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The Progression of Relationships: Entice, engage, and exchange.

(Yes, even in marketing.)

With each audience, we need a strategy to move them toward The Exchange.

As a practical exercise, at the far left side of a white board, write the name of the audience. Opposite the name, but at the far right end of the white board, write what it is you want from that audience. To the left of that, write what you must give that audience that will satisfy what they want. This is what MKTX calls “Exchange.” For customers or those becoming customers, it is fairly simple. They want your solution. You want their money. For editors, you want them to solicit and print your articles and news stories. They want content that serves their readers’ interest. Instead of money, the Exchange with editors is providing information in exchange for publication to those editors’ audiences.

Next, divide the remaining whiteboard space in the middle into two columns. Title the first column “Entice” and the second column “Engage.” Here is where you will develop your strategy and select tactics to achieve it.

Entice. Assume there are members of the audience in question who have never heard of your company’s offering. I know that’s preposterous, but there may be a few. They don’t know you, ergo, you don’t know them as identifiable individuals. That’s what broad-based media ads, and to some extent, public relations do as a tactic, namely, get attention, make a positive impression, and motivate people to identify themselves to you. In order for the Exchange to ever happen, prospects must know there’s a company, yours, with the solution to their problem.

To get the people you’ve impressed to identify themselves is where the enticement comes in. What can you offer? A small gift, a test drive, a coupon? For each audience you need channels of communication, an attention-getting commercial expression, and an enticement.

What are the major issues with hiring subcontractors? The three mailings and ads for Sundeleaf Painting address them. No only does Sundeleaf allay the fears of homeowners, it offers its winter customers a discount.

Engage. Once you identify individual members of an audience, you can formulate ways to engage them in a dialogue. It can be educational, either explaining the problems and new technology solving them, or why the features of your offering are so much more important and valued. Today, the favorite form of engagement is sending a recipient to a landing page you create just for them. An engaging video demo may be on it or free tickets to a live workshop or webinar, any interactivity to advance the conversation toward the Exchange.

Some audiences need access to tons of data, and for them, sales pitches and hype can be counter-productive. Just give them access to facts. Others want to know who else uses your offering. Build a library on your website of case histories, testimonials, and articles featuring existing customers. Some are turned on by the fact that only a few others have one because it’s expensive and it’s the most advanced offering of its kind in the world. You’ll need a futuristic streaming video for them. Engagement gives your audience the opportunity to know you without purchasing from you, to get acquainted with your values and how those values are translated to your product or service.

When you look at the path of each audience moving closer to you and to an exchange, you soon see how one tactic, a flash video, for instance, could be easily repurposed. Everything can now be budgeted. All the resources have a specific function in the plan. This is very different from ordering quantities of collateral based on a price break.

You need a strategy to get out of the swamp.

With a strategy you can flesh out a complete plan with tactics, and a zero-based budget. It is easy to understand, looking at such a plan, why cuts in one activity will scale down results in another. The cost to get what we’d like from a particular audience may be too dear. We can see what we’ll miss and be comfortable with it, or else find the money to keep it in. The plan helps expectations remain realistic. And that’s what we prize. Real results.

Questions? Give us a call at 503-646-6589 or send an email to answers@mktx.com.