Join the Revolution
Today we’re taking a break from our usual nurture marketing tips and doing something a little different…
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m tired of all the bad news that seems to be popping up with regularity these days – all the talk about a double-dip recession, stock market drops, federal budget crises and more.
I’m bringing back something we did when the recession first hit, a couple years ago.
Back then I felt a little overwhelmed with what was going on and I decided that the best way to deal with it was to take action. So I put this pledge up on our website and asked people to sign.
The text is below – it’s pretty simple.
If it strikes a chord with you, I hope you’ll sign too. And I hope you’ll share it so other people can sign. You can sign and share here:
http://www.proresource.com/join-the-revolution
I truly believe that if we work together, that we can turn this economy around.
And doing something about it feels a whole lot better than doing nothing.
We’re also going to be making some changes to our Facebook page in the next couple weeks, working to make it a place where people can get help with their nurture marketing programs and where people can go to give help. If you “like” us, you’ll get all the details. (But I’ll probably include them in the newsletter too.)
Here’s the pledge:
I’ve had enough bad news, enough talk of a double-dip recession. Yes, the world has changed. But the world is always changing. I see new opportunities that are available to me and I’m taking advantage of them.
I’m going to take action:
1. I’m going to invest time and effort in growing my own business.
2. I’m going to do something to help someone else grow theirs.
3. Then I’m going to put work aside and have some fun!
Here’s the link again if you’d like to sign too:
http://www.proresource.com/join-the-revolution
Start a Nurture Program
If you’re not already doing some kind of nurture program, you should start now. It is inexpensive (typically less than $500/month) and highly effective.
Nurture programs are designed to educate prospects about the value you provide – because almost any offering requires some education – and generate excitement and buzz about your company.
The idea is that you identify a small list of people – typically 100-200. Then you send them something every month.
Who goes on the list?
- Prospects who are already in the sales cycle
- Ideal prospects (people or organizations that you would love to have as clients)
- Influencers (respected individuals who could refer business to you)
- Business partners
- Maybe editors or bloggers who you want to have cover you
- Maybe competitors (if you want to annoy them)
- Maybe your best customers
- You (because you want to see what everyone else is getting and ensure the quality is high)
What do you send them?
Your goal is to educate them about your offering, so they fully appreciate the value. You also want to keep them up with what’s new with your company – to show that you have lots of interesting, exciting things going on.
We typically rotate between the following things:
- Case studies
- Postcards (often with a special offer)
- Press releases
- Educational articles authored by you or someone in your company
- Reprints of articles that have appeared about you in industry publications
- Reprints of articles written by others that support your point of view or help educate about a topic they need to understand to fully appreciate your solution
- Personal letters introducing something new that you are doing or making a special offer
- Giveaways (something cute and relevant to your company or offering)
You can do this by email, which is a good idea if you are nurturing people around the world. But we prefer direct mail, because so few companies use direct mail anymore that your mailings stand out more.
Keep in mind that prospects don’t know that you are only mailing to a couple hundred people each month. For all they know, you are blanketing the industry. And in a tough market, where many companies are cutting back on marketing, that’s impressive.
They get the sense that there’s a lot going on with your company – you must be growing rapidly and doing well for them to hear from you so often. That helps your credibility as well as gains you mindshare.
These programs are simple to put together too. Just define the goals for your program, pull together a list to start with, and line up the first 6 months of what you’re going to mail. Then turn it over to an administrative person to execute – you can do it almost on autopilot.
Just revisit the plan every 4 months or so, as your business needs change. Update the mailing list, and tweak the items you are planning to send as new ideas come up and new collateral gets created.
Get the SoftwareCEO webinar free until Jan 6
SoftwareCEO has decided to post links to the archived recording of the “Recession-proof Your Software Firm” webinar free on their website through January 6. It is in the upper left hand corner, just under the navigation. There are three sections:
1. Bert Vermeulen, who talks about financing
2. Steve Kraner, who talks about sales
3. Yours truly, who talks about marketing
Although the topic was the recession, all three sections are packed with tips for anyone operating on a shoestring.
Here’s the link to the home page:
http://www.softwareceo.com
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Recession Marketing Tips in SoftwareCEO
Not that I’m bragging (OK, I’m bragging), but SoftwareCEO’s email newsletter today features two articles on How to Recession-proof Your Business. Part 2 includes some of my tips on how to market in a recession.
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