As a sales tactic, cold calls became ineffective sometime in the last decade. If someone doesn’t recognize your phone number, you can assume they won’t answer your call. And, since most websites and social profiles bury individuals’ phone numbers, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get their number in the first place.
But say you do have the right number and the right person does answer. Even then, the time and effort it took to reach them is exponentially more than what a targeted marketing campaign can accomplish.
Most leading businesses made the shift away from traditional business development tactics years ago, and now deploy a range of direct marketing methods to generate leads. Today, with trade shows, events, and other networking opportunities being cancelled and many employees moving to a work-from-home status, many other businesses will be forced to do the same, as this article from Forbes suggests. In other words, the continued evolution from business development-led organizations to marketing-led organizations appears to be inevitable.
Digital Marketing at the Forefront
Given the current circumstances, digital marketing must be at the forefront of your business strategy. The way you deploy it will make or break your sales funnel in the next few months. Even so, your digital marketing plans shouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction to the current business environment. They should be a strategic investment, using the right mix of channels, messaging, audiences, and response strategy.
One of the most effective ways to employ a successful digital marketing strategy is via social business. Seeing the opportunity in an expanded social presence, many organizations have gone from basic channel management to an end-to-end social media approach that delivers actionable insights and a better return on investment.
Trellist is well-versed in supporting B2C companies on social media, but we’re at the forefront in developing strategies for B2B businesses, who have a less obvious path to social media success. We’ve distilled that experience and used it to develop our Social Business Strategy Packages, which are available at a fraction of the cost of a full-time sales person. The strategies we create for clients like you are focused on more than just generating leads—they serve as an extension of your brand and a basis for increasing brand loyalty.
Repurposing the Business Development Workforce
Shifting your budget from business development to marketing also means a shift in your personnel. Where will your business development people go? What will they do now? As mentioned in this article from the engineering and construction fields, your business development personnel can become a powerful extension of your marketing-led organization. There are two significant ways they can do this:
- If they have a relationship-building and consultative skillset, they can be shifted to focus on vetting the leads from digital lead generation. They can build proposals and they can see sales from initial contact to start of work, ensuring that new clients view your company as a cohesive, attentive organization.
- If they have a creative skillset, they can become a core function of your marketing and branding efforts. Marketers alone can be skilled researchers, testers, and personality profilers, but considering there will always be a personal element to lead generation, business development personnel can become an extension of your market research. Their willingness to speak with clients and prospects directly can help you create and drive the right messages in the right channels. Furthermore, business development personnel can and should help develop your business’s brand—from its mission and vision to its brand promise—as this is what shapes the direction of your marketing efforts.
Change Management and an Updated Company Mindset
Changing a business’s mindset for any reason can be a difficult feat. Because Trellist has supported so many businesses making significant changes to their organizations, we have developed the expertise and partnerships required to do the same for you. We can act as an extension of all segments of your business, developing the right communication strategies with the right technology to ensure a cohesive adaptation to the new mindset.
We are dedicated to ensuring that your business succeeds in the current situation and becomes even more effective in the post-crisis environment. Contact us today to get the support you need.
