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- 1. BusinessRecord|businessrecord.com|Twitter:@businessrecord 18 June21,2013 sales marketing jeffrey gitomer • Nationally syndicated columnist • Email: salesman@gitomer.com • Phone: (704) 333-1112 © 2013 Jeffrey H. Gitomer drew McLellan • Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group • Blog: www.drewsmarketingminute.com • Email: Drew@MclellanMarketing.com © 2013 Drew McLellan I am on it. I am into it. It’s attracting customers. It’s making sales. It’s free! What is it? It’s almost social media. It’s BUSINESS so- cial media. It’s your ticket to customer and prospect awareness – who you are, how you think, how you serve, what you believe, what your value messages are and what others think of you. And did I mention? It’s free. But the mere fact you participate isn’t any assurance it’ll pay off. In fact, the opposite is the norm. Most companies, most business people and most salespeople have no idea of how to actually ATTRACT customers, potential custom- ers, new followers and connections. Even fewer companies and salespeople understand that business social media must be combined with, in conjunction with and in harmony with all other Internet and face-to-face marketing outreaches. The key word to understanding and imple- menting business social media actions that lead to attraction and connection success is VALUE. Value in the messages you tweet, post and share. Value to your customers and prospects so they pass your message on to THEIR connections. SCENARIO: I tweet to my 65,000+ followers. They resonate with it, and those who believe it’s worthyorapplicabletotheirfollowersRETWEET it, or FAVOR it for their followers to see. SCENARIO: I upload a new video each week on YouTube. It’s posted on my e-zine, on my blog, in my tweets and on my Facebook page. Somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 people will view it and subscribe to my You- Tube uploads. Those are real-world examples that repre- sent a small part of my attraction process. They give you a solid idea it’s not about what I write, post or do; it’s about the RESPONSE to what I write, post or do. Here are the business, Internet AND busi- ness social media value-based messaging and marketing elements I use to transfer my mes- sages and posts that attract and connect. Study them. Implement yours. • LinkedIn Jeffrey Gitomer – The No. 1 busi- ness resource. I post my thought of the day or link of the day. • Twitter @gitomer – I tweet three or four times a day. I usually send out one link a day. • Facebook business /jeffreygitomer – Like me, then read a bunch of the posts, then be in- spired to comment or post. • YouTube channel BuyGitomer – People watch a few of my 300-plus videos. • SalesBlog.com daily posts – Daily value- based posts sent to subscribers and available by search. All emails get you back to the blog. • Weekly e-zine SalesCaffeine.com – Ten years of weekly information. Many who found me on these platforms: • Bought “The Little Red Book of Selling” or one of my other 11 books. • Attended one of my public seminars. • Paid to hear one of my webinars. This came about as a result of our electronic marketing. • Spent some time on gitomer.com reading my free resources. • Googled Jeffrey Gitomer to find out more about me. • Googled “sales training” and found me on the first page. That’s a real lead. It’s not one thing that creates attraction. It’s a strategic combination of a social, online and face-to-face outreach that attracts interested buyers. It’s a confluence of value-based things that are available to customers and prospects. I just shared 12 of mine so you could see the diversity of my offerings and the multiple opportunities that prospects have to find you, be attracted to you, connect with you and buy from you. ULTIMATE RESPONSE: Someone calls and asks if I’m available to address their sales team at their annual meeting. When they do, we ask how they found out about me, and the custom- er replies, “He’s everywhere!” n A social media value strategy Marketing a better world QR Code: This week’s QR code will take you to a great article on how charities can rock their digital marketing. In last week’s column, I outlined some of the ways that nonprofits need to rethink their ex- pectations, fundraising efforts and marketing. I usually receive an email or two from readers, but this topic opened the floodgates. Most of the emails were from community- minded people who were frustrated with how charities communicated with them. I thought it might be insightful if I shared a few of them be- fore giving you the 1-2-3 of nonprofit marketing. “I totally agree with you on the redundan- cy of the charity events. I could play in a golf tournament or go to an auction every week. And what’s up with the charities that seem like event factories? I don’t have the money or the time to attend an event every month.” “One more point that could be made: After I have made a donation to an organization, there is nothing that irks me more than to receive an- other half-dozen letters from the same organiza- tion still asking for a donation. It’s as if my dona- tion is being wasted on postage to keep bugging those of us that have already contributed.” “Why is it that I am flooded with donation requests from charities during the holidays even though those same charities didn’t bother to communicate with me all year long? Do they really think I’m sitting around with an extra stack of money in December, wishing I knew of a charity that needed some extra cash?” There were some others, but that gives you a sense of how area donors are feeling about nonprofits. Here’s the good news: No one wants to stop supporting our community’s charities. But they do want to feel good about doing that. Here’s my 1-2-3 of nonprofit marketing. 1. Be a regular storyteller. Tell me about the little girl who got her first bike, the dog that was saved or the lake that’s safe to swim in again. Show me how your efforts are changing the world and how my money is having an impact. If you can, connect my dollars to a specific out- come: $25 buys dinner for a week for a family of four or $50 vaccinates a puppy or kitten. Remember, all relationships are about the long haul, so don’t expect me to respond to your once-a-year efforts. Connect with me often and make me care through your stories. Oh, and your stories shouldn’t be about you. They should be about your results and how that affects me. 2. Spending money isn’t a bad thing. In today’s competitive market, nonprofits need a professionally produced Web presence, a CRM/ database system that allows you to segment, track and manage your audiences and other communication tools. But, every single non- profit that I’ve been a part of suffers from the “we can’t spend a dime; we’ll just make due” syn- drome. That’s shortsighted. I get that you need to be judicious with your donors’ dollars. So spend wisely. But spend. Otherwise, your efforts will fall short every time. The right tools will help you increase your engagement and donations and will quickly pay for themselves. 3. Your event isn’t just an event. Every fun- draising event you hold (and there shouldn’t be too many) should tell me a lot about your work and be unique to your organization. Your signa- ture event is the perfect place to connect me to your mission, not just raise money. Better than just telling me, give me a hands- on experience. It could be as simple as writing a note of encouragement to a disadvantaged girl to ripping up sheets and towels to make animal bedding. Let me be a part of your solution. You sell the perfect product: hope, sec- ond chances and a better world. Tell us more about that. n