Marketing | Jane Frankland

July 8, 2014

6 Social Media Tips for B2Bs [ignore these & sell diddlysquat]

By JaneFrankland | Established business, Marketing, Selling, social media | No Comments

In this post I'm going to be sharing six social media tips that B2Bs can use to help them strategically develop business. I'll be looking at some of the main challenges and how they can be solved. Whilst this article is aimed at anyone who's responsible for selling in a B2B environment, if you're looking to build your influence (and brand) as a consultant I'm pretty confident that you'll get mileage out of it.

Now let's get started!

In case you've not noticed social media is maturing. No longer is it just seen as a tool for marketers. Now, there's a growing amount of buzz around using it as a sales tool especially for B2Bs. Many understand its value. They know from experience that when it's implemented correctly it delivers a solid return on the investment. And, that's why more and more businesses and individuals (brands), year-on-year, are keen to get it right and use social media as a tool for increasing their influence and business development.

So let's look how you can set yourself up for success by giving you six social media tips that address the main challenges. These are:

What to say
How to find the time
What content to create
How to engage with your audience
What the cost implications will be
How to integrate social media fully into your business

June 30, 2014

3 Social Selling Myths Busted [these are making you loose sales]

By JaneFrankland | Marketing, New business, Selling, social media | No Comments

Irrespective of the fact that you may or may not be practising social selling, in my world, winning sales starts by having conversations.

And, every good salesperson knows that in order to get people (or more specifically influencers and buyers) to talk to you, you've got to:

Look the part so you can be taken seriously and heard amongst the increasing noise.
Have the right story so you can convince your prospects to change and use you.
Have the right skills so you can deliver your story with impact and articulate value.

Furthermore, that to pull this off in the digital era you've got to have marketing and sales aligned.

For B2B companies, being able to execute your company’s growth strategies, including new product or service launches, go-to-market campaigns or even merger or acquisition deals, comes down to one thing:

Great conversations that go on between your salespeople, prospects and clients.

Ensuring your company delivers great conversations is therefore of major importance. And, in a rapidly changing technology driven environment it's based on three critical activities:

1. Building influence. You've got to get dressed for being online, and present yourself as a key person of influence. It's imperative that you become the signal and not the noise in cyberspace so you're heard or sought out by your prospects and clients.

2. Creating the right stories. Your sales messages and tools have to communicate enough value to break through your prospects’ current situation and differentiate yourself from competitors.

3. Enabling the right skills. Your stories must be delivered with power and impact. They need to create value, convince sceptical executives, and protect your profitability.

Listed below are three popular sales and marketing myths (the two these days are joined at the hip) that I’m going to bust. Unfortunately, these might have been leading you astray when it comes to developing and delivering your messaging. However, discovering the truth behind these myths and embracing their alternatives will serve to empower you AND convince your clients to say “yes” to change, and “yes” to you!

So let’s get on with it!

June 22, 2014

How to implement a social selling plan that really works

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Selling | No Comments

Social selling, what's all the fuss about? Has social media really ripped up the rulebook on marketing so that we need to rethink everything? Is broadcast marketing dead? Is it all about communication, involvement and feedback – a place for people to talk about things they care about?

YES!

In a world that’s disconnected, we now seek to belong and build communities. So we follow, like, link, subscribe and make friends. We work at speed – networking, connecting, sharing, contributing and supporting.

As a result business is changing. It's becoming more transparent, agile and authentic than ever and social is the catalyst.

So, as someone who’s required to sell your tactics have to change.

In order to win in business now you have to understand exactly what motivates your prospects so you can add value. You need more influence in your market and you have be more engaging so you can cut through the Internet “noise” and connect with your buyers.

May 11, 2014

The Top 3 Ways to Create a Personal Brand

By JaneFrankland | Marketing, Sales, Selling, social media | No Comments

Here’s an undisputed fact. The Internet has changed everything. Studies repeatedly show that right now more people are starting businesses than ever before. In fact some argue that there’s even an entrepreneur revolution going on.

So when you start a business one of the first things you have to decide upon is whether you create a personal brand or not. Once you’ve made that decision, the next is how to create your brand so it supports your sales activity.

Today's post is to help you understand how to build a powerful personal brand and it covers:

Packaging and positioning
How to be constantly in front of your target audience
Converting prospects into long term clients

April 26, 2014

How to Sell: 9 Stupidly Simple Steps to Boost Sales

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales, Selling, social media | No Comments

How to sell without a hefty marketing spend to most could seem impossible. However, in today's world it’s not just sales that has got harder – marketing has too. B2B buyers and decision-makers are highly educated on the products and services they require. They’re hungry for information. Their appetite demands 24×7 consumption, whenever and wherever they can.

Forbes recently reported that 80% of B2B purchasing cycles are completed before the buyer considers contacting the vendor. You’re feeling this and know this to be the case.

So in order to get your prospects’ attention and differentiate yourself from your competitors, you need to satisfy them like never before. And that means that if you’re in sales or marketing you’ve got to pull together. You need to form a united front both in terms of knowledge and understanding when engaging, nurturing, and interacting with your prospects. In essence you need to become a team of superheroes who join forces for the greater good of your prospects and your company.

This blog has been written to help address these challenges. It has been broken down into the following 9-steps:

1. Calling a truce
2. Researching and creating an ideal client avatar or persona
3. Defining a sales-qualified lead and processes
4. Developing the most appropriate messaging strategies
5. Creating engaging content to attract and nurture prospects
6. Meeting prospects where they’re hanging out
7. Using the internal sales team for qualification
8. Obtaining more information from marketing
9. Measuring, assessing and reporting

Now, before we get started, I just want to stress that this blog is targeted at sales and marketing professionals, sales and marketing managers, and business owners. The aim of it is to help you get ahead in business, to get you thinking about sales and marketing integration and to help you get buy in if needed.

Now, let’s get started and go through how to sell!

April 13, 2014

5 Lies about social media and social selling

By JaneFrankland | Marketing, Selling, social media | One Comment

Whether you're using social media for social selling, marketing, reputation management, customer service, recruitment or even business continuity there’s no denying this fact:

Social media is a force to be reckoned with. It is going on with or without your buy in.

And that’s a fact!

Now whilst many do get it, there are still many who don't. And the challenge of getting others to buy into it is often a struggle. So, to help you out I've compiled a list of the 5 common challenges faced when trying to get buy-in for both social selling and social media marketing.