How to break the marketing code with your human heart.

Cracking the marketing code today can be very challenging. There's just so much stuff going on and so many channels. So trying to reach the right individual to share your product or service can seem impossible. And how can you do it without spending a fortune of time or money?

In this example, let's imagine that you're going after your top three target customers. How best to proceed before implementing online strategies like Google ads, social media ads and other modern technological solutions.

The key behind all of this is tapping into your human intelligence, your emotions, your human heart. Using common sense., intelligence, skills, kindness, and confidence can get you far. You need to lead with this.

Here are my favorite top 10 basic approaches to marketing your business, product or service that typically generate very positive results.

1. Visit your target companies websites

If you begin with the top three companies that you'd really love to do business with, and simply go to their website, you can learn a lot about the company, but more importantly, find out who the right people are that you need to contact.

Contact Page: The contact page on the website may provide a way to reach out to their general inquiries or specific departments, like customer service, which could direct you to the appropriate person in procurement.

What important note here is that you want to be dignified, professional, and polite. Nobody likes spam. And nobody likes to be bothered so you want to employ kindness and honesty because you're simply sharing something with somebody that you think they really might enjoy so make sure your communication reflects this.

2. Participate in their website webinars, conferences, or programs

Most businesses today are well aware of how useful quality content is. And most of them have Zoom conference, webinars, events, or even simple online programs, such as downloading white papers and other content.

It's important to engage in this regularly, which makes you a participant in their organization in their products, but more importantly, gives you the opportunity to communicate with them, provide feedback and possibly invite them to contact you.

All the technology in the world cannot replace human emotion in human interaction. Show up at the events, shake hands and introduce yourself. That's what we do best! And that generates amazing results.

3. Direct mail

An old technology that works in a modern era. Sending a nice looking direct mail piece, particularly a letter of introduction with an invitation to view part of your website or better yet to contact you directly can be very effective.

Sometimes a great strategy is taking advantage of old techniques that stand out from the crowd. And today with all the technological and electronic communication, there's nothing like a beautiful printed piece, or a simple handwritten letter, or professional letter mailed to somebody directly with a kind and honest note. Be creative in your approach and try to keep that person in mind what they would like to see and what they might react well to.

4. LinkedIn Search

LinkedIn is a great tool for finding employees of specific companies and their roles. You can search for "Company X" on LinkedIn and filter by people working there. Look for titles of the position of the person that might be making the decisions or who you want to talk to most spend some time there and really look hard and you'll be amazed at what you can find out on LinkedIn.

Most people provide their contact information and tell you exactly what they do for that organization. LinkedIn is a great way to engage in wonderful conversations. But you have to do it. It doesn't do it for you.

4. Call Company Directly

This is something most people struggle with because they're afraid to make the call but virtually every single company in the world has a phone number and somebody who answers the phone. And even if they don't, you can leave a message.

So be very mindful about what you want to say when you call or the type of message that you wanna leave. And remember, we're talking about people here so we want to be polite and professional and courteous. We don't want to make people angry or frustrated thinking it's just another spam call so be very genuine.

5. Emailing General Inquiries

If you cannot find a specific name, you can send a general inquiry to their provided email addresses. They will likely forward your message to the appropriate department.

Here's an example of a general email address: mailto: info@companyname.com.

Here’s an example of how I’d present this general email:

Subject: Inquiry Regarding Purchasing/Procurement Contact

Dear [Company name/Title of position, or persons name],

I hope this message finds you well.

I am reaching out to inquire about the appropriate contact within your organization for [ relevant title or subject matter ]. Could you kindly direct me to the person responsible for managing [ relevant title or subject matter ] at Company name?

If possible, I would appreciate any relevant contact information or guidance on how to best get in touch with the [ relevant title or subject matter ] team.

Thank you in advance for your assistance. I look forward to your response.

Best regards,

Name, Title, contact information

6. Use Industry Databases

If you're looking for a more specific contact (such as a senior-level person in procurement), awesome platforms like ZoomInfo (https://www.zoominfo.com) or Dun & Bradstreet (https://www.dnb.com) most always has more detailed business information, though these services often require a subscription.

7. General marketing—print mailers, email marketing, social media marketing, online and social media ads

By creating regular and standardized, marketing communications, such as social media posts, email updates, and advertising in general, keeps your name out there so that people are aware of your name. For example, somebody might happen upon your name and company on LinkedIn and end up seeing you at the show.

Don't forget, there may be a purchasing agent or a procurement manager for example—but there are often young guns or new hires that are very exuberant about the business and those are usually like the carrier ants or carrier bees that tend to do the work sometimes. You'd be surprised at our opportunity hides. When we're marketing, we are confidently saying here's what we have and here's what it's for. We're trying to make that connection to people that will care most about what it is. We're trying to sell. Don't waste time with anything otherwise.

One last tip is that not everybody's going to like it and that's OK. Focus on your unique relevant audience and make sure you keep your brand out there because the odds of the right person finding you are pretty good as long as you're consistent.

Nonetheless, having a professional website, and fairly regular engagement maintains brand integrity and ups your chances of others to take you seriously.

There are a few examples I have, one would be social media ads or boost posts—so let's say you are selling organic dog food and you do a boosted post for a few hundred dollars and the text says something like “If you care about the health of your pet then please try our pet food.” Well that's small exercise with online targeted ads is designed to go after people that are interested in pets and dogs or whatever criteria plug-in into the ad campaign—and it works!

Nonetheless you can tap into all of the common marketing drivers like email, marketing or social media, marketing or print ads for example. But remember you have to do it. It doesn't do it for you.

8. Referral programs

Sometimes creating your own referral programs are excellent motivators to a good solution. For example, if you know of anyone in the industry that might benefit from our services, I offer a referral program that will give you $100 gift card for every successful relationship formed…

I've had numerous companies find a lot of success here, because human nature is that we like to help! We like to introduce…

9. Engagement

Most people sit on their thumbs when it comes to social media, or grip about how there's so much spam. What they're failing to do is taking advantage of opportunity and what I mean by that is for example you find a contact at your target company and engage in a conversation that's honest and justified for example, you might notice something from that company that somebody's engaged in and say hey we were at that show we would've loved to have seen you there!

By engaging regularly, you open up to new conversations. But it entails a commitment to it instead of relying on technology alone.

Don't expect that you can just do a social media post and hope for the best. You are putting your foot in the ring and need to engage in conversation and if you want results, you want to be respectful and honest and dignified and not spam people but get out there and engage that's what gets results.

10. Strategic Event Planning

If you have a budget to show up at many of the industries, best events, then merely setting up shop, which is important and establishes a presence and a brand awareness, is only part of the strategy.

By literally inviting entire companies and organizations— and in particular individuals to come see what the show, most always creates results. Especially if you have something specific to offer like even something as simple as give me two minutes of your time so I can tell you about XYZ and how this can really help your business.

Many of the industry leaders are at these shows, so showing up is great, but personally inviting them to something you're proud of is even better.

The bottom line is that you want to be the human that you are. Be proactive and engage people regularly. It's about building relationships and building trust in forming a good communication and the more you do this the larger it grows, and the odds for success are amplified.

So get marketing!

Here’s a basic overview of the challenges I discussed with a good friend and client… https://youtube.com/shorts/pUraQstSUOA