The conversation at the beginning of a relationship with a client never fails to hit this funny note: “Let’s see how much money your campaign will bring in”
The reason this is funny, is because the areas of promotion, branding, advertising and sales are very much separated and different, however many executives tend to blend and confuse them.
As our company, unlike most agencies, provides services in all areas including sales, I’ll do you, and all marketing service providers out there, a favour and help you separate the terms.
When you hire a marketing firm, a branding or an advertising agency, you’re basically saying: “I want more attention. Bring me more people. “
Whether it’s through:
- Branding – establishing the image and strategy that will bring and maintain loyal customers
- Marketing – performing the promotional activities that will lead more customers to you
- Advertising – paying for exposure in media to communicate your message through, well, advertisements
The end goal is to increase your traffic and the relationship that you have with your customers.
YES, when you do an effective branding, marketing or advertising campaign, you WILL get more people, which should LEAD to more sales.
When this added traffic gets to you, however, it is the job of your in-house sales team to actually convert the interest into a purchase and sell your products and services.
Let’s take a clothing store for example. The efforts of branding, marketing and advertising, will lead to more people knowing about the store, more people relating to the image of the store, more people wanting to buy from the store.
When a potential new customer comes in however, there are additional effects that are outside of control of branding, marketing and advertising that control the game.
· There may be a lack of optimal service, sales or follow up skills in your team.
· The customer may not like the interior of the store.
· The customer maybe wanted red, and your inventory that week was green.
And on and on we can go, with side effects that produce a sale or lack of a sale, that have nothing to do with the successful result of your branding, marketing or advertising campaign.
Marketers, branding and advertising agencies want to scream at you from the top of their lungs:
We drive more people to you and you need this, to survive. But we have no control on your in-house sales skills. Let’s not forget that the biggest asset for any business is attention. Our job is done. The process of converting that attention into money is your team’s job.
So, the next time you hire a marketing, branding or advertising firm, don’t immediately put a timer on the cash register. Remember that what you are paying for is traffic, attention, interest, extra eyeballs.
What YOU and your sales staff DO with it, is beyond any outsider’s control.
UNLESS.......
That is why at Shanny Sommer Branding, we provide sales training, and this is now one of our bestselling services. After all, we feel that our relationship with you is much more complete, if we also show your team members how to actually convert the extra traffic and attention that we’re sending to you.
When we consult with you, we always recommend to combine our training with our branding and advertising packages, because then – and only then, you can measure the results in your cash register.
Let us help you not only drive more traffic, but also help your team work that new attention into extra revenue for your business.
Execs and CEO's, you’ve been warned. If you’re only paying for an advertising, branding or marketing service, don’t confuse the results of your contract with the (lack of) performance of your sales team.
Ps, marketers and other agencies everywhere: You’re welcome.