I write about the three topics that I am most passionate about; Sales, Marketing and Social Media. These topics are covered from my experiences in outside sales and marketing. My objective is to use my expertise to help business and the individual.
I asked my LinkedIn audience If the Sales and Marketing functions were merged and run by Sales, What would be your main focus? Why?
As you can see, 68% of those surveyed said that increased lead generation and demand generation was a top priority. What this means is that people see Marketing as a vehicle to increase Sales and Revenue.
Free Trials
Previously, I have discussed the marketing strategy of free trials, discounted trials, and loss leaders.
Free Samples
Another great marketing strategy for brands to get prospects and current customers to try a new product or retry an existing one is to offer a free sample. This can be done by handing out the product sample during online, field, and tradeshow marketing.
Field & Trade Show Marketing
Samples can be in the form of a physical product, a link to an online offering, offering a discount to make a purchase. Recently, I attended the 9th Avenue International Food Festival in New York. I received sample food products. One of the vendors offered a food sample and a coupon to make a purchase.
At Tradeshows, brands can offer physical and digital products in exchange for customer information. This is an excellent tactic for lead generation. Most times brands scan the badge of customers to collect this information.
Online Marketing
Brands can also reach customers online to get them to request a free sample. The sample can come in the form of a download or a physical offering depending on the product type.
Brands can also offer branded merchandise as a way to be remembered by prospects and customers.
How have you used free samples to attract new customers, renew, upsell, and cross-sell existing customers?
I’m a Strategic Marketer with Field Sales, Sales Enablement, Content Creation, and, Classroom Teacher/Trainer skill sets using Marketing to drive Sales/Growth.
As a Marketer, I’ve worked with Start-Ups, a Political Campaign, and a Digital Marketing Conference.
I’m certified in Inbound Marketing with classes in Marketing, Product Management, Product Marketing, SEO, and SEM.
Before teaching, I was an Outside Sales and Marketing Rep. selling and marketing dental products to Dentists using consultative selling, trade show marketing, field marketing, and market research.
I publish Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today; a blog that covers industry events and trends.
I write about the three topics that I am most passionate about; Sales, Marketing and Social Media. These topics are covered from my experiences in outside sales and marketing. My objective is to use my expertise to help business and the individual.
Here are questions I would ask and actions I would take to market new product features on social media.
I would ask:
What is your feedback for each of the new product features?
I would collaborate with the Product Team during beta testing interviewing customers to gather feedback on new features using information obtained to develop blogs and other messaging. Also, I would ask customers to provide testimonials about the new features using them in social media campaigns.
How would you gain additional customer insights?
I would survey customers about their learning style, content format, and social network preferences. This data would be used in conjunction with my social media research conducted using social listening and analytics. Based on data from the survey, I would decide which social channels to use and the type of content to develop.
Which social platforms would I use?
I would use a blog, Email, LinkedIn, Slideshare Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube platforms to educate customers about new offerings focusing on the channels where my target market congregates. I would find this information by asking my customers, Which channels do customers use when making purchasing decisions?
With what I learned, what might my campaign look like?
The campaign would revolve around a series of social posts based on customer feedback. Social posts would include customer testimonials obtained from beta testing and videos of customers using the new features. I would use the videos to build anticipation and announce the new features.
Are there any other social strategies you would employ?
I would attend industry events and interview industry experts. Also, I would create a group to reward loyal customers by building an evangelist program where customers would tell their friends.
How have you marketed new product features to current and prospective customers?
I’m a Strategic Marketer with Field Sales, Sales Enablement, Content Creation, and, Classroom Teacher/Trainer skill-sets using Marketing to drive Sales/Growth.
As a Marketer, I’ve worked with Start-Ups, a Political Campaign, and a Digital Marketing Conference.
I’m certified in Inbound Marketing with classes in Marketing, Product Management, Product Marketing, SEO, SEM.
Before teaching, I was an Outside Sales and Marketing Rep. selling and marketing dental products to Dentists using consultative selling, trade show marketing, field marketing, and market research.
I publish Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today a blog covering industry events and trends.
Inbound Marketing, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Product Marketing, Demand Generation, Social Media Marketing, Sales Enablement Enablement, Sales Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Employer Branding, Recruitment Marketing.
Open on title, industry, company, location, and level. Reach out on LinkedIn or at dan@dangalante.com to start a conversation.
Posted 137 weeks ago
Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today
I write about the three topics that I am most passionate about; Sales, Marketing and Social Media. These topics are covered from my experiences in outside sales and marketing. My objective is to use my expertise to help business and the individual.
I asked my LinkedIn audience If the Sales and Marketing function merged and run by Sales, What would be your main focus? Why?
As you can see, 68% of those surveyed said that increase lead generation and demand generation was a top priority. What this means is that people see Marketing as a vehicle to increase Sales and Revenue.
Marketing also serves as an Enablement for Sales Teams, Customer Success, support, and even employer branding. Many companies have created a dedicated enablement function. Companies sit employer branding and Recruitment Marketing in HR. However, there are still a lot of companies without dedicated enablment and employer branding functions.
Everyone looks to the marketing department. The lines between product, marketing, sales, and customer success are blurring.
Marketers do traditional work of branding, advertising, market research, content creation, and enablement, but these tasks support the larger goal of increased Sales and Revenue. Marketers impact Sales and by filing up the Sales pipeline, pre and post-sale. In the end, Marketers need to make a business case to justify their existence.
Sales reps can only be as good as the product and message they represent. Before companies can hire Sales reps, they need a great product with messaging that conveys the benefits to customers. Sales reps need support from marketing in the cross-functional organization of today. The messaging should be able to prevent customer objections. Unfortunately, this is where many Marketing departments fall short.
According to Salesforce.com, “studies show that 82 % of Sellers are out of sync with buyers.”
Many marketing hires lack sales experience; they do not know how to handle and anticipate customer objections. As a result, Sales and Marketing collateral designed to enable front-line teams like Sales are not helpful enough.
Research conducted by CEB Gartner found “80% of Marketing Collateral is trashed and 30% of Sales time is wasted creating the collateral just trashed.”
In addition, many people in Marketing lack the background and understanding of how people learn. Teachers and psychologists have this training. Understanding how people learn can make product messaging more effective because it can be presented in multiple formats. Many people in marketing lack practitioner experience and as a result, marketing is not as effective.
How can Marketing be improved?
Hire Sales Reps, Teachers, and Industry practitioners in marketing roles.
Now I will make a case for hiring Sales Reps, Teachers, and Industry practitioners in marketing.
Case for hiring ex Sales Reps
Knows how to handle objections which can be applied to message
Experience dealing with customers knows customer pain points
Sees how end-user uses the product
Can increase sales using Sales expertise to make messaging customer-centric
Can assist with Sales and Marketing Alignment as companies need to work cross-functionally
Understands the issues Sales Reps face and has the credibility of being a Rep when collaborating with Sales Teams
Experienced obtaining, qualifying, and converting leads to Sales ie Lead gen/demand gen
Hiring Industry practice experts
They are the customers and understand the pain points better than any market research -should be in leadership roles
Case For hiring Ex Teachers
understands how people learned
skilled at tailoring content for understanding based on learning needs
Today’s marketing is about educating customers and earning the right to market to them as they can educate customers
Why it is not Good enough to only place Industry practice experts and ex Teachers in the Sales Org
People in Sales are not involved in the creative process and cannot change their cards and company messaging.
They cannot address weaknesses in messaging and products.
The Marketer of Tomorrow
1. Understands Marketing as a Service or MAAS 2. Thrives in Data-Driven and Metric Driven Environments 3. Has Writing Ability 4 Has Sales Experience understanding Pain Points of Customer Facing Staff and Customers
My background
I have Marketing experience along with all of the above in my background.
Are you ready to increase Sales by improving Marketing?
Your sales and service teams deserve better!
Change today!
How have you increased Sales by improving messaging?
Comment and share below.
About Me
I’m a Strategic Marketer with Field Sales, Sales Enablement, Content Creation and, Classroom Teacher/Trainer skill-sets using Marketing to drive Sales/Growth.
As a Marketer, I’ve worked with Start-Ups, a Political Campaign, and a Digital Marketing Conference.
I’m certified in Inbound Marketing with classes in Marketing, Product Management, Product Marketing, SEO, SEM.
Before teaching, I was an Outside Sales and Marketing Rep. selling and marketing dental products to Dentists using consultative selling, trade show marketing, field marketing, and market research.
I publish Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today a blog covering industry events and trends.
Articles and insights have been featured, mentioned and, referenced in:
I’ve been honored for my Social Profiles •LinkedIn SSI Score in the Top 1% •SlideShare for being in the top 5% of profiles viewed in 2014 •LinkedIn Profile was in the top 1% of profiles viewed out of 200 million members in 2012
I’m seeking a full-time role in: Inbound Marketing, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Product Marketing, Demand Generation, Social Media Marketing, Sales Enablement Enablement, Sales Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Employer Branding, Recruitment Marketing. Open on title, industry, company, location, and level. Reach out on LinkedIn or at dan@dangalante.com to start a conversation.
