Grassroots vs. Social Media Marketing
When it comes to marketing, for some odd reason, there is a large misunderstanding gap between physical ( Grassroots ) marketing pieces (mailings, postcards, letters, etc…) and social media (facebook, instagram, twitter, etc…).
I refuse to include the word “marketing” after social media because most of what’s being classified as social media marketing is really just posts that have no content that would result in or lead to revenue. More on this later.
The bigger misconception is the, “Which is better, grassroots or social media marketing?” question.
Social Media Marketing – Hype or The New Marketing Genius?
Everyone’s on this social media marketing kick.
Very few get it and understand the real power of social media marketing. The rest have no clue what they’re doing.
“Well, I have a facebook page, instagram account and twitter account for my business so I’m social media marketing.” Really? Wrong!
Don’t get me wrong, Social Media Marketing is and can be a great resource for getting new clients and building revenue but “social media” in and of itself is not some new secret sauce.
Everyone’s A Rockstar
Imagine a person that has no skill in playing rock music, buying a guitar, some pedals, a guitar amp, cables, fancy pick and every other gadget you can think of a professional guitarist having go through the whole rigamarole.
He then comes out and announces to the world that he is a rock star guitarist. Does the gear make him a professional rock guitarist? Absolutely not!
This is the equivalent to what many business owners are doing with their business.
They’re setting up their facebook pages or instagram accounts failing to have a marketing plan that posts contents, marketing photos and other marketing devices that create and generate real life revenue.
The truth of the matter is that a successful social media marketing campaign involves a lot of hard work, time, and well thought out systemized plans of execution. If you’re working hard to keep up with your social media marketing for your business than kudos for you because most people aren’t. We are here to help you. Read on…
I Have No Time
The biggest complaint our clients that have us managing their social media marketing is that they simply, “I have no time.” Even so called experts that mean well and probably could produce average social media marketing use us because they realize that they have no time to do it even if they wanted to.
The truth of the matter is, you could be good at it but if you don’t have the time, then you’re probably never going to do it. And if you don’t act upon it, being good at it is no different than not knowing how to do it at all.
So What’s The Confusion?
What people consider marketing is really not marketing but equivalent to having a business card with contact info but no call to action, reason to respond, no direction, no sales pitch or anything a true marketing piece must include.
A true marketing campaign integrates mechanisms that capture visitors or potential future customers contact information so that you’re not repeating the process of paying a ton of money to re-capture customers to come back into your place of business, online or offline.
Collecting Contact Information
The next misconception about marketing is that some actually go ahead and build a mechanism to capture emails, mailing addresses, phone number, etc… but then stop there.
Collecting contact information is just the beginning. Again without action, the contact info is useless.
Content – Here is where the magic happens
Capturing your potential clients information is just the beginning. You have to do something with it.
I’m not talking about sending out an email or letter to the contact with, “Hi, my name’s Mike and I’m in the car sales business.”
You wouldn’t sell like that in real life business so why would it be any different in your marketing campaigns whether it’s online or offline.
You have to give them a really good and compelling to respond to your marketing piece whether it’s to call you to schedule an appointment, buy your product or service or whatever it is. True marketing captures your readers or visitors attention and makes them practically beg for what you’re offering to them.
Not Just Marketing But A System
A big misconception about marketing is people thinking that one letter, one social media post, a post card, an ad in the paper or a val pak ad is good marketing. Ads in the paper or val pak ads are one of the most expensive and worst venues to use when marketing essential elements are not present.
The problem with these ad types are:
- You’re sharing your marketing space with other competitors so you do not have exclusive readership not to mention, little to no control of ad position, layout, etc…
- It is not centered around you making money but around the sales rep that sold you the ad making money. Try this one as an experiment. Ask the next ad rep that you’re willing to pay them exactly what they’re asking. But the catch is you will pay them only based on the direct business they bring in. I’ve yet to find a rep that will take me up on my offer. Call me and let me know if you’ve found one.
So back to the system. Marketing that works uses multiple devices that serve it’s own purpose. If you’d like to see an example of what a true marketing system looks like go to our home page and scroll down till you see my infographic called, “Attracted Prospects”.
A true marketing campaign does all of the below:
- Gathers qualified and interested leads.
- Captures customer’s info
- Pre sells qualified customers as well as weed’s out unqualified prospects.
- Converts them into a willing and ready buyer
- Leads them into a buying decision immediately or through a set of other processes.
The Great Marketing Divide
So let’s get back to the reason why I wrote this blog and answer the question, “Grassroots Marketing or Social Media Marketing?”.
The problem with most people’s ideas of social media marketing is due to the misguided perception spawned by ad agencies having most believe that Social Media Marketing is the new marketing secret sauce and physical “Grassroots” marketing is obsolete, outdated, and dead.
Nothing could be more farther from the truth than this. The real misguided truth to this, and very few get it, is that Social Media & Grassroots Marketing should never be separated or be used to replace each other. When done correctly both, together increase results by 350%.
Social Media & Grassroots Combo
Let me give you an example. When you receive a physical tangible piece of marketing such as a letter, post card, newsletter, 3D Mail, etc… you see it, feel it and touch it. It’s tangible. You can’t just hit delete and “poof” it’s gone.
You have to physically walk over to the trash can and toss that sucker in the trash.
The beauty of the two is that you can lead a person through a physical marketing piece to a website, app, or something digital to go through a process to be influenced to buy your product or service.
And vice versa. If someone gets an email, they can request a physical copy of a report, book, sample, etc… or better yet, come into your store or place of business and buy from you.
Isn’t it Cheaper To Go All Digital?
Cheaper in comparison to what? You may save on printing costs but if you’re losing money by not reaching your potential customer through a physical piece of marketing than you’re not saving but losing money.
You’re not in the business of saving money but in the business of making money. You have to choose today that you’re not going to be like all the rest and be like the few who really get this.
I’m in the food industry and one of the biggest mistakes that cost them a lot of repeat customers is skimping on quality. They save $100 here and there but lose a customer that is worth $5,000 in their lifetime that will never come back because the food they once loved was crap.
The same goes with gaining a paid recurring customer. It’s not what you spend but what you bring in.
Take Away
So hopefully you’ve gained a better understanding on what true social media marketing is all about. It’s just a marketing channel just as a radio ad, direct mail piece, postcard, etc… The real key is the sales content and how you’re utilizing the medium. Diversifying all marketing channels or venues is the real key. All have their pros and cons but utilizing all that are available is the secret.
If you’d like to learn more about our marketing system and what and how we implement them into your websites and Grass Roots Marketing, feel free to call me at 520-392-5923 or email me at info@nextlevelwebdevelopers.com. Please go to grab our free Web Dev Survival Kit and fill out our questionnaire so that we can best help you.
Mahalo,
Ed Fong