When you put your eye on one of the main tasks of your online business, that of attracting customers, we do not realize that we end up elaborating a rather complex scheme with an endless number of actions that will end up in lists to prioritize where to start in this important mission.
In truth, it is much simpler. When we want to attract clients what we are doing is to want to influence them in some way so that they lend us a moment of attention and finally see if they give us a vote of confidence with a purchase or not.
And a point that is often not taken into account is the “engagement” between online activity and offline activity of the business itself:
– The so-called “word of mouth” is the reason for buying 20-50% of online transactions
– Of this%, only 7% is purely online
When it comes to matters, the two paths to attract potential customers are:
1- Direct influence on them: this means that through direct or targeted advertising or marketing actions directed towards your potential customers, you achieve a positive transaction. Here are two types of actions:
– “Outbound” marketing actions: these would be essentially advertising actions where a promotion or direct offer is launched to potential clients. It should be noted that these actions hardly add value to the user today since the communications go in a single direction without taking into account the needs and concerns of the user. In the scenario where we move it is difficult to receive much attention from potential clients, the reason is the saturation in the media of this type of messages.
– “Inbound” marketing actions : they are a set of techniques (content marketing + social media + SEO mainly) integrated in the same strategy to try to provide more value to the user by showing all the information they need about your product or service and to bring them closer at the time of purchase. You can go deeper with the article: “Inbound marketing: how to develop an effective and profitable strategy”
2- Influencing your potential customers’ influencers: sales are really simplified a lot, either because we have been informed and convinced or because someone who has influence over us recommends a product or service. Here I am going to focus on this second option. For this there are 3 ways:
– Through a “celebritie”: how many times have we seen celebrities starring in “super” advertising campaigns with the goal of gaining visibility, audience and sales for a brand. Although widely used, the truth is that it continues to work; one of the best examples of recent years is that of George Cloney with Nespresso.
– Through “influencer” expert in a sector: I will put an example of marketing. If Matt Cutts (eminence to date in SEO, positioning today) saying that there is an effective new tool for SEO I would surely try it. If I, like many, consider him an expert in the field, he will have a lot of influence on me and on many marketers.
– Through the “social circle” of your possible clients: when we speak of social circle I mean acquaintances, friends, family, girlfriend, wife, children…. There is a long list of people with whom we have daily contact, or regularly online contact through social networks that can influence some of your purchase. How many times have you been to a restaurant because you were recommended by a friend? Or can your child make you buy some soccer cards?
Seen all this, you can conclude that everyone can be an “influencer” as normal and current as it may be.
Why do most companies focus on directly influencing customers when they have good opportunities to do so on influencers that can lead to indirect sales?
You may also like to read :The Characteristics That A Good Marketing Manager Must Have