Alyce by Sendoso reposted this
Marketing tactics are fundamentally changed when you do them with the explicit purpose of getting something immediately in return. There’s a time and a place for a transactional interaction, but it’s almost always long after some trust and confidence is earned. And yet, so much potentially good marketing is turned bad by bolting on an ask that is often far larger than what’s given. Worse, when it fails because of this, it can even cause us to claim the tactic was fundamentally bad. A literal example of this, which I’ve seen posted about a few times recently, is gifting. “Nobody ever bought expensive software because of a coffee gift card” “Bribing someone to take a meeting never produced good meetings” These statements, while factual, miss the entire point because the motives were never correct. The act of a gift is to create a real connection through a human moment, sometimes of celebration, consideration, commiseration, and simply to show that they’re valued. Giving a gift to get a better one is the opposite of this. But it goes beyond gifts, of course. This same thing applies to content, events, even advertising. Most marketing is trying to create awareness, association, and memory for what you do. Which means the majority of your marketing is in pursuit of getting your audience to think of you, and think well of you. That’s entirely an act of giving the most value you can and asking only for attention. We’re in the business of trust, not transactions. We may ultimately be goaled on those transactions, but they are almost always a lagging outcome of the real job we do. The real secret, though, is that when you have trust, those outcomes you want take much less effort, often even coming your way without even having to ask.
Can we frame this post? 🧡👏
What's really interesting is that the "data" is so so so muddy. At face value, lots of people *have* appeared to have bought software from coffee gift cards (or whatever). Or good (dare I say... great?) meetings have happened because of bribes. In that whole campaign, they probably did hit a few people who were interested, or the timing lined up perfectly, or whatever. BUT, what gets discounted is all the trust that was built ahead of time. 🙌
Fantastic post. I like Sendoso's ask about framing it. I might have to do that. 😄 This reminds me of when I used to think I could hit up my network right after getting laid off and expecting to get hired immediately. While I had trust with some of those people, I hadn't stayed in touch, and I was making that ask too early.
“We’re in the business of trust, not transactions.” Hey Liam Moroney when will the t-shirts be ready with this quote ? I need a Lg
“Nobody ever bought expensive software because of a coffee gift card” Did anyone thing this would work? 🤨 B2B is trivializing the concept of wining and dining your client.
If more marketing leaders led their teams with this perspective I think marketing would be fundamentally different. The problem is that so many marketing leaders hire and grow their teams in order to deliver hard, measurable results - yesterday. And they are costly to their orgs - one event can take a huuuge chunk out of a quarterly budget. But if your teams actually invest in the trust that can be built at these events, the relationships built, the real interactions had... the return on that budget would be so so much higher.
"We're in the business of trust, not transactions." I love that statement so much. Yet, PRs have been advocating the importance of trust in conversion and retention for decades and have, by and large, been treated as optional for it. I still scratch my head at the reality of most businesses, which is the vehement disregard for the fact that between hearing about a product and buying a product there is almost always a considerable time lag and a fairly sophisticated process of consideration. The only solution I can think of is for marketers to stop going along with it. Not banking on it, though.
💯and that’s why it’s frustrating when a new client expects one 3 week campaign, albeit well planned and targeted, is going to “generate leads”. They have no clue where a prospect is in the discovery, education, assessment, consideration, evaluation, approval process. That is if they’ve even started the process or identified a need. Almost no one agrees to a sales call, demo or webinar after one touch point, like downloading your whitepaper! Patience and refinement are the cornerstones of good marketing.
Credibility and trust are required. But the close close close from the reps destroy they relationship and can make sales look like a seedy profession.
SVP Marketing at Sendoso | Former Sourcegraph, early Fastly (took them public), and Roku
2wSo well said. When you engage with others purely in order to get something from them, they will always sense that transactional energy. When you butter others up, ask them for favors and then disappear, people will feel manipulated. The impact of consistently giving the most value you can, helping others with no strings attached, and showing up authentically to support those around you—even/especially when you have nothing to gain—is tough to measure, and cannot be overstated. This is how trust is built.