Written by: Adam G. Horlock, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Social media has become integral to marketing, especially for millennial and Gen Z entrepreneurs. It is understandable why so many focus on the power of social media as their only form of marketing — it's relatively easy to use and can quickly reach a large audience. However, marketing solely on social media is not enough to grow your business.
A successful sales strategy requires building relationships, making calls, and reaching all audiences— even if it takes getting out of your comfort zone.
Why Social Media Alone is Not Enough
There must be more than just social media to create a successful sales strategy. To create an effective sales approach, entrepreneurs need to take the time to build relationships with potential customers and establish trust within their target market. For example, consider the last time you purchased something online, especially a more significant expense. You likely did your research and asked people who had already used the product or service what they thought about it before making your decision. That research helps build trust and encourages buyers to purchase from that company or individual.
The exact process goes for entrepreneurs trying to build customer relationships through social media alone. It can be challenging to get someone from simply seeing your post online to purchasing from you without creating some level of trust between you and the person browsing. This means it is essential for entrepreneurs to use other methods like email campaigns or direct phone calls to reach out and connect with those potential customers to establish a relationship before asking them to make a purchase.
Making Calls and Reaching Beyond Your Comfort Zone
Another critical component of creating an effective sales strategy is making calls ‒ not just texts ‒ with potential customers and expanding and diversifying your target market beyond your comfort zone. Making personal contact with prospective customers (not just existing ones) helps establish more personal connections than texting can offer while also allowing you to introduce yourself more thoroughly than sending emails does.
As far as diversifying your target market goes, expanding outside of your comfort zone helps prevent relying too heavily on any one particular audience, which could lead to stagnation or, worse yet ‒ failure if their interests change over time due to external factors like economic changes or technological advancements. Diversifying also allows you to reach new markets quicker than relying solely on word-of-mouth referrals which can take longer when starting fresh in new territories or industries.
Focus on Engagement, Not Just Followers
Building an effective social media strategy requires focusing more than simply accumulating followers. Even having a large following does not guarantee your brand or business success if those followers are not engaged with the content. Engagement should be the focus of all social media campaigns. This helps drive brand and consumer relationships, build customer awareness and loyalty, target potential customers, and foster community building and interactions. Therefore, the key to success is to ensure followers are engaged with interesting content that encourages interactions between users, followers to follow, or consumer to consumer. By understanding how to increase engagement rather than counting followers, every business or brand can get the most out of their social media platform.
Turn Customers into Advocates
The goal of any business is to turn customers into advocates. After all, these voices will spread the word about your company and bring in more potential customers. Paid influencers are a great way to get the word out there, but acquiring organic, authentic, and engaged followers will reap much greater rewards. These passionate individuals will likely stick around far longer than someone from whom you've purchased product placement. Furthermore, they'll provide honest insight into how your brand can better itself to reach its full potential.
Convincing your customers to become advocates of your brand takes thoughtful effort and a clear understanding of the people who follow you on social media. Reach out to them directly; be genuine and transparent when constructing responses. Establish trust by emphasizing how their feedback is taken seriously and incorporated into product improvements. Additionally, reward those who demonstrate enthusiasm for your brand with exclusive content and offers. By consistently engaging with customers, creating meaningful relationships, and providing rewards they appreciate, your brand will become more influential in the market ‒ transforming loyal followers into devoted advocates.
Start the New Year with the Right Sales Strategy
An effective sales strategy requires more than relying solely on social media presence alone ‒ although it is still essential for marketing purposes! Building relationships through phone calls rather than text messages will help foster better customer relations, and diversification will help open up opportunities for growth beyond what would have been available by staying within one's comfort zone alone. Taking the time now will pay off later when operating costs become lower due to having fewer expenses associated with acquiring new clients, thereby allowing businesses more flexibility when boosting profits in any given quarter year after year!
If your brand or business is looking for options to incorporate public relations into a marketing strategy, please follow Adam on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and visit his agency’s website: Pinnacle Public RelationsAgency
Adam G. Horlock, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Adam Horlock is the Founder and Principal Strategist of Pinnacle Public Relations Agency, helping brands find and amplify their voice through public relations campaigns, helping develop a public message and find winning strategies to get that message heard. In these efforts, he has made multiple national television appearances, published articles and content on some of the world’s leading business and news platforms, and helped smart brands grow through effective messaging and strategy.
