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So does this mean that traditional marketing methods are obsolete? Now many traditional marketing methods are being thrown out the window and surprisingly techniques used by marketers long, long ago are being used. New terms like social networks, web2.0 but the same stuff. It is plain old relationship marketing. We are becoming aware of the fact that the bottom-line is building relationships. Now with this new level of marketing there is a shift of focus back to understanding client needs and to develop marketing content which speaks directly to a client’s pains, interests, and aspirations. It is not about our product, our company, but it is about them. About what the client wants. How can we encash on this and create case studies in the customers own words? How can we catapult our sales, increase our conversion, and still keep up with web 2.0. A full blown case study has lots of challenges: 1. Follow the pain/ solution/benefit template 2. Hire writers to write powerful messages 3. Trying to blend customers story into the marketing messages of the company 4. Getting approval from client All these add up the costs and cause unnecessary delays. Here are some ways some savvy companies are breaking the patterns and creating trends. 1. Companies are using Customer Question and Answer interviews 2. These documents can be 2 or 3 pages, in the customers own words on what they want. 3. There is no marketing verbiage whatsoever This has reduced the content production time from months to weeks and is more impactful as it speaks heart to heart. Here are some steps for you to consider: Step 1: Choose a few customers whom you can approach for an interview Here are some tips to help you get started: Is the customer well known? This will help establish some credibility. Did this customer have issues which might help future prospects? Within the organization find a person that can outline a clear picture and tell the details in a way which will resonate and strike some chords in future prospects. Sometimes the employees who actually use the product can give better feedback and address issues. Step 2: Ask for an interview Someone who is close to the client can reach out and call the customer asking for an interview. Mention the fact that the interview will not be modified. We will only clean up the transcript so that it flows smoothly. The customer will have to approve the final transcript before we use it. Step 3: Writing the interview questions All right now we have a customer in mind, we have fixed a date. But what should we ask him or her? Prepare a set of 5 or 7 questions which will help the customer prepare for the interview. Try to choose open ended question, not questions which can be answered in yes / no. Some examples: What challenges did you face with hiring staff? What goals were you hoping to achieve? How did you justify the costs involved in getting the website designed? What barriers you had to overcome in implementing this system in your company? Step 4: Record the interview on conference line Record the telephonic interviews. Try to keep the calls to 20 – 30 minutes. Ask the questions which we sent to the client previously. If necessary ask additional questions for clarity. Step 5: Transcribe the interviews and have them edited Have some transcribe this interview. Edit the transcript to remove all words like “ah”, “um”. Do not change or rephrase the customer’s comments. Step 6: Ask approval from client Have the final transcript emailed to the client for approval. Show them both the final transcript and the unedited version, so that they can compare and check. Step 7: Use some interviews and keep others in reserve We can display some interviews on the website. These can be rotated to keep the content looking fresh. View all Latha's articles About the Author: |
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Marketing Collateral for Custom Lead Generation - Is it worthwhile?
