B2B Marketing

Market Awareness

Trumps Sales Skills

in B2B World

Does Your Market Know Who You Are?

Defining the Problem Earlier in my career, I was the

VP of marketing for a mid-size software company.

We termed our largest competitors “gorillas” in the marketplace.

Does Your Market Know Who You Are?

Defining the Problem The VP of sales used to say

that when we get invited to the dance, we can beat our large competitors.

But too often, we don’t get invited because prospects don’t know who we are.

The Power of Name Recognition

Big companies got the business NOT because they had better products and services…

…but because they had far greater name recognition.

Market Awareness Lessons

Potential prospects knew the “gorillas,” but they did not know our company.

Although our sales force was just as talented and experienced, they could only win if they had the opportunity to compete.

A big part of our job was to create market awareness, enough to get our products and services onto the consideration list.

Market Awareness: Beyond Paid Sales Leads

Not all sales result from a paid sales lead.

Ideally, a fair portion of your revenue occurs because a prospect finds you.

In other words, they have market awareness about you—they know you exist and they have a vague notion about what you offer.

Sometimes, that’s all you need.

11 Ways to Build Market Awareness

Here are some of the top free or low-cost ways prospects can learn about you:

Referrals (the best source of all) … Press releases … ArticlesProduct review sites … Cyber mentions … Word of mouth

Organic web search … Industry analysts … Community outreach … Reputation of your key staff

Social media

Reputation + Social Media = Wide Audience

Don’t overlook the power of the last two items: Reputation of your key staff - The known talent and

experience of your staff (especially executives) can be leveraged to drive business.

Social media - Similarly, a strong social media initiative can get your name and brand position disseminated to a wide audience.

Example: Fusion Marketing Partners and our clients, have both generated significant revenue (and great new clients) by

making ourselves known through free social media sources.

Greater Market Awareness = More Business Closed

Bottom Line: Sales skills and lead generation (and more) are important in marketing and sales.

But market awareness is often the factor that decides whether you even get a chance at the business.

Take action: Get yourself known. Get invited to more dances. Close more business.

About Fusion Marketing Partners

Christopher Ryan, CEO

We Do This:

Brand building/messagingWebsite optimizationContent creationLead generation

You Get This:Much greater levels of awarenessHigher quantities of qualified leadsAbility to generate faster revenue

Lots more information at:

http://FusionMarketingPartners.com/

http://Greatb2BMarketing.com (blog)

info@fusionmarketingpartners.com719-357-6280