by Matt Duncan

My favorite part of working at Reveal Consulting is discussing new business strategies with business leaders across a wide range of professional service industry segments. Nearly every conversation about developing new business opportunities comes back at least a couple of times to their referral network. The referral is, in fact, a great barometer for the value you provide to existing clients. The better served the client feels with your level of service, the more likely they are to recommend your company to their network of contacts. But referrals only scratch the surface of these firms’ potential for growing new business. Many firms are too reliant on referrals and are not nearly as aggressive as they should be at finding new clients. Encouraging conversations with prospective new clients, while developing deeper relationships with existing ones, is the key to controlling the growth of your firm. But, how?

The simple answer – engage your audience. Encourage a two-way conversation and you will reap the rewards of developing more referrals, while attracting new clients and gaining control over the growth of your company. Engagement marketing is a process of creating deeper relationships with the individual so they interact and become more involved with your company and its brand. The engaged customer will look forward to receiving information they find valuable to them.

The goal of engagement marketing is to realign your organization to be responsive to client needs. In doing so, you’ll be better able to spot new opportunities and stay ahead of the competition.
Consider a great engagement example from a highly competitive business-to-consumer (B2C) sector. Dunkin Donuts is encouraging a two-way conversation with their customers via their promotion to “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut Contest”. Customers can log onto the Dunkin site, create their own donut or vote for one that has already been created by others. Twelve finalists will be selected and flown out to the Dunkin Donut’s University for a bake-off to determine the winner. It’s a very interactive promotion putting the customer at the center of the product development process.

In the business-to-business (B2B) sector, IBM does a fantastic job of integrating their engagement efforts online. All content is divided up by different client types, different industry segments, and topics of interest. Drill-down pages provide more and more information to satisfy even the most curious prospects’ needs. Visitors rank the information’s helpfulness so IBM can keep updating and improving confusing or incomplete online content. Live operators are available for online chats to help visitors find just what they need. Prospective customers can also develop your own profile which allows them to define their interests for future tailored communications from IBM. The initial online and future multi-channel interactions with IBM build a client’s trust and, in turn, gather a tremendous amount of information that IBM can use to better position their offerings.

And, it’s not necessary to be a Fortune 500 company to effectively implement an engagement marketing approach. One of Reveal’s mid-sized legal technology clients uses effective campaigns to create two-way conversations with potential and existing clients. Reveal helped the company develop effective branding initiatives at tradeshow and other events that encouraged interaction between the company and potential clients. At regional events, they included clients as leaders of panel discussions to discuss their experiences and areas of business expertise. Importantly, the company developed events that discussed larger business issues, even though they may not directly relate to the technological solution their product provides and may not lead to immediate sales. By realizing their clients’ needs and helping them gather critical information, our client positioned themselves as a partner rather than just another tech firm trying to sell the latest widget.

So, what can your firm do and where should you start?

As with any business development initiative, it is important to plan ahead and keep sight of your long-term goals. Be consistent. Engagement marketing is a process that develops momentum over a period of time. So, consistently providing value to prospective and existing clients will drive brand loyalty in the long-run. Consider communicating your consistently branded message across a wide range of touch points so clients can find you on their terms. Finally, think about how you are going to track ROI from your engagement marketing efforts. Tactics can be easily measured but, the overall impact on loyalty can require a bit more forethought.

Some other quick tips:
• Provide feedback loops on sales processes and customer service
• Ask your clients and site users what information or topics they would like to see from your firm
• Send personalized messages based on the user interests or behavioral patterns
• Integrate your marketing tactics whether PR, social media, newsletter topics, surveys etc. so your clients and users can follow using their preferred methods
• Be genuine and don’t be afraid to ask for customers’ advice
• Be prepared to devote the time and effort you needed to create effective campaigns

If it’s true that the average person tells one to five people about a great experience but will tell ten or more about a bad one, then it’s clearly the right time to start making better connections with your customers and prospects. Engaging them in more meaningful dialogue will help you differentiate your firm from the competition and drive brand loyalty.

Speaking of engagement…I’d enjoy hearing from you. Did you love this article, hate it, want to see more on this or other topics? Send us an email at info@revealconsulting.com or by phone at 317.578.1440.