Quit Aggravating your CFO

Do better Marketing.

Do you know why so many people do not trust in marketing?

Because for the longest time, marketing has been regarded as a way to throw massive amounts of money at inconsequential initiatives and activities that have no measurable, positive benefits to the business top line.

Maybe you have seen this in your own organization at some point.

Your company decides to invite some of your clients and prospects for a wine catering session or even a nice lunch.

As part of the experience, the audience needs to sit through a sales presentation that has no relation with any of their business objectives.

Like going on vacation and sitting through a timeshare presentation.

By the end of the event everybody seems to be having a good time, the sales pitch is only a blurred memory in a distant past, a hiccup in an otherwise successful event.

At the end of the event you review how many people inquired about the offer and you realize not one person did.

Oh, well, that is marketing for you, right?

It is all fun and games until the CFO picks up the bill 5 days later and adds the other elements that were purchased on the spur of the moment. The final tally is a handsome number after all.

The usually levelheaded CFO is on the brink of going ballistic but finds just the right amount of inner peace to calm down and assure her/himself that the sales forecast surely shows some promising opportunities that will make these silly expenses pale in comparison.

He goes into the CRM tool, nothing there.

No worries, it is probably on the “informal CRM”, he opens the backup Excel spreadsheet with the “really new opportunities” tab on it, nothing there either.

How odd.

She/He has enough time for one last lucid thought before losing it:

Did we just throw a major party on account that it was a Wednesday for our client-friends and I was not invited?

There you go, you have managed to irritate your CFO who now thinks they are not cool enough for your corporate friends.

No wonder why the marketing budget goes out the window when the company faces difficult economic times, right?

Why are they not buying? vs What is it missing?

The number of assumptions we make every single day in life is staggering and somehow, we have managed to call that “normal”.

And we do the same thing for our business and offer.

We assume that:

·        The benefits of our products and services are super clear for prospects and clients.

·        Our offering is the best one out there.

·        Prospects should just by from us.

·        Prospects are crazy when they choose someone else.

The main difference I see between a successful marketing campaign and one that fails is that the former is always asking:

What are we missing?

In other words, successful marketing campaigns make an effort to make sure that all logical next steps are considered along the journey and the experience.

In reality, the only thing your prospects and clients want to know is what you are good at and how you can tell (how you measure it).

I know what you are thinking, ”man, If there was just a way to give them that information.”

Well, there is and by the way it is probably the best use you can give to your (scarce) marketing funds right now.

Write and Communicate Your Case Studies.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, most organizations are struggling with their sales goals right now.

Some of them are preparing to hire new salespeople to drive sales as soon as things get a little better and that is perfectly logical.

The thing is that salespeople need to go through a learning curve before they can begin giving results and they also need useful sales collateral to share with the prospects along the way.

The better those materials are, the faster salespeople and prospects can learn about your organization, your products and services and the benefits you will give to customers.

In addition, good marketing materials improve the quality of conversations and can help the sales process move along faster.

So, while there are many options of sales collateral to create, here are a few reasons why giving them a good case study is the best alternative now.

3 Reasons Why You Need to Document Your Best Success Story Right Now

1)     Sell More.

A great case study can be a powerful tool to drive sales because they state:

a)      The value the client gets after working with your organization.

b)     Which is the best for your products and services.

In addition, remember that it is easier and faster to sell new things to your existing customers than it is to get new ones.

Therefore, an effective case study is a great instrument to share amongst your installed base of clients so they know what you are doing for other companies and become interested too.

2)     Content Production.

Many companies struggle with producing quality content in the necessary quantity to break through the noise.

If that is your case, you can increase the volume of content you produce simply documenting your best case studies.

This is also high-quality content as it speaks to what prospects want to know about your organization.

A singe enterprise case study would provide a text document that can be turned into a short video clip, an infographic, some posts for social media, etc.

If you want to publish more content, then document another case study and repeat the process.

3)     Setting Expectations in Customer Experience.

Currently, there are 6 billion searches each day just on the Google Search Engine, and people want to get to the solution they need as quickly as possible.

So, if you have the solution for the problem a group of people are having, then you should want to present proof as soon as possible so they stop searching and start talking to you.

Therefore, a relevant case study that shows how expectations are met should always be part of the customer′s journey.

This is a key element of the customer experience, as you are saving people time and helping them reach their desired objective as quickly as possible.

Moreover, making case studies a big part of your content marketing strategy, will also help position your brand as an authority in your field.

Make the Best Use of Your Resources

We, at SellNow Inc. honestly believe that documenting a case study is the most effective way to use your marketing resources, right now.

For that reason, we are now rolling out the service to document your success story in the most professional way, combining modern copywriting techniques and powerful graphic design to tell your story in the most engaging, relevant, and visually appealing way possible.

We can also help you reposition this powerful content on different formats and platforms so it can extend its reach and grab your target audience where they are.

If you are interested in having SellNow Inc. help you write your case study, please contact me through LinkedIn or go to our website to see the plans we have in place.

Talk soon.