... continued from cover
SALES IS THE CONVERSATION
SALES PUNCHES IT IN
find prospective buyers. It’s convenient to think that sales has it easy. They don’t have to create the product or do any of the initial labor, but the nature of their work is just as complicated in a different way. Working in sales takes incredible emotional intuition and communication skills. It’s a refined craft that only certain people can truly be great at.
If marketing is the face of a company, sales is the voice. But it’s so much more than that. Sales is the living, breathing interaction you have with that business, and one conversation is all it takes for a potential client to bail. That’s why sales and marketing are dependent on each other. A good marketing campaign sets up a sales team for success. A good sales team depends on good marketing to give them validation. To create a breeding ground for growth, your marketing and sales departments need to work harmoniously. If they do, you can create a cycle of excellence that pushes your company to new heights. Marketing will drive sales, which will, in turn, create more growth. This growth will generate more revenue, which will bring more marketing. The toughest part is to get the ball rolling, but that’s precisely why hiring good people for each team is crucial for all successful businesses. tips, foodies show off their recipes, and travel-oriented companies post advice on the best family-friendly cities to visit. Not just for moody teens, Tumblr is a great platform for fashion brands (thanks to its visual elements) andmedia platforms (thanks to the site being friendly to long- form articles). While NPR and Rolling Stone do well onTumblr, small businesses are likely to struggle. Unless your demographic is mostly 15- to 25-year- olds, or you’re Taco Bell, your company has no business being on Snapchat. The many avenues of social media can be overwhelming, but it gives you plenty of opportunities to find the right platform to connect with your clients. Take some time to look at the pros and cons of a platform you’re considering and ask yourself if it really meets the needs of your business. • You Can Delete: Snapchat
Every good football teamhas a specific“red zone” strategy for punching it in. Inmost cases, they have a particular player they target. It might be a bruising running back, or it could be an athletic tight end, but these players get the ball when the teamneeds to score. Sales are those people. They are closers. When everything has been set up, you get them the ball, and they’ll score. It’s said that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but guess what? Everyone judges a business by its marketing. Picture your business as a walking, talking person. Amarketing channel is how that person looks and is perceived. What clothes are they wearing? Are they well-groomed? Do they take care of their appearance? The overall impression you get from that person is how they market themselves to the world. But have you ever had an initial conversation with someone, only to have everything change? That’s where sales comes in. MARKETING IS THE APPEARANCE
MARKETING DRIVES THE BALL DOWN THE FIELD
It takes precision and execution to drive the ball down a football field, but the work starts well before the game. Players have to study, gather data, and develop a game plan to execute on the field. The strategy can be blunt with a ground-and-pound style, or it can be dolled up with a flashy spread offense. In the same way, marketers get creative to make their products seem desirable to buyers, moving their products closer and closer to the end zone. Whatever the case, putting points up on the board comes down to the most challenging part of the game: crossing the goal line.
Like, Share, Retweet Is Your Business Wasting Time on Social Media?
maintain an account onTwitter so you can monitor any mentions of your company. Google+ isn’t the most popular social media platform, but having a Google+ page for your business helps Google generate search results, includingmaps, reviews, contact information, and photos.
Social media has proven to be the most difficult part of digital marketing. A report from GlobalWebIndex found that the average person has around seven active social media accounts, so companies have a lot to lose if they ignore social media. But using a site that’s wrong for your business can be a waste of time andmoney. Here’s the rundown of popular platforms and what businesses they’re best suited for. Everyone Should Be On: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ These social media platforms are staples of the landscape and can benefit any industry. Despite the recent privacy issues, Facebook still has an active base of around 1.45 billion daily users. You can’t afford tomiss out on that kind of audience. Twitter is also pretty active, and though this sort of engagement won’t necessarily benefit every business, it’s important to • •
•
AssessYour Situation Before Joining: Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr
There are plenty of other popular platforms whose formats aren’t for everyone. Don’t waste your time on a social media platform your business can’t benefit from. Instagram is the king of visual content. Fashion outlets, restaurants, niche retail establishments, and luxury brands do well on Instagrambecause they can regularly share eye-catching images. DIY crowds love Pinterest. This is a visual platformwhere fashion brands share style • •
2 • www.michtelco.com
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online