The 3 Keys To Business Success in 2010 And Effective Preparation for 2011
Our insurance marketing agency sees signs that the economy is improving. My contacts in a variety of industries seem to echo this sentiment and share varied and sundry examples indicating that conditions are improving. Many experts believe that 2011 will be a positive year for growth and productivity. That being said, the real question is whether or not your business will be poised to take advantage of the opportunities in 2011, aside from the rising tide theory with the incoming improvement in economic currents raising all boats.
Many businesses have been hanging on, waiting for these improved business currents to arrive and revive their ailing pipeline. These businesses will first need to return to stability before attacking the marketplace for growth. Unfortunately, many of them will be too late to the party and simply watch as more prepared competitors zip past them and latch onto more than their fair share of opportunities.
Our own organization was very fortunate to post record sales numbers in 2010, in part because we are in a leading edge space, focusing on web marketing, SEO and social media marketing, but also because we utilize these tools to constantly fill up our own pipeline, and verticalized to ensure our message was on target for our prospect market. This is not an attempt to brag about our results, but to share how we were able to achieve them and how we intend to optimize our opportuntieis in 2011. We believe there were three keys to our success:
- Thought Leadership – We invested time and budget to advance our technology, resources and people. We also invested in the cultivation of new products and solutions. By consistently delivering cutting-edge solutions to our clients, we have developed thought leadership in our space. People now seek our advice and opinions, often as the result of our internet content which we post on a daily basis. This can be achieved in nearly any industry with any product/service/solution, paritcularly if vertcialized expertise is clearly demonstrated. In our case, we work exclusively in the insurance agency marketing and insurance agency leads verical.
- Social Media Marketing - A few years ago, a marketing person suggested that all salespeople should be present on LinkedIn and Facebook. I responded by saying that I am employed and engaged, so I do not need social media to find a job or a date. Over time my opinion changed, and my actions followed. In 2010, 30-35% of our sales will have come from social media sources. In 2011, we anticipate that will increase to 40%. If you are not pervasive in your social media efforts and exposure, you are losing ground to a competitor. If you lack the time or expertise to accomplish this – find a partner who can.
- eMarketing & Web Seminars - Creating an outbound marketing program that builds a foundation for the future is paramount. We choose eMarketing and web seminars to accomplish this. Over time, we have developed a following within our target market by offering monthly, educational, complimentary web seminars. Concurrently, we have built an email database of thousand prospects. Many of whom indicate interest, respond regularly and ask questions when we send messages. This is a long-term outreach program that will generate prospects in perpetuity.
Succesful execution of the items noted above yielded record results for our organization in 2010 – and it has prepared us to take full advantage of future economic growth in 2011, or whenever it may arrive. We think this approach worked for us and can work for any small B2B business.
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