Coaction Group - Business Technology Consulting

(Note: Actually I was going to title this article, “How to use numbers in marketing without turning into the Robot from Planet X” but that was way too long for an email subject line.)

I typically write a lot more about the “human side of marketing,” because I think topics like trust, sincerity, and emotions get overlooked in most marketing advice discussions.

And no matter how clever your copy and fail safe your system, neglect trust building and you will have to work twice as hard at your marketing for half the results.

But that doesn’t mean you can ignore the numbers side of marketing.

In this article I talk about why numbers are important and how to make them work in your marketing.

True Story

Last year I was promoting a new teleclass that I was very excited about. I had done the class as a live workshop twice and participants got great results.

It seemed to me that live success should easily translate into teleclass success, right?

I followed all the guidelines for successful online promotions, wrote a strong message, etc. And I didn’t get single sign up.

Someone suggested that I offer a couple scholarships so that we at least made or minimum enrollment of 8 participants. So I wrote another offer and posted it in a small business discussion forum in which I was well known and trusted by members.

Three days went by, then a week, and still, no one was signing up even to take the class for free!!!

Boy did that knock me off my center.

Lucky for me, I felt safe enough in this forum to post a second message telling folks that I was baffled and disappointed no one had taken advantage of my free offer.

Even luckier for me, other forum members responded with honesty and empathy. Of the ten people who responded:

• 2 said they were really excited about the class but they had other commitments on the class dates.
• 3 said they were focused on other parts of their business and weren’t ready to learn the subject I was teaching but to let them know if I gave it later in the year.
• One said they were on vacation when I posted the offer
• One said they didn’t feel they needed to take my class because they had already mastered the subject matter but they thought the class sounded great for those new to the topic.
• The other three people didn’t mention the class specifically but said they appreciated my willingness to ask for help and encouraged me not to give up.

Here’s what I took away from the experience:

In marketing, especially in online marketing you must put your message in front of a lot of people and repeat your message over and over again over a period of time.

Why online marketing in particular? Because non-verbal communication–your smile, your tone of voice, your hand gestures, your posture–all go a long way to establishing trust.

When you promote online you often have only the written word with which to establish trust. Thus your response rate is a lot lower.

And, the chances of actually getting your message in front of the right people at the right moment is lower as well.