How interesting are is your business? Do you have magnetism that makes people flock to you? Do you find admirers on every corner? No? That’s possibly because you don’t look attractive and you have nothing to say that’s enticing.
We live in a crowded business world. There are loads of competitors who talk the same talk as you do. Perhaps they even shout louder than you. We’re bombarded with noise all day every day and we’re busy people (fools?). So, why should prospective customers look at you in amongst all this clutter?
The Crowded Online World
Nowadays, we live in an online world. Millennials number 50% of the workforce. These younger buyers, who were weaned on the web and social media don’t know anything pre-Internet. They will check you out. They take a sneaky peek at your LinkedIn profile. If you have little about you, what is the impression they will take away? Have you got any followers? Do you write interesting blogs? Have you got any videos on your site, or podcasts that engage the visitor?
The human brain processes visual images 60,000 times faster than text (that’s why we’re about to film more than a dozen videos – look out for them on our site soon).
Filtering the Wheat from the Chaff
Google filters wheat from chaff. It favours fresh interesting content and companies that have something to say over and above old brochure style websites with pure product and service blurb. You’ll ultimately disappear from search if you don’t provide interesting customer-oriented content. And does anyone look beyond Page 1 on Google?
Customers don’t want sales talk. They want insight. They want knowledge and information that helps them improve, enhance and solve things. And, they want it quickly.
Thankfully, at GSA we receive plenty of inbound leads – proof of the proverbial pudding I hope. That’s not least because we recognised some time back that lead generation has changed. Nowadays, to be credible and to keep a flow of leads coming in through the door, you need a blend of activity. That includes consistent activity from both an inbound and outbound perspective.
A Shift in How we Access Information
This shift in how we all access information, and unearth prospective suppliers, means that businesses really need to think about what they’re doing to ‘attract’ prospective clients. How do they encourage purchasers to both find them in the first place and then select them for their shortlist? If your online presence, including social platforms and content, falls short, you’re unlikely to make it to Round 2.
An outbound phone call you make to a prospective client will likely result in them checking you out so to speak. Will they be impressed by what they see when they search for you even while you’re on the phone with them?
Support for Outbound Campaigns
We regularly undertake b2b appointment setting campaigns for clients. Increasingly, we encourage them to understand that content development and outbound lead generation go hand in hand. The more online back-up a caller has in order to enhance their credibility the better. That could include white papers, blogs, videos and so on. For more on this, check out our blog regarding social media and telemarketing integration..
This means that businesses need to get clever about how they go about managing both inbound and outbound lead generation. In many ways, it makes things harder, more costly and more time consuming. In reality, it’s just the way things are now. But it doesn’t have to cost the earth or take ages. This blog took me about an hour to draft. I’m shooting some videos tomorrow. That will take about 3 hours in total. Those videos will look good on our site, on YouTube and other platforms and they mostly aren’t time sensitive. Yes, it costs money to do video but we view it as important part of our marketing both to drive incoming enquiries and to support our own lead generation efforts.
You don’t have to Be an Author
Maybe you aren’t William Shakespeare, but is there someone within your business that likes to write? Or perhaps you might engage an agency or copywriter. You could even record a podcast or video on your mobile phone or via your PC. They don’t have to all be professional quality. But the content does need to grab attention and hopefully be a good read or watch. Content development should definitely be a key consideration for your business promotion. Over time, as it builds, it can differentiate you from competitors and generate enquiries. It will also support any outbound activity you choose to implement.
At the end of the day, you can choose to be a “bees to the honeypot” kind of business where opportunities come to you or you could end up being an effective client repellent when prospective buyers look you up and walk away.
If you’d like to know how GSA Business Development can help generate growth for your business through telemarketing or social media lead generation give us a call, or use the form on this site to make an enquiry.