Firms can find the key ingredients to improve their marketing by speaking with a single person and selling something to them, according to the founder of xTEN Club.
“Marketing isn’t a science. It’s an art form with a lot of science surrounding it. It’s a matter of human interaction,” said William Buist of the annual programme of strategic activities for small, exclusive groups of business owners.
Mr Buist, who is also director at consultancy firm Abelard Collaborative Consultancy, outlines three main principles of conversation.
The first is to identify what excites the individual, what their goals are, and then speak to them in those terms.
Mr Buist said: “As an example, if you want to sell laptops to a business owner, you find out what line of work they’re in, and then you let them know which model would suit their needs best, and you speak to them in terms of how it will help them get their work done.
“This is no different from analytics and targeted marketing where you crunch the numbers to determine who your typical buyer is, paint a portrait of their worldview, and adjust your advertising material accordingly.”
The second is to listen to the potential customer instead of talking to them – the latter diminishes the opportunity to secure a sale.
Citing the sale of the popular ‘Minecraft’ video games, bought by Microsoft for $2.5bn (£1.5bn), Mr Buist highlighted the game’s developer, Markus “Notch” Persson’s ability to listen to users of the software and implement their ideas and suggestions when appropriate.
He said that the game’s success was not achieved by an extensive advertising campaign, but through word of mouth by the core user base.
Mr Buist added: “Analytics play a big part in listening. You can see who’s buying your products, what their most common comments, reviews and complaints are, and what they like best about the brand. Even so, maybe the best way to listen is still the old-fashioned way: just listen. Read customer emails, and when reasonable, address their concerns directly.”
However, listening is not that effective unless you practice the final principle: caring – and people can tell whether a person is genuinely interested in what they have to say, Mr Buist said.
He added that implementing these three fundamentals, as well as solid analytics and a reasonable marketing budget, could allow a firm to deliver personalised marketing.
Adviser view
Debbie Chettleburgh, head of marketing and administration at Investing Ethically, based in Norfolk, said: “Marketing has a lot to do with how a company portrays itself. While I agree with what is said, I think a key way in which companies can shape how they want people to view their business is through advertising.
She added: “Listening is not a necessarily easy thing to do, but you have to do it in order to provide an appropriate response. I think people can tell if someone has listened to what they said through their response.”
