The “Magic Three” and some fish

Anyone who does business development for a living understands how tiring it can be to constantly push out messages. You go on customer visits. You place outbound calls and emails. You send flyers. It’s a lot of outbound effort that can be hard to track for return-on-investment purposes.

But.

What if I could tell you that there’s another side to these efforts that you might be missing? It’s called inbound marketing and it works with your current outbound efforts to draw customers to you.

That’s right; they come to you.

Here’s how it works: You keep doing what you’re doing. Slay those customer visits. Build those relationships. Send those holiday cards and earn those airline miles. Whatever you do, don’t stop.

Then.

Adopt the “magic three” to accelerate your results: communications, marketing and content.

Communications tell the world who you are and what your services are. These can include press announcements, brochures, e-newsletters, customer letters and more. They must be strategic, targeted, clear and well-written. And they should be published on your website and social channels so people searching for your services find you.

Marketing is probably the most familiar to business development professionals. These include ads, flyers, sales emails and more. For them to work, it’s critical to understand who the customer is so you can tailor the message to his needs. What are his pain points and how will you resolve them? As a business development expert, you know all of this already. But, are you tracking your efforts? Do you know which ad or flyer is (or isn’t) delivering customers to your website or driving calls? This last part is a common hang-up that is easily remedied with simple techniques.

Ever heard the phrase “Content is King?” The reason people say it is because strategically keyworded, highly valuable content – be it an educational blog, informative video or helpful case study – published to your website or social channels pulls customers in and keeps them coming back for more. It develops you as an expert and increases the value of your brand. You know customers are already researching your services online before they buy. Give them information up front and they’ll return the favor by calling you for more information. You can give them your sales pitch from there.

In short, the “magic three” is kind of like going fishing. You already have what the customer wants. Now, bait the hook, cast it and let the fish come to you.

If done correctly, your business development efforts will go swimmingly.