There’s transactional marketing. And there’s relational marketing. Relational is better.
Relationship marketing is when you create a connection with your clients. You know them, they know you. A kinship. A connection. A link. A bond. A love.
Transactional marketing, on the other hand, is merely an exchange of money. It’s a deal. No warmth. No connection. Just money changing hands. It’s when you view everything as a negotiation, a chance to get money from your customer.
A transaction is usually a one-time thing without much thought of a long-term
relationship. It’s when your customer views you as a vendor, a salesman.
I don’t like transactional marketing. You don’t want to be viewed as a vendor; you want to be a partner. You want to help your prospects make the right purchasing decision.
That’s why I try to start a relationship right from the beginning. That way, I can start educating them on how to buy what I sell the right way.
I believe in “education-based” marketing.
Do you know what I love most about the education-based model of selling?
It’s low-key and puts your prospect’s mind at ease. It empowers the prospect. It makes them feel they are in control of the buying process. It separates the price shoppers from the serious buyers.
However, you can’t start to educate a prospect unless you can talk to a prospect. And you can’t talk to a prospect unless you know who they are.
So how do you get a prospect to “raise their hand” and let you educate them?
You give them valuable information in exchange for their name and e-mail.
There are three tools to capture their information: a consumer awareness guide, a free, recorded info line, and a website landing page.
If you’re like most small business owners, you don’t use these tools. That’s because you (A) never heard of them before or (B) don’t believe they’ll work for your business.
Tool #1: your consumer awareness guide or a special report—an educational document that gives valuable information to your prospects.
It’s not a brochure about your company. A brochure is about you; a consumer awareness guide is about them. It’s instructional and informative.
A consumer awareness guide can tell your prospects how to make the right buying decision. It can answer their questions. And it can tell them the right questions to ask during the buying process.
It can tell them how to avoid misunderstandings and rip-offs in your industry.
The important thing about a consumer awareness guide is that it’s not about you, it’s about them—what’s inside their head and their heart.
Tool #2: your free, recorded info line.
This is a 24/7 telephone line your prospects can call anytime to get more information about you and your business.
Think of it as a 365-days-a-year salesperson who never calls in sick, never takes time off and works 24 hours a day selling your products and services.
It doesn’t matter what business you’re in; this tool will work for any business.
Tool #3: your website landing page.
It’s a website, but unlike a traditional website, it’s usually only one page long and it has a single purpose: to capture the name and info of the person who comes to this page.
Some people call this a squeeze page, opt-in page or a name-capture page.
It doesn’t matter the name. What matters is that you give such incredible content that you will be harvesting names day and night.
Those three tools, if used properly, will start the education process.