The Marketing Playbook Brokers Need
Branding, marketing and establishing a digital footprint have been low on the collective priority lists of commercial finance professionals for decades. Most companies weren’t ready for the COVID-19 pandemic in a number of ways — one of which was not having a big enough digital footprint ready when everything went remote and digital seemingly overnight. Organizations of all industries participated in a mad dash to establish brand identity and a strong digital footprint to stay connected with the world. Even now, a year later, there are still companies that are in the process of establishing a digital footprint or still have yet to reprioritize their branding and marketing efforts to meet customer needs.
At the onset of the pandemic, brokers found themselves playing a crucial role in business survival, providing support services and responding to the immediate economic impact. Today, as things return to normal and businesses report back to the office, brokers have an opportunity to support their clients during the transition period while driving deal flow.
Although many things have changed, one thing remains: The first step to closing a deal is earning client trust. It’s how you earn a client’s trust that has changed. In case you were unsure before the pandemic, you can rest assured, now more than ever, the search for funding starts online. Despite this fundamental truth, many businesses fail to prioritize marketing in their sales approach. This oversight can be detrimental to business growth.
First Impressions Happen Online
In today’s world, people make business decisions based on the impression they get from your digital presence before calling or emailing you. For example, consider the last time you sought out accommodation services for your business trip. Before booking a stay at a hotel or an Airbnb, you looked at the customer reviews and you checked out the service provider’s online presence to determine how legitimate they are. If their website is out of date or the reviews are sketchy, you write them off and keep searching. Like it or not, this is the way of the customer. If you are not actively reaching your customer on their terms, then you risk losing a sale before having your first touch-point.
Many mistakes can be avoided in modern day marketing efforts. You don’t want to give users a reason to say “no” to your services before even having a chance to engage with them. We see this all the time; a potential customer looks up ‘commercial funding’ on Google, they click on a link listed on the first page of the search results and next thing you know, they are exploring a website. Let’s say it’s your company’s website. Is your website a proper reflection of your value proposition?
Too often, companies work much harder by trying to keep dead business practices alive instead of working smarter. Gone are the days of cold calling and handshakes. People are reluctant to answer calls from unknown numbers, but they will always read their LinkedIn messages. It’s a matter of reaching your audience on their own playing field. If you are not considering the user experience every step of the way, then you have already forfeited the game.
Put yourself in the shoes of the user. Say they hear about your company through word-of-mouth and they decide to look you up. What will they find? Is your LinkedIn page up to date and active? Are your Google reviews positive and is your company responsive? Do you exist online? Your customers live online, so online marketing is now standard operating procedure.
Winning the Digital Game
Fear not, there are many ways for you to compete and win in the shifting digital landscape. It starts and ends with your company’s digital footprint. A digital footprint is everything you do online, from posting a blog to commenting on a customer’s testimonial. The footprint has the power to make or break your reputation. It is the first impression a potential customer will have of your business. We’ve all heard of the importance of first impressions and how it’s near impossible to change them, right? Your first impression online is the new handshake of 2021.
The winning strategy can be summarized in one word: value. In everything that you do, ask yourself, is this valuable for the customer? The customer experience is mission critical. How do you determine value-add? Give your user something to walk away with. Whether that’s something informative or entertaining, the goal is to establish a balance between your audience’s needs and self-serving content. Share content on LinkedIn that will teach your audience something like small business tips and encourage customers onboard to leave reviews so that newcomers know your business is alive. Be responsive so your audience can put a face to your brand because at the end of the day, people still buy from people — it’s where they buy that makes the difference.
Depending on where you are on the digital marketing spectrum, this can be quite overwhelming, but there is a simple solution to make it more actionable. Start small and begin by considering all or some of the tips in this article before diving into a digital audit. In case you don’t know anything about your digital footprint, find out for yourself. Google is your best friend. Plan the next steps. Perhaps you want to do a complete overhaul and rebrand, or maybe you want to create a social media calendar and post more often. Whatever it is, the first step is learning about your current digital footprint.
It’s hard to quantify how many people have said ‘no’ to a business simply because their digital footprint just wasn’t a priority. If you think good marketing management is expensive, you should see the cost of bad marketing management.
