Persistence Pays Off – in Life and In Marketing

14 September, 2021

Ever see a new restaurant open and close within the same year? It happens all the time. The National Restaurant Association estimates that 30% of restaurants don’t survive their first year.

On the Line states that one of the main reasons restaurants fail, is due to not enough investment in marketing. Unfortunately, many restauranteurs have the misconception that minimal marketing efforts will yield an overwhelming number of new customers. Like Field of Dreams, they think if they build it, the customers will come.

While that would be ideal, marketing doesn't work that way – not in the restaurant industry or the insurance industry.

So, what’s working in insurance marketing?

What’s working is consistency – Investing the time to consistently engage prospects in many different ways, so you can cumulatively create top of mind awareness and brand preference.

This isn’t what most people want to hear. What they want is a magic formula.

But here’s the truth: marketing is a slog. There’s no silver bullet. It takes repetition, repetition and more repetition. In an article by Yasmine Khater, we see that 90% of business owners give up after 3-5 touch points, but it takes 7 touchpoints just to get into a potential customer’s consciousness!

Here’s the good news:
You can beat out 90% of your competition simply by being persistent.

However, if you sell business-to-business (B2B), you’re going to need even more patience.

Demand Gen’s 2020 B2B Buyer Behavior Study found that the buying process has become increasingly complex, with more time and people involved in the decision.

A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Adobe in May 2020 identified the following average B2B marketing and sales timeframes:

CONTACTS NEEDED

B2B STAGE OF JOURNEY

TIME INVOLVED

5.4 touchpoints

Before a prospect
becomes a lead

8.8 months on average

5.5 touchpoints

Before a lead becomes a sales-qualified lead (SQL)

9.7 months on average

6.2 touchpoints

Before a SQL becomes a closed sale

9.7 months on average

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


B2B marketing is more challenging and time consuming than B2C marketing. The sales are larger and there are more stakeholders involved in the decision. There’s no passion or impulse motivating the sale. No matter how slick the sales pitch, no one will buy without a need and a budget. Plus, in insurance and technology, you have to overcome some buying inertia. It’s a lot of work to change your insurance broker or your core system. There has to be an internal champion who is willing to push it forward.

What does it take to power marketing consistency?

Consistency requires great content. Content sparks conversation. Conversation leads to trust. Trust leads to relationships.

Instead of saying, “Look at me, buy from me,” great content says, “Here are the roadblocks and some tips to overcome them.” As you practice persistency, here are six tenets to live by:

  1. Populate your site with new content every week. Make it worth their time to come back.
  2. Stay relevant. Talk about the issues that matter to your prospects.
  3. Post to social channels, LinkedIn Groups and forums several times a week so when they finally look, you’ll be there.
  4. Offer content for every leg of the buyers’ journey – anticipate and answer their questions.
  5. Walk the talk. Educate without expecting immediate results.
  6. Be ever-present and easily accessible.

If you are consistent, you will be top of mind and the resource your prospects think of first, when they’re ready to buy.