The Secret Sauce for FM Marketing
We live in an era where technology has taken over marketing. Technologies and their offspring including SEO, data enrichment, Google Analytics, marketing automation, Account-Based Marketing, AI, and social media are readily available and easily implemented by marketers. So many marketers are using the same tools and technologies that we’re competing on a level playing field.
How would you like to tilt the field to your advantage?
You can tilt the field by injecting creativity into your marketing. Creativity is nothing new. For years, ad agencies and in-house marketers stressed creativity in their marketing. However, since the mid-1990s data and technology have kidnapped marketing and have been holding it hostage. It’s time to inject a serious dose of creativity into your marketing efforts. Here are three simple creative tactics that I am using in 2020 to marketing the National Facilities Management and Technology conference and expo (NFMT). I recommend that you or your agency do the same.
1) Let Your Customer Do the Talking
Use customer testimonials in your print ads, your digital ads and in your emails. The more specific your customer testimonials are, the greater your sales will be. Specifics sell. Details, hard numbers and facts can make a compelling case for your product or service.
Examples:
Here’s an easy way to get those golden testimonials.
Survey your customers. Ask them three questions.
Question 1: How has using our product/service helped you become a better facilities manager?
Question 2: How has our product/service helped you solve a problem at your facility?
Question 3: How has our product/service helped your organization save money?
The answers you get will provide hard facts and details that can work into your ads.
2) Get Personal
The personal approach is a very effective tactic to use; especially in our high-tech, low-touch world. You can start by making your copywriting more conversational. Write to them as you would to a friend with more “you and me” copy and less “sell” copy.
The personal approach works extremely well with email. Skip the HTML and instead write a simple, thoughtful text-only email. It gets through spam filters, and the marketing clutter and into your prospects in-boxes. Add a little flattery in your email and you’ve got a winner! For example...
3) More Show. Less Tell.
Do you remember “Show and Tell” from grade school? I sure do. I think it was everyone’s favorite part of the school day in Miss McWilliams 2nd grade class. With facilities executives bombarded by more than 5,000 ads every day (thanks internet!), the best way to stand out is by saying less and showing more. Whether in print or digital, graphics are king. As a copywriter by trade that’s a hard thing for me to admit. Keep your message short and simple and let the graphics capture your prospect’s interest. Here’s another example from the National Facilities Management and Technology (NFMT) campaign.
If you have thoughts or ideas on how to market more effectively to facilities executives, please share them with me. I’ll make sure to include them in next month’s blog. Until then, love to learn more from the experiences of other marketers.
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