Creating dialogue. Difficulties and solutions

Ask any B2B company what they are trying to do, and the phrase ‘creating dialogue’ comes up.

That’s why companies take the time and trouble to;

- update their website regularly
- do the same with their blog or blogs
- use Twitter and Linkedin to promote both
- advertise or direct market, with the web as a destination
- try to add value to the user experience

That’s why this blog is here.

It’s not a complicated formula, but it does take some time and concentration to get that ‘dialogue’ going. Especially so, if you go beyond your immediate, ‘most available’ markets.

Most available are the ones who know you. They are aware of you either by reputation (what you’ve done) or by the company you keep (who you work for), your specialisms (examples of your work) or specific market sectors (in our case, finance and business services).

Go beyond that group, though, and things become more difficult. Your brand is unknown, your reputation yet to be established.

This was precisely the problem a new client of ours faced. Our proposed solution was to market hard to prospects in this space, taking a two part approach.

The first effort segmented their prospects by potential. Potentially large clients were given a special offer to respond, with the promise of more if they kept up the dialogue. This segment was low-volume, but high payback.

The second part of the programme took a traditional volume-based approach. Using clever technology and light touch creative work to encourage volume response and help to qualify the market more thoroughly in the future.

Sadly, our client backed off. Better, they thought, to keep on addressing the market they were used to working with, rather than to take a leap into the unknown. They made a decision not to leave their comfort zone.

We were disappointed, but we appreciate the problem. Going into markets where you are unknown is a worrying proposition for any company, and yet it could mean the difference between maintaining market share, and growing it substantially.