Author: Maria

It’s not about B2b or B2C, but human to human marketing. Much of the advice that internet business owners and entrepreneurs get in terms of expanding their efforts is through inbound marketing (organic marketing). While it is true that inbound marketing is highly effective at creating leads, getting people interested in what you offer and building effective relationships it is often not enough to make the final sale.

This is especially true in Europe with the Nordic countries being resilient to the standard inbound marketing tactics. This is why more business owners and entrepreneurs are supplementing the approach with more traditional outbound strategies that has created mix marketing as the more successful tactic.

In this article I discuss about the benefits of marketing mix in digital marketing along with applying human to human marketing.

Today buyers are more tech-savvy and social media oriented. In fact, B2B buyers under 40 use social media more than those in their 50’s. In order to gather information, they tend to see the trend on social media.

I don’t believe in inbound marketing alone. This is why I rejected to work at a company who sells inbound marketing application to people. I didn’t want to lie and put my reputation on the line for something that doesn’t work especially in Nordic market. I didn’t want to tell them it doesn’t work. I sent them the rejection email two days after thoroughly thinking about it.

A product can be very popular in the U.S.A but it doesn’t mean it would have the same popularity in Europe especially in Scandinavia. Knowing the culture and market is important before deciding to promote there. In my book “multilingual digital marketing: become the market leader” I explained what to do before entering the new market for your product or services. The company certainly can make some sells but this doesn’t make them successful in a long run. This reminds me of my work situation a few years ago.

I used to work at a media company. They used to sell Google Adwords which falls under outbound marketing category. The company was around for more than 22 years. After examining their sales processes and how they handled customers, I knew they won’t survive. I suggested a new approach, they didn’t accept it and wanted to continue their traditional way. They told me that they have been doing it for many years and are not going to change it. They thought on one thing only: selling more Google adwords no matter what! I warned them. People who buy Adwords don’t just want to see their ads online, you have to help them selling their products and services. They didn’t pay attention to this important advice and bothered people with traditional cold calling. I told my colleague, this company goes bankrupt, I resigned the next day. Six month later, my colleague called me and told me the company went bankrupt and she’s unemployed along with 150 others. She asked me if she could work at my company.

Not having compassion and the right customer care, your business won’t be successful. Old ways may work for sometime but you should evolve your strategies in order to succeed.

What is Marketing Mix?

Simply put, marketing mix is the combination of inbound and outbound marketing strategies designed to create the best of both worlds when it comes to selling products or services. Back in 1960s E. Jerome McCarthy created the Marketing 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion).This became the foundation of Marketing Mix. This classification has been used throughout the world. Business schools teach this concept in basic marketing classes. Promotion helps with marketing and brand recognition which as a result generates sales. Implementing one marketing strategy won’t work. The product or service should be in demand in the target market. If you want to invest in something in a local area, check out the following:

• Uniqueness
• Better Quality than Competition
• Being in Demand

You should also pay attention to how you’re going to market it in the local area.As inbound marketing strategies help bring in potential customers, outbound strategies work to heighten interest and help close the sales funnels so that it provides a higher conversion rate. After all, the key to sales is selling the product and going with only inbound marketing techniques have proven to be not enough for European and especially Nordic countries.

 

How It Works

Marketing mix works by employing the best of both methods so that the business owner or entrepreneur can create the right atmosphere which generates results. Outbound marketing is often seen as directionless and can be aggravating since the results often seem haphazard at times. However, by using the demographic information as provided by the inbound marketing campaign, tailoring it to the people who are most interested in the product or service, effective outbound strategies work better and help seal the deal when it comes to making sales.

An example of outbound marketing is when content is delivered via a blog. This can be sent to leads by newsletter or a list of emails. This provides an outlet for the outbound marketing effort which creates better quality content for the inbound marketing techniques to work effectively.

Why Marketing Mix Offers Real Potential

There is no doubt that inbound marketing offers a substantial number of benefits to your overall advertising campaign. Yet, too much focus on inbound techniques means that the overall sales is lacking completion.Even Hubspot, one of the leading proponents of inbound marketing, has incorporated traditional outbound marketing techniques to help foster the mix marketing approach. Mix marketing combines the best of inbound and outbound marketing techniques which results in more leads and better sales conversions.

The correct ratio of inbound and outbound marketing techniques is up to the business owner or entrepreneur. This is because you will be experimenting with the right combination that works best for you. Therefore, there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to how much to mix both strategies, only that you test each one and rate its effectiveness.

A good mix of inbound and outbound marketing strategies are required in today’s business atmosphere which is driven by the digital world. You may want to have an outside firm or expert look over your current marketing strategies so you can gain valuable insight into what possibilities are out there to improve your overall sales efforts.

We crave a sense of acknowledgement in our lives. This is why personalization should be a key factor in branding in order to engage prospects and turn them to customers. Addressing a customer by their first name or remembering their choice of interest says a lot about human to human marketing.This is why in digital marketing, social media plays a key role in generating sales.

How Small Businesses Can Stay Competitive By Applying Human to Human Marketing? 

My regular readers enjoy my stories in my nonfiction books and articles. I give personality to my brand and articles. In human to human marketing which I have been doing it online especially on social media, I include the following strategies:

• Conversational
• Motivational
• Inspirational
• Problem solving
• Relationship builder
• Quality
• Humorous
• Authentic
• Story telling
• Personality
• Accountability

For me every single prospect counts. I share knowledge with them. I promote good people who try to make a difference in our society. They can be a 14 years old boy or a Hollywood celebrity who is fundraising to build a school somewhere in Asia for poor children. I hate cliche and respect people who stand against the bully. I promote perseverance, honesty and morality. Although it takes a lot of my time responding people’ s technical questions, but I make time for them, not for the sake of fame but for helping them to get closer to their dreams in online marketing and their studies.

Major player companies are incapable of recognizing the consumer and look at them as revenue opportunity for a quantitative approach towards ROI.

How can small businesses compete with major brands?

Although major brands have more money to market their products and services, but this doesn’t mean that small businesses can’t get the same result. Small business and startup companies should apply human to human marketing and give personality to their marketing efforts.

Lack of good customer service at major player companies such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft gives your small business a room to implement a good customer service and customer success via website and social media in order to drive their clients to your business. People want attention and someone who can help them to solve a problem. If you run a social media website, this is your best bet to compete with a social media giant. Every single praise of a prospect or customer counts, so don’t let them go unnoticed. If you don’t have time to reply, hire an account manager to take care of these kinds of interactions for you on social media. People in our generation are more loyal, thoughtful, compassionate, responsible, and determined. We all should consider human to human marketing and use a mixture of inbound and outbound marketing in order to succeed in our businesses.