make sure it's right. While you're doing that, find out where they would expect to be able to find out about you.

Now all you need to do is create the delivery capability, and "be" in the places your prospects say they would expect to be able to find you, plus a few more besides, and you're practically home.

"Be" - means have online (and other) content which speaks to the prospect in their own language. That's the best way to avoid sounding like you're trying to sell to them.

Oh, and with a membership of professional marketers numbering well into six figures, you could probably start by providing advertising and editorial content right here, on MarketingProfs. Your audience is already here and looking for the kind of information you're ready to supply.

Best of luck.

Chris

Dear Angela

What you are able to do; regardless of the channels you chose is limited by the value of subscriptions and the value of your advertising. Anything else is unsustainable and whilst new product launch programmes can burn starting capital, you will need to ensure that once that exercise has run its course and run its budget, that you can use the knowledge you have gained to roll out continuing marketing programmes which will be cash positive.

So, two questions:-

What is the value of a subscription to you (The profit in a subscription, not the gross revenue) and how much does your circulation contribute to what you can charge for your advertising? A one page advert in a trade magazine going out to 10,000 readers is worth a lot less than a page in a journal with a circulation of 100,000.

So, for example, each subscriber will be worth $x in subscriptions and $y in incremental advertising revenue. That give you the medium term figure which will define whether a marketing strategy is profitable and sustainable or not.

I have to disagree with some of my colleagues with the premise that just “being there” in the environment where your potential customers read will do the trick. OK, you need to get the name of your publication out into the marketplace and you need to secure your brand, but that alone, via blogs and articles is unlikely to bring in subscriptions, for the simple reason that you are not asking anyone to buy anything or incentivising the prospects so that they dip their toes into your water!

The marketing community you wish to sell to probably consists of an undefined number of marketing directors and managers who work for B2B and B2C companies and the defined universe of the creative agency community.

One of my media clients has taken a conscious decision that they will address only the creative agencies, because it is much, much harder to identify and market to the B2B and B2C managers – you have to identify them by their own vertical sector and then appeal to their problems therein before they will listen to or read your sales pitch. The agencies on the other hand are a defined universe and regardless of their speciality, you can cultivate them from a starting point of at least knowing who they all are. For instance there are about 11,000 creative agencies in the UK details of which can be purchased on a list.

Using a decent CRM system (they use Maximizer) these contacts can be nurtured by a mixture of email marketing (You will need to repeat your message about the magazine about 5 times before the idea of buying it sticks) and incentives, such as free samples, trial subscriptions and even introductory offer from your advertising sales people.

If you go out to the in-house marketing people, PR is probably a good approach as the releases will be written to resonate with each different sector – OK that means that you could end up with 100 different press releases and that is hard work, but a marketing manager in the Food Industry is unlikely to respond well to a piece of PR which was aimed at the Automotive Market.

Again, your CRM system comes into play and the contacts you gain through these channels along with the ideas suggested by the other Experts will become a key-prospect base which you can develop your relationship with until your discover what their reason to buy from you is. Another advantage of deploying a CRM system is that it is the natural tool for your advertising managers to keep their own prospects and target clients on. There’s no reason why you can’t keep both advertisers, potential advertisers, subscribers and potential subscribers all on the same database.

That beats selling any day and with the kid of margins or $ amounts of profit you see in subscriptions and the incremental value of boosting circulation, It is probably all you will be able to afford.

Good luck


Steve Alker

If you are talking about marketing digitally, then you must take into account social media (such as sites like this). There are social media sites for every target audience. Get mentions in blogs (Seth Godin's would be a great place to start). And like ChrisB said, be where your target is. Find all the respectable marketing sites and align yourself with them. It is kind of like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, if you are associated with reputable sites then your reputation will be bolstered as well.

As for what a marketer would want, I like the idea of offering something of value. Writing a blog as someone suggested with tips and insights would keep people coming back if they don't sign up right away. Or perhaps you can offer a free Webinar, a white paper, or some other one time offer for those who sign up.

Jennifer Williams