Social Media and Social Networking can be effective tools for growing our businesses when they are part of our marketing mix. However, if they are the sole source of our marketing plan, we fail to reach the majority of our potential customers, especially if we are a B2B business.


Let's get real! Most B2B decision makers are not present to blogs, podcasts or vlogs, nor are they spending much, if any, time social networking online.
While some believe integrated marketing is a new strategy and are now jumping on the bandwagon as if they discovered the idea that an integrated marketing mix to achieve business goals is the best way to grow a business by getting it and its products and services noticed, savvy marketers have used integrated marketing plans for decades. For them, integrating tools and measuring the results of each tool in achieving company-wide goals are not new nor are these marketers surprised by their effectiveness.
To create, launch and execute on an integrated marketing plan, I recommend the following.
1.
Identify your ideal customers and clients. What do they look like (name, title, address, age, gender, industry, networking habits, media they use, wants, needs and desires)?
2.
Why will they be interested in your products and services?
3.
Why will they buy from you instead of a competitor?
Once you answer those questions with as much detail as possible, you are ready to create measurable goals, strategies and tactics. Here in a very brief form is what that integrated marketing plan might look like:
Goal: To add 10 new clients during the next 12 months.
Strategy: To identify those who represent ideal clients and begin building relationships.
Strategy: To communicate at least monthly with each identified client.
Tactics:
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Attend events where these clients are present, meet them, get their business cards, and ask if they would like to be on your distribution list so that they can receive useful information about solutions for growing their businesses.
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Send every person whose business card you gather a thank you note for talking with you, and then follow-up with an e-mail invite for coffee.
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Create and distribute a monthly newsletter that addresses potential client's wants, needs and desires and offers solutions to those wants, needs and desires. (I prefer e-newsletters, which offer the recipient the choice to open or delete or unsubscribe. What they do represents good information for us to use as we go forward with this plan.)
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Distribute quarterly thought papers (white papers) to your list that go into depth about a particular challenge your potential clients face. (Again, I prefer e-mail for the same reasons noted above.)
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Create a speaking flier and send it to event program/seminar chairs where your ideal clients might be found (those specifically identified and all who fit the profile). Follow-up with phone calls to the program chair. Accept as many speaking engagements as possible and be sure to notify your potential clients where and when you will be speaking and on what topic. Invite them to attend. If they cannot attend, offer them your notes.
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If you have a blog, be sure to send your URL to all potential clients who fit your profile. I like to attach a sample post so they can see what my blog offers.
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Use social networking (LinkedIn, Plaxo Pulse, etc.) to find contacts who may know the ideal clients you identified, and ask them for information about that client and their business as well as a referral.
The above represents what an integrated plan might look like in its briefest of formats. Questions? Insights?