How to supercharge your sales
It’s often said that ‘people buy from people’. But with the rise of the omnichannel marketing experience, a solid marketing strategy needs more than just the personal touch to be successful. dsquared’s Denise Davies outlines an effective framework for aligning marketing and sales for mutual success.
Marketing and sales are the ultimate double act – like gin and tonic, Ant and Dec, or salt and pepper. The two functions have a common goal – to generate revenue for the company by attracting new customers and retaining existing ones.
Marketing builds brand awareness and communicates the benefits of a product or service to the target audience through various channels. Sales builds a relationship with potential customers to convert the opportunity into a contract.
So how do we build a successful framework to supercharge your sales?
The AIDA model, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action, describes the linear journey a prospect progresses through before deciding to buy a product or service. It was first coined in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century by Elias St. Elmo Lewis, a pioneering and influential advertiser.
The modern marketing mix is an omnichannel experience, with an average of six touchpoints before a customer makes a buying decision. By using the AIDA framework to plan your marketing, you can orchestrate compelling marketing activities to spark positive emotions and encourage your prospect to act. Ultimately, you can draw attention to your brand, generate interest in what you have to offer, and spark a desire to buy it.
Before we go through the stages of the model, it is important to ensure that marketing and sales are aligned on what success looks like. The two departments will have to work together to outline the target audience, define the sectors, and agree on the priority geographies. Setting objectives at the outset makes it easier to measure performance.
The AIDA model
Awareness – ‘What is it?’
It’s tough to stand out in a crowd – but if your brand can command the attention of your target audience and engage them, it naturally follows that potential customers will become curious about what your company does.
Think of an advert you recently saw and liked, whether online, on TV or in print. What made you give the advert your attention? What did you like about it? In order to get your prospect to take notice, you must boost your brand awareness and tailor your messaging to the medium being used. If you can create content which explicitly solves your target audience’s problems and includes their interests, you’ll achieve this first step in the journey.
Interest – ‘I like it’
The next challenge is to build upon a potential customer’s attention by encouraging them to like your product or service. You’ll need to ‘hook’ them, and storytelling is a compelling method for communicating the ‘why’ aspect of your offer.
Articles and videos can be a great way of showcasing products and services and can help guide a prospect towards taking action. Trade shows and events are also effective, as they allow your brand to deliver a personal touch and introduce technical experts within the team.
Desire – ‘I want it’
It’s almost a given that a certain level of trust is required for a sale to be completed, hence the popular assertion that ‘people buy from people’. A highly effective way of building up trust with prospective customers is to maintain a steady drip-feed of relevant content.
For example, a customer who follows you on LinkedIn and receives your newsletters is far more likely to keep you front of mind in future than the one who found you by chance via Google. Proof points such as case studies and testimonials also help, as they demonstrate what you have achieved for other companies.
Action – ‘I’ll buy it’
You now have a sales enquiry. It’s over to the sales team. The next step will likely be a meeting with the prospect, which will lead to the submission of a proposal. At this stage, it is critical that the positioning, messaging and branding on presentations and proposals are consistent with the website, and all materials that the prospect will have seen during their interactions with the brand.
Of course, this sequential model assumes that consumers will move through a series of choices during purchase decisions; from ‘thinking’ to ‘feeling’, and then ‘doing’. In reality, it can be more complex than that, especially in the business-to-business selling environment.
As with all marketing and sales activity, it is critical to measure success. Check the prospect conversion rate against the objectives and collate monthly data. Most importantly, keep working together as a team!
At dsquared, we believe that effective marketing is the lifeblood of your sales funnel. For more information on how our results-driven focus can help you get the most out of your marketing efforts, get in touch with us at denise@dsqmarketing.com.