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Powerful communication to a selective audience requires segmentation of customers and prospects into meaningful groups.
Context
The context or nature of your relationship should be the first grouping criterion. Context determines the “topic of conversation” that will be deemed most relevant and valuable by the recipient. These are the items that are most likely to be picked up by the prospect's reticular activator. The primary drivers of Context are: Is the Information
- Relevant - First and foremost, the topic of conversation must be relevant to the recipient or the message will likely be deemed inappropriate or valueless.
- Valuable - The information that you share should be actionable by your recipient. There should be something they can and/or should do about it. At a minimum it should be readily applicable to challenges that they face now or are likely to face in the future.
The common drivers of Context in relationship marketing include industry, occupation, duties or job function, type and geography.
Familiarity
The secondary relationship marketing criterion for grouping contacts into effective communication channels is familiarity. The intimacy level you have with a contact drives three critical aspects of effective and powerful communication:
- Tone – Your familiarity with the recipient will drive the formality of the language used throughout the communication.
- Format – Familiarity also drives the general layout and even influences the optimal message length.
- Vehicle – Each mode of communication has a perceived intimacy attached, for instance a business letter in a #10 envelope is perceived as less intimate than an email, but more intimate than a postcard advertisement.
Communication Channels
Creating your relationship marketing communication channels is the next step. Begin by associating each prospects contextual driver to each level of the Familiarity Hierarchy.
Once you have intelligently grouped your contacts into communication channels, you must powerfully communicate to each of them with relevant and valuable messaging that lets them know you recognize and understand their problems. Subtlety educating them about the various solutions that you offer while asking them to take an action that indicates their level of interest and allows you to monitor their progress along the educational spectrum.
And the final step for truly effective messaging is to ensure your strategy is based on your ability to address:
- Primary Concerns: These are the primary concerns of your contacts when considering the solutions that you offer.
- Required Components: These are the solutions you provide necessary to alleviate those primary concerns.
- Credible Claims: These are the claims backed by evidence that you can make to differentiate your solution from the rest of the market.
Let Vantage Point Direct be your Silent SalesforceTM.
For information on Vantage Point Direct's Silent Salesforce TM Relationship Marketing System TM (RMS TM) click here
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Challenges of Marketing
