Phil Lauterjung

The lifeblood of any business is leads – right?  If you don’t have leads to follow up you won’t have many sales.  Seems simple enough, but in today’s marketplace it has become VERY difficult to get well qualified  leads.

According to Todd Defren at Shift Communications you should consider using the PR power of social media.  Todd taught a class for Inbound Marketing University today called PR for Inbound Marketing, and had some great insights worth passing along.

One valuable point is that PR is not just about getting hits on your website.  You don’t get leads from hits, you get leads from conversions.  In order to get those conversions you need to use social media PR, defined as “frequently distributing relevant content via the right channels, to boost credibility and findability.”  I’m not sure that “findability” is a word, but you can debate that with Todd.

This requires that you research your prospects regarding their habits and tendencies online.  You need to find out the following:

• Where do they go to get their information?
• What kind of Google searches do they run?
• Who do they rely on for info in their industry & among competitors?
• What blogs and/or magazines do they read?
• Do they join Facebook groups?  Which ones?
• Are they on Twitter, and who do they follow?

Right now you’re thinking this is a lot of work.  Well, how badly do you need more business?  That’s what I thought – pretty badly, huh?  Next question is where do you go to find out some of this stuff?  Start with your existing customers.  Ask them those questions.  Make sure your sales team has the list of questions memorized, and the next time they get a talkative prospect have them ask some or all of them.

Once you have a good idea where your prospects are hanging out, then you need to devise a strategy for reaching.  NOT with a blatant sales pitch, but with information that outlines the type of problems they might have that could be solved by your product and services.  Study and learn how social media platforms work and how people get and use information.  It’s different from “traditional” sales.  But it can be very effective if done well.

The reality is that today’s buyer uses the internet – a lot!  Not necessarily to buy, but to research and learn; and you need to be findable so they can get that information from your company.  You can find, listen, and interact with prospects online.  You can reach them with your content inexpensively and where they are hanging out.  If they like your content they will pass it on, usually with their approval attached.  This will make you more credible and ultimately more findable by prospects.

Don’t just read this and think that it sounds good and someday you’ll give it a try.  Find someone on your staff that is already engaged in social media to head up a team to get started now.  If you don’t have anyone on your staff then find someone you can trust that will be able to help you.  But get started now!  Please.

Graphic – Flickr: DBarefoot

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