I thought would write about conversation I have had several times this week. When I was Speaking at Realtor.com I taught agents that their business centered around the components of Attract, Connect & Communicate and all the marketing process centered around these three key words. You Attract attention to yourself or your brand, this is where you make someone stop and notice you; you connect with the consumer, this is where they make the consciousness decision that you’re the person they want to work with; Finally you communicate with the consumer, maintaining that top of mind awareness so that when they decide they are ready to act on a product or service, you’re the first one they think to contact. I was talking about elements of a website then, but today I see that the same lesson applies to social media.
You need to attract attention to yourself. This is done by following someone on twitter, or requesting to be their friend on Facebook. This is where you make the person stop and take a look at you. Re-tweeting to help someone out will get you noticed by that person. When looking at your prospective customers you need to consider how can I get them to notice me in a positive productive manner. Some people will simply notice you if you follow them. Whenever anyone follows me I look at their twitter profile to see if I want to follow them.
They decide to follow or friend you, now you need to connect with them. This is where you carry on a conversation with them and they make the conscious decision “this is the person I would want to work with, if in the market for their product or service.” Think of this as the conversation you would have the first time you sit down with a new prospect. IMPORTANT note here, just because someone is willing to take some time and talk to you does not mean they are interested in your product or service so tread lightly. Consider how many people you might talk to at a party before someone shows a sincere interest in your business, don’t hard sell, instead ask them questions about their business looking for an opportunity on how you can help them. This could be something as simple as “You mentioned that you love social media, but hate doing it for your business, My company helps businesses with that, you interested in hearing more about that?”
Keep in mind that if you have a product worth selling, it will sell itself, your job is to inform and educate possible consumers about your product, and take the order when they are ready. Communication is the process where you stay in touch building your relationship with the prospect. Gently remind them what you do in your communications with them, but don’t make that the focus of your communications. This is where a blog is very handy. Use your blog as a tool where you share useful information with potential consumers as education and information relevant to them . i.e. If you have a medical billing company like my friends at Avanti Medical, you want to gently remind doctors of the pitfalls they face doing their own billing and how a billing company like yours can help them stay out of trouble.
When the consumer makes that decision that they want your product or service, you will be at the top of their mind, not because you hounded them, but because you have been their goto source for information pertinent to their business. Look at your own business thinking about how you Attract, Connect and Communicate with your prospective customers can be an eye opener. Especially if you find you are only effectively doing two out of the three elements.
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