‘Marketing Campaign‘ What is it?

Marketing Campaigns come in all different shapes and sizes. The idea of marketing is to promote a product in many different sources, such as;

  • television
  • radio
  • print
  • online platforms
  • direct mail

However, with these ‘marketing campaigns’ mentioned above, there are also examples that aren’t considered advertising but can be more effective due to uniqueness of being more personal, so to speak.

These include;

  • demonstrations
  • word of mouth
  • personal sampling
  • relationship marketing

People in direct sales tend to use the less traditional forms of advertising and find that the more personal hands on approach works best.

Asking for the referrals -vs- deserving a referral…

If you want word of mouth advertising, then quit asking for referrals and deserve them instead. Now, I’m not saying never ask for a referral. You see, when you build a personal relationship with your customer they are more likely to hand over a referral (with or without your asking) because they like you and think you deserve it.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Kristen, who is a Mary Kay Consultant in the direct sales industry.

She said, in the direct sales industry there are 2 types of people you work with;

  1. Customers
  2. Team of consultants

Customers of a direct sales consultant, reach out only a few times a year. This makes it hard to stay in touch with them to build brand loyalty, but more importantly, build the know, like and trust ‘relationship’ factor needed to keep them as a customer.

Email, text or calling all the time is not a good plan, considering how busy everyone is these days and the last thing your customer needs is to be bothered all the time. 

See, when you do all of the above constantly, your customer thinks all your trying to do is get another sell, and people don’t like to be sold! 

So then, how does one stay in touch without feeling salesy or your customer feeling like your constantly selling to them to make another buck?

Here’s a great start, and something you need to remember. Team members and customers need to know that they’re a person to you, not just a number and not just a step on the rungs to success.

Do what the 90%’ers are not willing to do…

In direct sales, consultants are taught a business model of asking other people, who they know that might need their product. So imagine if you go the extra mile to tangibly reach out and say ‘thank you’ for your purchase ‘I really appreciate you’.

Why not use the ‘marketing campaign’ that the top 3% of salespeople in any industry use?

Quite frankly, I’m perplexed every time I ask this question, because it’s such a simple concept, yet 90% of people in sales don’t get it and don’t it!

Look, this marketing campaign I’m talking about is nothing new. A small percentage of people in sales have been ‘celebrating’ and ‘thanking’ people forever. It’s just that with the cold high-tech digital world, people have lost the tangible touch of connecting with other human beings.

Things such as;

  • Social Media
  • Email
  • Text

Now, I’m not saying these things are bad. They are great as a matter of fact. But with that said, they are a cold way of connecting and building the human connection.

I challenge you to put social media to the test!

Billions of people are on social media everyday and they tell the world what is going on in their life daily.

With this cold world of social media, sometimes we kind of get so caught up in sales, and we forget that these are human beings.

For direct sales (or any sales for that matter) here are some things you can do to build you and your personal brand. With the social media of your choice;

  • add new and existing customers
  • add team members
  • look for ways to celebrate them

When you do this, and find a way to celebrate them, do it with the most effective way proven “A handwritten note or card.” Add a gift if you like, but make sure to send them a tangible, personalized message from you!

Also, it’s a well known fact that ‘Thank-you cards’ are by far the most effective touch that you can reach out to a customer to generate referral business. And let’s not forget ‘Team Members’.

Thank you cards are all kind of a standard type of card that people should be sending. They’re what I consider the standard touches that should go out to a customer, and it seems like common sense that everybody should know about and do. But I always emphasize, that less than three percent of professional businesspeople do this. Less than three percent.

What a great opportunity for you to take advantage of, to reach the top echelon of your particular industry!

Reasons to tangibly reach out to your customers and team

  1. Thank You’s
  2. Birthdays
  3. Welcome (as a new customer or team member)
  4. Well wishes (for someone down on their luck)

Simply put, when you reach out and recognize people for their triumphs and tribulations with a tangible personal note it makes a huge impact. Especially if you didn’t try to sell them in the note. This is key! Because consequently, when your ready to ask for a referral, people are eager to help you because you reached out in a kind way, not in a salesy way.

Being human and doing the right thing can inadvertently lead to something that will help you in your business.

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

How does that sound?

“The lost art of letter writing.”

Take Abraham Lincoln for example, he was a very eloquent letter writer. He used to write letters like crazy. Talk about a great Marketing Campaign!

In fact, back then, we didn’t have TV and social media, nothing. I mean what do you spend your time on? Abraham Lincoln would write love letters to his wife and he would write all kinds of letters to people in every different format and he attributed his ability to communicate because he wrote down his thoughts and sent them to people all the time. So I like to think that at SendOutCards, we’re bringing back the lost art of letter writing.

A lot of people have a hard time disconnecting with the business side of things. You know, relationship marketing is about the first word “relationship”. There’s a reason that “relationship” is the first word.

First and foremost your concern should be about other human beings. Wanting to be a part of their lives, wanting to be a blessing to them and your business should be secondary to that.

The Big Picture

I love the big picture of what a tangible touch is all about – you know, a lot of times, we’re willing to write something down, like our deepest feelings or when it’s hard to communicate to somebody that you care about them because you had a falling out or whatever.

For whatever reason, it’s easier most of the time to write something down versus to verbally say it. That’s why I think the power of the marketing campaigns using greeting cards is such a big deal. Because it gives you the ability to reach out and let someone know that we are thinking of them.

It’s interesting when you take a moment and you see special occasions come up, the smart thing to do is to move on it. Do something because in the end, as long as you’re continuing to – as a human being, move forward and strengthen that relationship, that’s going to be a very strong, very solid relationship and it’s going to last a very long time because you’re really nurturing it like a farmer.

Thanks for joining on my blog. I hope that you found some value that will help you skyrocket to the top 3% of sales people in your industry!

Kody B

p.s. don’t forget to leave me a comment…