Business development has evolved to become a bit of an umbrella term, and whether you feel you fit in the “marketing” side of BD or even the “sales” side, there have never been more tools available to help give an extra push. Social media platforms have given businesses a whole new way to interact with target audiences in an instant way, email marketing platforms have evolved to make demographic targeting much easier and in the digital world, cold-calling and telesales still have their own strengths. The most simple concepts are often overlooked as growth begins if strategies aren’t a part of your company mantra, and whilst it can oftentimes seem like spinning plates, doing things right can pay big dividends.
With so many options, where do you start and what strategies can you employ to make the most of the tools at hand?
- Know Your Competition
A simple cornerstone concept of business, but this isn’t something as cut and dry as it used to be. Simply knowing who they are isn’t enough, as your target audience becomes more savvy and are able to quickly look at the differences between you and everyone else, focussing on what makes you different and more desirable should be an obsession. This also comes through experience and Alchemis are a new business agency who have a depth of experience in business development, so them and other experienced firms will always know the competition they need to be targeting.
- Use all online reviews
And we don’t only mean your own! With so many review pages, and with the addition of social media content, there is a wealth of knowledge to be gained that is often overlooked — and this means looking at reviews for your competitors too. Reviews for a competitor may help you identify a niche that is missing in your market.
- Keeping your digital footprint current
Whether you’re applying this to your website, your social media pages or your outreach campaigns such as e-mail marketing, ensuring you’re following current trends and keeping up with modern techniques will make all the difference. A tired looking website or poor content could deter potential business and prevent your audience from engaging. No matter what social platform you use, staying on top of what’s current may seem obvious, but it can be easy to let slip. Let’s say you are a physician and you use a social network for doctors, such as Sermo. In order to make the most of such platforms, you may need to employ the most recent social media tools and techniques, in addition to participating in debates and discussions about the latest developments in the medical field.
- Build trust, add value
Word of mouth is a very valuable tool, and word spreads fast these days. A negative experience for one customer, especially early on, can quickly spread. The value of good customer service in many instances can quickly outweigh an increased cost, giving your audience a white glove service and building a reputation for great execution can spread just as quickly.
- Engaging with your audience
Leading very nicely into the final point and returning to the opening statement of using the many tools available to you – be vocal with your audience. Social media and e-mail have given us a platform to immediately connect and automation has helped give increased customer engagement, a thank you message after a purchase or a follow-up to a service asking how things are going can make all the difference. Another tool used by today’s top brands is the text message marketing, which can be one of the easiest and profitable ways to communicate with the subscribers. You can try approaching SMS marketing agencies like Tatango, who could help you build a better customer engagement through text messages.
Simplicity is key, over complicating or trying to find different routes to engage with your target audience can often have the opposite effect and reduce engagement, and the difference between winning and losing is speed.