I would like to introduce myself as a mediorce marketer, trying to sell IT solutions to SMEs. Although I have a good grip on the subject and at the product level, there still lacks a drive within myself to get the business going. I have tried many things in marketing. Currently the leads that we generate are through Google Adwords program. Other than this I tried craigslist, gumtree and few other sources.. Although Adwords has been giving a steady stream of leads it cost me lots and the dependency on only one source keeps me worried.
Currently I seek help in generating business from partners.. to start with how to search for a partner? How to apporach them? How to get them market us or promote our services? I read lots, researched lots but did not get a general practical solution. Since my services deal with web development, I know I want to partner with related businesses however I still wonder how to find the right match and how to approach them..
Also I would like to invite businesses to partner with us.. Just putting a partner link on the site may not suffice. There may be proved and tested methods to drive business through partners.. I am yet to discover these idea..
I think the problem lies in incomplete information that I have and not being monitored and guided by an exceptional marketer or sales whiz. I know what to do.. dont know how to do....
My question to all established marketers is to show me a way and share your stories to inspire & guide marketers like me.
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I am certainly finding your post very interesting as it reflects your thinking process.
ReplyDeleteThe way I have been dealing with this is-
1. Know my company- Every passionate person strives to know his company very well. Effort may not stop there but start from analysing positioning of company and its offering. In your post you have identified importance of web hosting companies, going further you may also want to see what complements your business model. Identifying this would explore more about your dependency on others and vice versa, if that is something you know, those would be your potential business partners.
2.Know you competitors - We know that when we say reaching early to customer would take us to the closures very soon. But this also means that when we are marketing our offerings we are also creating space for our competitors, established companies would love to understand how our offerings are better in the market. If we know our competitor thoroughly we know our strengths and weaknesses. Feeling the gap for our weaknesses comes from knowing our competitors, their partners and business model.
3.Know you customer - He is a God, he has his preferences and likings. Understand the comfort level of your customer, buying behaviour, his dislikes, his vision and plans. Follow your customer where he goes, follow whom he follows, identify how we make choices and what sources he prefers, who influences him and reach there.
I think what I have mentioned is known to all of us but we just need to know time and time again that we need to practise these things.
Regards,
Yogesh
I agree.. we tend to forget these basic things and hit most of the times.
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