Today you can teach yourself a bunch of stuff without an actual teacher. All it takes is the desire to learn. By opening this newsletter you are clearly on the side of the angels – a lifelong learner. Now that I have your attention, I’d like to talk about something that is bothering me a lot – hard sell.
In my advertising days we were taught (there’s that word again!) that in order for someone to register your brand they had to see your brand at least 3 times ie Opportunity To See (OTS) => 3 While B2C marketers still adhere to this, B2B marketers are increasingly looking for short-cuts. I get calls from big brands asking if we do demand generation. Well yes, and no. Wikipedia defines this as a targeted marketing program that spans Attention, Interest, Desire and Action (AIDA). But what my callers want is just AA – grab the target’s attention with a call and get them to sign up for more information or calls. This totally skips the responsibility of the marketer to educate their prospects about why this product solves a need. And transforms what ought to be a continuous orchestrated journey to a collection of discrete tactical campaigns. It works because certainly some of the prospects have the need and educate (bingo!) themselves on the product and eventually buy it.
Paul Writer is a hub where I post content that I think is educative and helps us make commerce more pleasant and fun. So here are some picks for today. Social selling is a way to make the path more seamless using digital glue. And it is something that sales folks see a definite value in. Ajit Narayan writes about the 6 things salespeople want in Approaches like using Social Proof on the other hand consciously rope in crowds and third parties to educate your potential buyers. Damandeep Soni shares 13 ways to use social proof here And if you’d like to learn about how to use Customer Experience as a lever I’ve curated the best of Letstalkcx in association with Oracle and you can read that here.
I was so naive when I graduated. “I’ll never have to study again” I thought. Not only did I immediately have to hit the books in my next job, but I was tasked with training middle-aged newbies on Unix. My ’students’ were kind and gave me good ratings. It was because they really wanted to learn how to use a mainframe and understood that it was going to be critical to their future success. So a good teacher is necessary but not sufficient to a positive learning outcome – a good learner is also required.
It’s the 10th anniversary of my book, No Money Marketing which encapsulated my learnings in building brands like Infosys, Wipro and iGATE on a frugal budget. Digital has opened up new avenues even as it has pretty much closed doors on some like organic PR. I’ve also learned so much in the past decade. So it’s time to write a newer version of the book – more on that as the idea evolves! But do write in and tell me what you think should be in the book.
A hat tip to all you learners, educators and content creators! Treat yourselves to an apple. Oh heck, it’s Teacher’s Day – celebrate with an ice cream sundae or, my favourite, falooda!
