Tornado Marketing Tips

Marketing Tips & Inspiration

The New ABCs of Marketing

Do you remember when sales was all about the hustle?

The Sales ABCs - Always Be Closing!

Yuck!

Some people still have that mentality. In fact, I've personally been to sales trainings like that. But pushy sales tactics don't fit my personality - and don't work well today. It's too easy to unsubscribe and unfollow. The pushy sales person might never even know you left.

Today's Marketing ABCs might be better summed up as...

Always Be Contributing.

I know that sounds a little cheesy, but the truth is that referral marketing, relationship marketing, word of mouth marketing, online marketing, and social media marketing all depend on people LIKING YOU.

If they don't like you, they're not going to recommend you to their friends.

Stop pushing!

Today, I see this all the time on Facebook with friends selling multi-level marketing products. They're excited. Their MLM group is encouraging them to post daily and "Go Live on Facebook" at least weekly.

But truthfully, I just want to see pictures of their kids and dogs.

If I wanted to buy their products, I'd subscribe to their Facebook Business page. But they don't have one.

So... I hide them. And I know I'm not alone.

(Truthfully, I'm sure we've ALL been guilty of being overly enthusiastic about our businesses or kids or pets or wedding plans or whatever. It happens!)

If that's the case, you can make a minor course correction.

But when people start avoiding you, stop returning your phone calls, and block you as a Facebook friend, you need a wake-up call.

Let me give you some tough Tornado Love.

You are over-promoting your business if:

You never call your friends, clients or associates to say "Hi" or "How are you?" without leading with some "Buy This!" or "Oooh, I need a favor?!" message.
You give only with the ulterior motive to get something in return "Buy-that-lady-a-drink!"
You only ask self-serving questions on LinkedIn - Would you like a solution that does XYZ at a fraction of the price of our competitor? Oh, we do that!
You only comment on blogs to say - "Great post! Come visit my blog at XYZ.com"
You do all the talking - and not enough listening. You don"t truly converse with other people.
You ask questions at a conference with the sole purpose of getting the microphone so you can tell everyone about your company.

All of us who are in sales and marketing walk a fine line between letting people know what we do - and shoving it down people"s throat.

A little hustle is good.

It's OK to be excited about what you sell - you should be! Just don"t expect everyone to jump on board before they even know you. Pay attention to the feedback you're getting and adjust appropriately.

Contribute. Educate. Give. Resolve to do one nice thing today without expecting anything in return.

Always Be Contributing!

About Adrianne Machina

Through marketing training, consulting and copywriting, I help companies find their focus and harness their authentic power to create an extraordinary impact.

SAY HELLO!