By Craig Klein, SalesNexus.com CEO
Business leaders are preaching the benefits of “content marketing” through email. Faced with the amazing statistical evidence of email marketing’s profitability, lots of companies are adapting to this new way of doing business.
Unfortunately, many are broadcasting emails that do little to no good to improve the bottom-line profits for their business. Rather than recognizing their own shortcomings, they are more likely to feel as if they have been lied to and misdirected…again.
For those who have found the “secret” to email marketing profitability, they will often scale three-tiers of customer values and trust to learn from each of them. You can take them one at a time, or implement your email marketing campaigns using the mistakes of others to guide your success.
Efficient Time Saver
Some CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) companies will paint a picture of blissful ease when you use their software. They promise that you will get your life back when you simply set up automated emails. Their description of email marketing sounds more like the difference between washing clothes by hand and using an automated washing machine.
It is true that setting up your emails to be automatically triggered by actions of the consumer will save you a whole lot of time. However, the goal of saving your company time is a bit egocentric and renders very little trust from the buyer relationship.
Most of your prospects and current customers can quickly detect a company-centric automated email. It looks very similar to the traditional advertising they would like to avoid. The primary message at this level is “Buy My Stuff”. It has very little value to the reader.
Buyer-Focused Messaging
At the second level of customer trust, email campaigns have changed the focus to the interests of the buyers. There are a number of ways to determine what a sales lead wants to hear from you.
Sales Personas: When you know your best customers well, it becomes easier to target your message to sales prospects with similar interests. It is a great investment of time to search your CRM for clues. Ask your sales team and support staff about the customers you serve.
From the description – called a persona – build your email campaign to meet the needs of the recipient. Recognize the struggle experienced in their lives and appeal to the emotions they feel. Make them feel as if you “get them” in a way that other companies don’t.
Widened Perspective
A counter-intuitive method for gaining customer trust is to include all of the market your buyer is considering in your communication to them.
Comparison Charts: A tool for gaining this perspective is charts with indisputable facts about how your product or service compares to other options.
You must be careful to avoid your own prejudiced opinions in this type of email marketing. Although the sales lead knows you believe you have the best possible solution, if you cloud the information with opinion, it can quickly dissolve any trust you may have gained with them.
Curated Content: One growing method for widening your company’s perspective is to curate content from a wide variety of resources. Seek out related content from other vendors and point to them in your articles and blog posts.
When you find valuable content from a vendor that offers products or services to the same ideal client as your company, listen to what they are saying. It is usually best to actively seek out companies your client will want and need – but not direct competitors – for this method.
When your sales lead recognizes that you have nothing to gain directly from sharing this information, they will see you as a trusted advisor. You will become a source of information rather than simply being viewed as someone wanting a piece of their pocketbook.
When you have scaled all three levels of trusted customer value, customers become engaged and look forward to every single communication you send their way. Your buyers will look to your company first when they have a decision to make because they accept your expertise in your field and your authority in related fields.
Craig is the founder of SalesNexus.com, a leading provider of CRM, Email Marketing, and Lead Generation solutions to business 2 business sales teams.
