The traditional funnel model of marketing is broken
In today’s experienced-based economy, we need to engage with our customers by adding value to what they do. We need to think in the language of the problems we solve for our customers, and not the benefits and features of what we sell. We need to add value each time we are in contact with them, not just overtly selling to them.
Engage
By engaging with people before they need to buy, we will be the first address they seek when they are ready to buy. To truly engage with our customers, our priority must be value creation. If we want to win the battle for customer attention, we need to stop shouting and start a conversation. This is the message of Grant Leboff’s Sticky Marketing, which describes how companies will only attract customers by providing value and becoming ‘sticky’.
Return on engagement
We live in a new world where people have become empowered. Consumers can contact companies directly. They can hold a dialogue with one another without the company being able to control the conversation. That’s why a new set of rules is required for effective communications in a world transformed by new technology. It is no longer ‘return on investment’ that should concern us, but ‘return on engagement.’
Focus on ESP
We should stop our obsession with unique sales propositions (USPs), and focus on our emotional selling propositions (ESPs). It’s not about your products and services. It’s about the customer event. Every purchase is triggered by an event. If you can understand the event, you can generate content around that context to engage better with your customers. That’s how you earn a place at the purchasing table.
