With all of the recent advancements in technology, including social media, the same fundamental sales psychology still works today. The only difference is that we are using technology as an enabler, to allow us to communicate to many more people. But, how does it work?
Classic sales strategy is based on understanding your customer’s pain points and desires. This is truly the foundation of any sales and marketing communication strategy. It’s about your customer’s needs and clearly communicating how you’re going to solve those needs better than the competition.
As an Internet marketing firm, Technology and marketing campaigns are simply mediums to communicate how you’re going to meet their demands. What we are trying to accomplish through our marketing is to tell the sales story just like you would if you had a one-on-one sales call. Once you understand your customer’s needs, you communicate to them the overall benefit of your product. The next logical question that they are going to ask is regarding how you achieve the benefit, so communicate specifics in you marketing communication about how you achieve their desired result.
The next question that the customer is going to ask is regarding what social proof you have to support your claims, so you want to provide strong social proof in the form of written testimonials, videos, case studies, and success stories.
The next logical question is regarding the price of your product. But, even if your price is competitive, why are they going to buy from you today? Why won’t they delay their purchase? This is where you knock them off the fence with a special promotion that expires. It’s truly all psychology.
What complicates matters is that in the online world, prospects are at different steps in the decision making process and some are using different touch points from social media to your Website. Some are simply at the awareness stage because they have seen your site, some are at the information gathering stage because they are aware that they have a need, and some are at the comparison stage where they are comparing you versus your competition.
Even the leads in your database are at different stages in the sales decision making process. To get the most out of your Internet marketing, it’s about creating value for your clients at all touch points according to the basic psychology of selling.
Up front in Zone 1: Traffic Generation, your PPC and social media campaigns should communicate value and benefits that will attract them to your site now or in the future. You should also communicate social proof and success stories to connect with those who are comparing products to make a purchase decision.
In Zone 2: Website Conversion, it’s about providing immediate value on your Website that they can opt-in for to help with information gathering. You also want to provide strong social proof and upcoming events for those who are comparing alternatives.
In Zone 3: Email Conversion, for those who are in your database, you want to drip value to them on a regular basis, so that when they are ready to make a purchase decision, you are top of mind.
The bottom line is that the sales psychology is the same whether it’s a single sales call, or a complete campaign utilizing all three critical zones of Internet marketing.