This is my favorite definition of insanity; "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result".

Yet companies are doing that on the daily with their marketing.

Ever heard a conversation like this in your marketing boardroom?

We're not getting any results from tradeshows. So we should probably do MORE tradeshows. Let's include this NEW tradeshow that's more targeted to our ideal clients.

Or how about this?

We're not getting any results from our digital advertising. We should probably spend MORE money to get more views. And maybe we can also fix our targeting.

And it happens in Sales too...

We're just not getting enough leads. Let's hire a new salesperson and get them on LinkedIn Sales Navigator too. And while we're at it, let's hire an expert to come and train our people on how to use it.

Doing MORE of a thing that is broken is STILL BROKEN.

Can I say it again?

If what you're doing from a sales and marketing capacity isn't working in a SMALL amount, it's not going to work in a larger amount.

Creating MORE content just to say you have MORE isn't contributing.

Distributing MORE ads just to say you sent out MORE isn't contributing.

Making MORE cold calls just to say you made MORE isn't contributing.

But still...day in and day out, marketing and sales professionals, and the leaders of their organizations, are doing exactly that.

And they're paying for it.

In Time and Money.

So, why do we do it?

Because it's all we know.

Ok, so let's learn another way...

Relationship Marketing

You've probably heard of relationship marketing. It's defined by Hubspot as, "a marketing strategy of cultivating more meaningful relationships with customers to ensure long-term satisfaction and brand loyalty. Relationship marketing isn't about short-term wins or sales transactions — instead, it focuses on delighting customers for the long haul."

But did you notice the limitation with this strategy?

It focuses on CUSTOMERS only.

We already HAVE those people in our ecosystem. What about all the other people? Our leads? Our partners? Our vendors? Heck, what about our employees?

Customers are only ONE segment of the people our brand touches. And honestly, it's usually a small percentage when you add up everyone.

So what if we expanded the building of meaningful relationships to EVERYONE in our ecosystem? What could that look like?

Before we move forward with that, let's take a look at one more methodology for our new bank of knowledge.

Social Selling

Let's keep it in the family for this definition, shall we? Hubspot defines social selling as, "salespeople using social media to interact directly with their prospects. Salespeople will provide value by answering prospect questions and offering thoughtful content until the prospect is ready to buy."

Did you notice the limitation with this one?

It's focused on SALESPEOPLE only.

How many employees does your company have? What percentage of them are salespeople?

According to the US Census Bureau, 6.3% of the Total US Labor Force worked in a sales role in 2020. That means 95.7% of employees aren't being activated to show up online in a way that, to go back to the definition, "offers thoughtful content until the prospect is ready to buy". Seems like something is missing here.

So, even if your company is using "relationship marketing" and "social selling" strategies, you're be experiencing gaps.

A New Age of Sales and Marketing

What if we took what make sense about relationship marketing and what makes sense about social selling, and put them together to create:

A marketing and sales strategy of cultivating more meaningful relationships through social media within the entire business ecosystem by answering questions and offering thoughtful content to ensure long-term brand loyalty.

How does that feel compared to:

• Distributing Ads?
• Posting on Social?
• Writing Blog Posts?
• Making Sales Calls?
• All of the other hundreds of THINGS we do in sales and marketing?

We start to get out of the trap of just doing the same THINGS. And we start entering the realm of exploring how to build more meaningful relationships with our actions.

And THAT's when people start to buy.

This is the power of a digital brand experience that stands out in the market.

Are you ready to rethink your digital brand?