Finding and Nurturing Prospects
More than one person asked this type of question, which is always difficult to answer in an hour forum. The short answer is that the best channels depend on your target audience, where they hang out, and how you define “best.” Building owners are different architects, who are different than interior designers, who are different that facility managers or plumbers. In other words, you have to have a clear idea of WHO you are targeting to answer this question.
For example, we had a client who wanted to buy radio commercials around Chicago Cubs radio broadcasts of baseball games to reach facility managers. Our client was a B2B manufacturing company with a large market share. When we inquired with the station on their demographics of who listens to the broadcasts, there was no way they could tell us how many facility managers were in their audience. Their answer was always, “a lot.” We recommended not to go forward with the media buy, but our client did it anyway: they liked the Chicago Cubs. There was, as a result, no way to track any business ROI back to this media buy.
How a client spends their money is always up to them, but our role is always to provide relevant and consistent information on what they are planning to do. While we were certain there were facility managers in that radio listening audience, when you worked the math, there was no way to justify the spend to reach the few that might have been actually there. The media buy was more of a “cocktail conversation” buy: “Did you hear our ads on the radio station around the Cubs game?” Hubris, which there is a lot of.
When you are looking for your own high value prospects, however, figure out first where they “hang out.” Here are some tips to do that.
B2B: LinkedIn, email marketing, content marketing, webinars, and industry forums. Almost every type of audience has a place on LinkedIn where they hang out. Find it! And join it! Associations are another place where people of the same ilk you are looking for gather. Find them. And join them!
B2C: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, influencer marketing, and direct social engagement. Social channels are ideal for listening to the type of audience you are after. And don’t discount “X” as a channel. Typing into the search tools on these platforms with the name of your prospect or the market your prospect is in will reveal various roadmaps you can pursue to being your connections!
E-commerce: Google Shopping, Amazon, Instagram, and Pinterest. This could be a whole webinar in itself, but using these platforms to conduct ecommerce if you sell products invariably leads to collecting relevant customer data. For example, Amazon provides its retailers with access to enormous information on the who, what and where purchases are being made. Study the contracts carefully before you go on them.
Analyze customer behavior using Google Analytics, CRM data, and social media insights to see where your audience spends time. Google Analytics is always an interesting source for information. So is your own CRM data, which is probably even more accurate. Are you asking your audience “How did you find us?” You might be surprised by the answers you receive.
Keep reading our series on How to Target and Hit the Right Customers: Deep Dive Insights.