How to Turn Suspects Into Prospects and Customers

While visiting a new client recently this subject came up… “How can we do a better job of converting suspects and prospects into customers? What kind of marketing strategies will help us achieve these objectives?”

The first thing I suggested was to think about marketing strategies in two different ways: Big M vs. little m marketing. 

Here are the strategies that fall into each category and how you should think about the more strategic Big M initiatives and the more executional little m tactics.

Big “M” Marketing

Insights

• Internal stakeholders and decision makers
• Customers
• Competitors

Interview and listen to your customers!

Start a dialogue (not a monologue) with your customers. Ask what matters most to them and understand how they want to learn about you (email, social media, your website). 

Result: Learn how to stand out and be relevant with prospects. 

Marketing Strategy

• Brand Positioning
• Segmentation
• Messaging
• Mentoring
• Content Strategy and Thought Leadership
• Metrics

Develop your brand and messaging strategy with real customer insights!

Little “m” Marketing

Execution

• Digital transformation
• CRM
• Lead generation
• Websites
• Sales collateral
• Trade shows
• Press Releases

Once you have completed your insight and strategy work, then you are ready to begin the execution of your plan with a meaningful competitive point of difference.

The next thing we discussed was putting foundational tools into action for both customers and prospects.

Your Customer Marketing Checklist

Segment Your Customer Base

Not all customers are alike, so don’t treat them as such. Segment customers by revenue size, frequency of purchase, profitability and those that have not bought from you in the last year.

Develop Messaging and Special Offers

Target your messaging to your audience and create an offer for each segment to encourage incremental revenue.

• Top revenue customers: show them the love by encouraging them to reach a special status to reach the next order level and receive a year-end bonus.
• Most profitable customers: make them feel special by inviting them to a special event or webinar reserved for your most important customers.
• Dormant customers: they need a push to get started or choose you over a competitor – provide an offer to get the end of year order.

Your Suspect and Prospect Marketing Checklist

• Segment your prospect database: not all prospects are alike and you should not treat them the same either. Segment your prospects into groups and develop unique campaigns and messaging for each unique group
• Target 2-3 of your largest opportunities and create an Account Based Marketing plan that targets several influencers and decision makers within the company. Send them promotional items to create top-of-mind awareness for follow up by your inside or outside sales team.
• Target a vertical where you have expertise. Develop a case study within that vertical and send out a video describing how you tackled this challenge.
• Invite prospects to a webinar that promises business building strategies.

Using Your Strategies

You can implement these programs to bring suspects into your funnel, qualify them to become prospects and implement recurring campaigns to convert your prospects into customers.

This can all begin with customer data you already have at your fingertips. 

For more information about how to help people become customers for your business, explore our other online materials!