"Can I borrow $5? When I was a broadcast journalist, a colleague of mine would ask this question to any child under the age of 8 whenever we were on a video shoot. The innocence of children shone through with every response. Sometimes, they looked immediately to their parent and nodded to give my colleague $5. Other times, the children checked their pockets. And of course, several were speechless with their mouths hanging open."
"In marketing and communications, our clients come to us with the need to "increase sales" or "gain more clients" or something of a similar nature. Leadership needs more and wants us to immediately ask for that proverbial $5. As the experts, we need to step back and analyze the existing communications history to essentially answer this question: "Is the audience ready to commit to us?""
"Whether it is $5 or $500,000, if a relationship has not been established, then you may as well be asking a child who has no money and no interest in you for this investment. Before focusing on what the marketing message will be, ask: "Will the ask even be heard, let alone considered? Does the audience know us? Do they know what we can do for them?""
"If your brand has not been in the market, your sales will suffer. People have to know who you are, what you're about, what you can do for them, and why they should not only be aware of you, but be interested in knowing more about you. That's branding. Build the brand experience for your company, and your sales team will be more successful-whether they are asking for $5 or much, much"
An anecdote about asking a child for $5 demonstrates that an unprepared ask will fail. Leadership often requests immediate increases in sales or clients without assessing audience readiness. Marketing experts must analyze existing communications history to determine whether the audience knows the organization and understands its value. These are branding questions rather than sales questions. If a brand is not present in the market, sales will suffer because people must know who the organization is, what it offers, and why they should be interested. Building the brand experience enables more successful sales outreach.
Read at Forbes
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