Pre world wide web, it was a sales maxim that you should make contact with, be in front of your sales potentials every 90 days - three months (or less). Is this still relevant in today’s world of digital marketing and social media?
Certainly it is now possible to blog, post, email inexpensively and relatively quickly, and digital analytics can tell you with what impact your message is being received. Our expectations around communications have changed immensely over the last two decades; we no longer wait for the post to bring us into contact with others; we expect responses to be almost immediate.
Frequency
So while it’s easier to make and keep contact, how often should we be in front of ‘our people’ ?
If your business is B2C, then quite probably the answer is far more often than every 90 days. In fact, for some (younger) markets you may need to be employing a daily presence in social media feeds.
For B2B businesses, the timing can be anything up to 90 days depending on your industry, what resources you can put to the comms, and whether there is any seasonality impacting purchase decisions. (Seasons are three months!)
Quality over quantity
We would suggest of more importance though, is the value of what you have to say. To keep in touch just for the sake of being in touch can have a negative response. If your contacts (be they existing clients, prospective clients, influencers) feel bombarded, and/or question the value of the information you are sending them, they will likely hit the delete button or unsubscribe to be lost potentially forever! Or in the case of printed communications, file them in the bin unread.
So quality over quantity but regularly.
Make it easy for yourself
Make it an objective to take note of industry comment, success stories, learnings that are relevant to your contacts. Ask your team to do likewise – set up a Google docs or similar where ideas can be pooled, have it as an agenda item for your staff meetings. This way when it’s time to write your newsletter - digital or printed - or social media posts, you aren’t on the back foot and it won’t take you another 90 days to get something out there.
If you’d like to learn more, get in touch. We’ve got more ideas on how you can keep your business in front.
Certainly it is now possible to blog, post, email inexpensively and relatively quickly, and digital analytics can tell you with what impact your message is being received. Our expectations around communications have changed immensely over the last two decades; we no longer wait for the post to bring us into contact with others; we expect responses to be almost immediate.
Frequency
So while it’s easier to make and keep contact, how often should we be in front of ‘our people’ ?
If your business is B2C, then quite probably the answer is far more often than every 90 days. In fact, for some (younger) markets you may need to be employing a daily presence in social media feeds.
For B2B businesses, the timing can be anything up to 90 days depending on your industry, what resources you can put to the comms, and whether there is any seasonality impacting purchase decisions. (Seasons are three months!)
Quality over quantity
We would suggest of more importance though, is the value of what you have to say. To keep in touch just for the sake of being in touch can have a negative response. If your contacts (be they existing clients, prospective clients, influencers) feel bombarded, and/or question the value of the information you are sending them, they will likely hit the delete button or unsubscribe to be lost potentially forever! Or in the case of printed communications, file them in the bin unread.
So quality over quantity but regularly.
Make it easy for yourself
Make it an objective to take note of industry comment, success stories, learnings that are relevant to your contacts. Ask your team to do likewise – set up a Google docs or similar where ideas can be pooled, have it as an agenda item for your staff meetings. This way when it’s time to write your newsletter - digital or printed - or social media posts, you aren’t on the back foot and it won’t take you another 90 days to get something out there.
If you’d like to learn more, get in touch. We’ve got more ideas on how you can keep your business in front.
