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We've come a long way in the last few weeks and months.
Back in February, before we took much notice of Covid19, we had prospects we were talking to that thought that social media was a "nice to have". Everytime we spoke to them, they always had another priority.
Fast forward to today and things have changed.
As a global business, we have prospects and clients throughout the world and it's really interesting in talk to them. With every other "recession" it has impacted a country, or a sector but not everybody.
The other day I had calls with India, Germany and New York in the same day and they said all the same thing in terms what was impacting them, where we are in terms of lock down, etc, etc. Covid_19 has made a global impact the the reaction has been the same globally.
We Are All Now On-Line
One of the things that people have had to get used to is the fact that EVERYTHING is now on-line. Schools, churches, Scouts, access to food, music lessons, everything.
Before Covid 19, there were thousands of "things" we were told you couldn't do on-line. Churchs, schools, work .. you had to go to church for church, you had to go to school for school, you had to go to the office for work, you had to go to the shop to buy things.
Not anymore.
Even my mother (82) is running her wine group online. When she suggested running the wine group online, somebody (actually an x Technology school teacher) wrote a 3 page email saying it was "impossible". My mum now runs her Wine group online and so do choirs, orchestras, etc, etc.
What Does This Mean To "Pre Coronavirus" Sales and Marketing People?
The problem for people that are still marketing and selling like you did before Covid19. (I'm talking about people who use Advertising, Email Marketing and Cold Calling, I assume the people who used conferences have given up on those.) The problem is ... we have all moved online.
The argument was that my customers are not on social. Yes they are and very comfortable with it.
The Problem For the Analogue Sales and Marketer
If I tell you that my product or service is the best in the world through an advert, through an email or through a cold call, what does the buyer now do? They do two things:-
1. They look you the seller up online
2. We know to search for that product or service online.
.... and we are all very comfortable do that, as we have lived our lives online now for months.
If I tell you the iPhone is the best mobile phone you can buy. You will search on Google. You will read the reviews. You will read content. You will have your own belief systems, you might be a Samsung user for example.
We Make Buying Decisions Online Now
While we do that searching we will jump to a number of conclusions.
Is the iPhone the best mobile phone?
Where should I buy my choice of from, both the individual and the person.
How Will We Come to Those Buying Decisions?
We will come those buying decisions, based on who helped us. Who looks trustworthy. In the B2B world people buy from people, a company can have the best website in the world. It's the people who need to look trustworthy. This is trustworthy ..... on social.
We will look to the people that gave us insight and educated us. This will be in the form of content. Nobody is interested in corporate content "we are great", "we are number one", "we are market leader" this narrative does not help us. In fact it's the same as all your competitors.
Your Brand Is Your People.
In this Covid 19 world and in the "new normal" your people and their network is everything. When a marketer says they are investing in "branding" this has to mean "we are empowering our people to talk authentically on social". Why?
Because that is where your clients are.
Related: COVID-19 Has Exposed Weaknesses In Digital Strategies