SEARCH

To close out our series on marketing to the “top of the sales funnel”—that is, generating awareness among prospective customers who may never have heard of you, by demonstrating your expertise and securing their interest—we’ll take a look at a couple of excellent ways to raise your profile among your target audiences: public relations and social influencers The critical element of marketing to the top of the sales funnel is your content—blogs, articles, helpful comments on social media, e-newsletters, and the like. While you can do a lot yourself using social media as a way to broadcast your thought leadership to key targets, why not let other folks do the same on your behalf? Let’s take a look at two marketing channels, PR and social influencers, to see what you can do here. Speaking Through Others PR is an old marketing channel, but these days it’s driven by online content, which makes all the difference to you. Unlike the old days when you had to beg publishers to print (yes, …

In order to find a profitable inkjet print application, you needn’t look any further than your driveway. Every day, potential opportunity is lying there waiting for you to wake up and go get it. It’s scent permeates the air just like morning coffee. It also has another name: The Wall Street Journal In 2007, the financial world was rocked. No, it wasn’t the housing crisis. That stew was still boiling but had not yet exploded. Rupert Murdoch purchased The Wall Street Journal and faithful readers were between concerned and terrified over the changes he was certain to make. Would it now take a more scandalous, attention-seeking journalistic approach? Fast-forward today. You will be relieved to know he’s done something far more surprising: He’s made it more readable. Found within its pages are stories that go beyond the financial world. There is a column written by one of the best sportswriters in the country, Jason Gay. Another column deals with issues regarding airlines, but instead of …

In a previous blog, we discussed how to reach out to new customers using content, in particular blogs but also things like how-to pieces, newsletters, and opinion articles on industry trends. Thoughtful articles like these can demonstrate your expertise, and serve to alert prospects that you have a solution that can help them address a concern or take their marketing to the next level. But let’s face it, all the content you can produce won’t help much if your prospects never see or read it. Getting your expertise in front of the right eyeballs is what this post is about, and focusing on social media as a prime way to do it. First, determine your target audience for social media, which may include the following potential customers and industry groups, among many: Sales and marketing executives, because of their need for sales collateral and marketing direct mail.   Financial institutions, because they also rely on direct mail as well as flyers, brochures, wide-format bank branch …

Selling inkjet printing would be so much easier if applications came with little red flags on them. Unfortunately, it’s more like a game of Where’s Waldo?   Back in the day, no one had to think much about which press to run the job on. It was rather like Henry Ford’s theory on cars: You can have any color you want, so long as it’s black. Printers had one press. If they had more than that, it was likely to be a duplicate (pun intended).   Then came the high-speed black and white copier.   And then the high-speed color copier.   And then digital black and white.   Followed by digital color.   And now, inkjet.   Decisions, decisions. How we match up the job with the production device?   The answer requires you to not just improve your ability to identify inkjet print applications, but to also improve your overall selling skills by learning the story behind the printed piece. By understanding what the client is trying to accomplish or perhaps the problem they need to overcome with this …

Now that the world has gone from in-person to on-line, we’re suddenly finding ourselves interacting in a whole new way with our clients and co-workers. Virtual meetings may not require pants, but they do require a brand-new set of skills. So what does it take to reign on remote calls? Here are 6 tips to help you nail your next virtual meeting.   1.) Always share your camera: Leaving your camera off on virtual meetings may mean less time getting ready, but you’ll spend more time trying to effectively engage. Without your camera on you’re at a huge disadvantage, relying solely on your voice to capture and earn attention. There are already a ton of distractions on virtual calls, so do whatever you can to keep the focus on you when you’re talking. That means having your camera on so you can use body language and eye contact to help connect with others on the call.  Take the time to look presentable (even if it’s from the waist up) and turn your camera on to help you successfully …