Our last blog was an introduction to high-touch marketing. And in this blog, we’re going to really dive into how you can build a high-touch marketing mindset and look at some of the core pieces to put together a marketing approach that will get you to share your message efficiently with other people.
The first part is on preparation, understanding your avatar, and elevator pitch. And the second part is a brainstorm of ideas that you can use to get in front of new people.
Part 1
Preparation
Before you start marketing, ask yourself, “what do I need?”
Do you need people to test your product? Do you need people to buy your product? Do you need clients for your service? What is it that you’re looking for? What will help you move your business forward?
You should have a clear idea of your business plan and your next steps to growing your business.
Marketing will be the tool that gets you in front of more people to be able to launch and grow that business. So understanding what your immediate needs are is going to help you just generally in conversations with people.
Your Avatar
An avatar is a representation of an ideal person. In this case, your avatar is whoever your ideal client or customer is. Developing a story of who this person is will give you more clarity on how to reach them and how to better tailor your product and services to their needs.
Here are some guide questions you can use to build your ideal client/customer avatar:
- Who are they?
- How old are they?
- Where do they live?
- Where do they hang out?
- What sort of events do they attend?
- What are the dreams and aspirations, and hobbies?
- Where are they stuck and need the most help?
- What are they looking for?
Answering these questions and building an avatar will help give you clarity on what problem you’re trying to solve for the people that you’re working with. For a social entrepreneur, you can have an avatar for the people that you’re creating an impact with and an avatar for anybody that’s purchasing your services or goods.
This is a very powerful activity to get out of your own shoes and think about something from somebody else’s perspective.
Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch is a very clear and concise message of who you are and what service or products you deliver.
If I’m introducing myself as a social impact, coach, I say,
“Hi, I’m Adam Morris of people helping people. I help social entrepreneurs realize their dream to make a living, creating a social impact because building a social impact takes extra attention and effort to succeed. So I help uncover that path for you to make the best use of your effort.”
My elevator pitch communicates who I am and what I offer in about 15 seconds. When you can communicate something clearly and concisely, people are more likely to remember it. This is something that you can work on ahead of time and rehearse so that it rolls off your tongue without you having to stop and think about it.
If there’s a particular need that you have to help you build your business, it’s important to add that onto your elevator pitch, so people know what you’re looking for. It can lead to further discussion and clarification if somebody hears that and knows the right person to connect you with.
So, to sum up…
Before you begin marketing, make sure that you understand what you need, who the avatar is that would be your ideal client or ideal person you would serve, and then an elevator pitch that clearly communicates who you are and what you have to offer.
Part 2: Meaningful connections
High-touch marketing is about creating real live connections with other individuals and being able to communicate your marketing message and your needs in an effective way. It’s designed to build quality relationships and deeper connections.
To do this, you’ve got to understand that it’s not just about you. The preparation that we talked about in the first part of this blog is to communicate effectively when you are talking to people.
But for high-touch marketing to really be powerful, you have to approach it from the standpoint of your contribution to the world and how you can help others succeed with what they are looking to accomplish.
There are many ways that you can go about high-touch marketing. Let’s dive into some of these examples.
Traditional Networking Events
The traditional end of high-touch marketing is attending networking events. And that’s exactly what the chamber of commerce was designed to do. Look up your local chamber of commerce for a good place to start if you don’t know where to look.
But there are several professional groups where you can go and meet other individuals. They’re young professional groups, such as the JCS, the builder’s exchange, business leader groups, or other entrepreneurial meetup groups. There are also events where you can get to know people, such as a startup weekend event or GiveBackHack.
When you’re meeting people in these situations, share your elevator pitch. But then turn the rest of the attention on getting to know somebody else, really understanding who they are, what their interests are, and something that’s outside of the business realm.
If you’re attending a networking event, just see if you can meet one or two people and have really good conversations about something meaningful to you and them. That will develop a much stronger long-term relationship than going around and trying to pitch everybody on your product or service.
Build partnerships
However, there are a lot more ways to meet people outside of the standard traditional networking events. For example, you can reach out to people who offer analogist services and form partnerships, or referrals.
A great example of this is the typical wedding photographer and wedding planner. Two people offering services to the same group, where they might be able to refer each other to each other services and grow their own business through that.
Volunteer
Volunteering is also an excellent way to connect with more people in your community while doing good at the same time. You really get to know what’s going on in the community when you volunteer and talk to people face-to-face to really understand their needs.
Building on that, if you offer a service, you can offer pro bono mini-projects. Is there a non-profit in your community that would benefit from your services? Can you provide those services and collect data about that experience that you can share with other people, as a testimonial?
Nonprofits are great to work with because, typically, they have a limited budget and can always use extra help. And so, being able to work with them not only helps them in their mission but that gives you extra stories to tell about the work that you’re doing.
Look for relevant events
Another way to meet people is to look for relevant events for the people you want to serve or connect with. And then see if you can help organize those events. Quite often, the organizers of events reach out to a number of people and establish relationships. And that’s one good way to spend your time when you’re building up a network.
Speak in nearby universities and colleges
Another opportunity is to look at nearby universities or colleges. Do you have a skill that you can speak about or share? And is there a student group that you could speak to? Students are fantastic at asking good questions, and it gives you a chance to really practice your messaging and deliver some value to the next generation.
Join or initiate coffee chats
If you’re not ready for that level of presentation, one thing you could do is just meet people for coffee, share something, and learn something from them. Make it a two-way exchange of information. When you’re done with that coffee, ask that person if there are three people they know you could meet with who can benefit from a similar type of sharing.
Conclusion
The ideas for connecting with people are endless. We’ve just talked about traditional networking, ways to build partnerships, to volunteer, to do pro bono mini-projects, to talk to students at universities, or just meet people one-on-one for coffee.
But there are out of ideas. So sit down and take some time to brainstorm up different ways to connect with people in your community and share what you’re doing while learning about somebody else and helping them in their own path.
When you approach high-touch marketing from the standpoint of ‘how can I help my community thrive?’ Then not only will you succeed, but you’ll help the community around you to succeed. And you’ll find that you build a genuine caring network through which you can create a wonderful social impact to change the world.
