Interruption Marketing is dead. It’s time to stop pitching and start giving.
As you’re no doubt aware from your own experience, most buyers (87%, according to a recent survey) conduct their own research long before they contact sellers.
They search online, they talk to colleagues and ask for opinions from their peers and from other influencers – and they do all this homework long before they ever talk to companies selling the products they’re considering.
In order to be noticed by sellers and added to their consideration set, especially when selling to other businesses, you need to become the recognised, credible “Authority” in your category — someone who has established themselves and their organisation in the mind of their marketplaces as the market leader and driver. Authorities help to shape the values, metrics and perceptions of their prospects.
To build your reputation as the Authority in your niche, you need to voice your opinion, share your knowledge and provide value to the communities you care about. But, in order to do so, you need to first define your message, determine who you are targeting and then create valuable and relevant content of interest to the point at which they are in their pre-purchase cycle.
And you need to stop pitching and start giving. The moment you stop only trying to sell stuff and start trying to help your prospects instead, that’s when your business will be transformed.
Once you’re perceived as an Authority, you can:
- set the agenda for prospective customers
- recommend the ideal specifications for their product or service purchases
- become their first choice (and ideally their only choice)
- meet their needs
- build lasting relationships
How can you do all this?
Through what we call Authority Marketing.
And it all starts with the customer.
WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS TO KNOW
Prospects typically go through three different stages in the pre-purchase cycle:
STAGE ONE: IDENTIFYING NEEDS
Prospects who are new to a category typically spend time defining the scope of their and their organisation’s needs and determining exactly what categories of products might be appropriate to meet those needs.
STAGE TWO: RESEARCHING SOLUTIONS
Second stage searchers start to move from Need Identification to an understanding of the range of products available. In the process, they compare solutions, start to determine which products they should be considering and establish preliminary specifications for their purchase.
STAGE THREE: RESEARCHING SUPPLIERS
In the third pre-purchase stage, prospects identify potential suppliers who offer suitable products and then review the credentials of those suppliers.
BECOMING THE AUTHORITY IN YOUR NICHE
To establish yourself as a credible Authority, you need to:
- understand your prospects and their specific needs
- understand how your products or services can meet those needs
- create a plan to develop assets and materials that can be offered to prospects, to establish your credentials and your credibility
OUR AUTHORITY MARKETING PROGRAMS
We have been developing authority marketing programs for a number of years, for ourselves and for a small group of clients. We recognise that there are a great many other organisations out there that could also benefit from an effective authority marketing program.
We currently provide two different levels of authority marketing:
OPTION 1: AUTHORITY MARKETING AUDIT
With our Authority Marketing Audit service, in conjunction with focussed interviews (by email/phone) with you and/or key members of your team, we will establish and prepare a report detailing:
- who your most likely prospects are, and which role/s they play in their organisations
- their specific product needs
- what they need to know (at each stage of their product investigations) to best meet those needs
- how your own offerings can best be positioned as meeting those needs
- what types of communications would best serve to provide prospects with the information they require to aid with their decision-making
- competitive activity in your marketplace
Based on this report you will be able to determine the most effective ways to proceed with your own Authority Marketing program.
Our Authority Marketing Audit service is usually priced at $2500 but for this first public offering we are making it available for just $1797.
To sign up for our Authority Marketing audit service, please click here to pay by PayPal.
OPTION 2: AUTHORITY MARKETING STRATEGIC PROGRAM
Some of you may prefer an all-encompassing Authority Marketing program. Accordingly, for a limited time and for a limited number of organisations, we are offering to develop an Authority Marketing Program analysis and implementation plan on your behalf.
Our analysis, in conjunction with focussed interviews (by email/phone) with you and/or key members of your team, will establish:
- who your most likely prospects are, and which role/s they play in their organisations
- their specific product needs
- what they need to know (at each stage of their product investigations) to best meet those needs
- how your own offerings can best be positioned as meeting those needs
- what types of communications would best serve to provide prospects with the information they require to aid with their decision-making
- upcoming external events of interest and relevance to your target market
- competitive activity in the local and regional marketplace
- primary industry & category keywords
- keywords & topics used by competitors
- influencers whose opinion matters to your target market
- needs & wants most expressed by clients
- based on information gathered using preceding processes, determine the primary content themes that should be the focal point for the next six to twelve months
We will then provide you with a comprehensive recommended Authority Marketing Program which will map out the steps required to establish your organisation as the authority and preferred, credible supplier in your industry.
And yes, we can also provide the necessary resources to actually implement the recommended Authority Marketing Program, which we can discuss once we provide the recommendation to you; or of course you can implement the program yourself or through your existing marketing partners, if you prefer.
YOUR INVESTMENT
Given the amount of time and effort that we put into each Authority Marketing Program development project, we should charge at least $10,000 for each program — that would be a small price to pay for such a service, to help ensure that your organisation’s position in the marketplace is the best that it can be. And, in fact, clients have happily paid us larger fees to help them with their Authority Marketing needs.
As an introductory offer as we make this service publicly known, we’ve decided to offer our Authority Marketing Program development service for just $3497 — but this offer will be available only to the first three clients. Orders will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis, so please don’t miss out.
To reserve your Authority Marketing Program development, please pay by credit card through PayPal by clicking here: http://bit.ly/authoritymarketingprogram
If you are not one of the first three to apply, this link will redirect to a Waiting List page.
Alternatively, you can email us at [email protected]
If you would prefer to pay by bank deposit, or require an invoice before making payment, please send an email to the address above with details of your request.
(The service provider will be shown as Netmarketing Courses in your transaction and on your credit card statement).
ABOUT US
These Authority Marketing services are offered by Netmarketing NZ, a digital marketing and training consultancy headed by long-time marketer Michael Carney.
Michael has been in the marketing game since 1971, online since 1987 — and can be variously described as a digital marketer, trainer, content marketer, adman, media director, strategist, insights analyst, copywriter, consultant, playwright and dad.
He is probably best known for his many years as Media Director of a number of leading NZ advertising agencies, including MDA Mackay King (now Saatchi & Saatchi) and HKM Rialto (since merged with Colenso BBDO). More recently he worked in strategic roles with MediaCom New Zealand and Grey Worldwide and was Strategic Planning Director for the Media Counsel.
In 2010, Michael set up Netmarketing, an organisation which provides a range of marketing services to a small group of clients, including strategic planning, marketing audits, content marketing, SEO, website enhancement and other digital marketing offerings and authority marketing services.
The company provides online training services for Kiwi marketers, including courses covering Social Media Marketing, Mobile Marketing, eCommerce and many other digital marketing topics.
Michael is the author of “Trade Me Success Secrets: How To Buy and Sell Effectively on NZ’s Favourite Auction Site”, now in its second edition. He has also ghost-written books for several clients,
He was chairman of the NZ Marketing Association’s Network of Digital Marketers from 2009 until March 2013.