How Do You Like Your Multi-Channel Marketing — Shaken or Stirred?

James Bond prefers his martinis shaken, not stirred. But if he were a marketer, we doubt he would choose this method to capture leads. Normally this would be top-secret, if-we-told-you-we'd-have-to-kill-you information, but for this post, we'll make an exception.

Whether shaking or stirring a martini, the end goal is to cool the drink. Shaking it in ice just cools it faster.

Multi-channel marketing also has one end goal: acquiring leads. In an effort to meet this goal quickly, marketers often use what we refer to as shaken marketing. In this strategy, businesses attempt to get leads to contact their business as fast as possible, which frequently causes them to skip over the nurturing part of lead capturing.

If you're guilty of using shaken methods to acquire your leads, you probably don't realize you're mostly hurting yourself. Shaken leads equal cold leads.

Before you ask consumers to enter into a business relationship with you, we recommend letting them warm up to you by using a stirred strategy.

For example, you wouldn't expect Bond to get the girl without saving the world. To reach that point, he has to lay the initial groundwork by getting in a car chase, engaging in a shootout and breaking into a hidden underwater lair. 

In the same way, you have to take the time to nurture leads by giving consumers compelling content to read, videos to watch and planning tools to download. In the end, you'll generate prospects who are well informed and ready to buy.

Like Bond, stirred marketing is...

Exciting

According to Accenture, about 94 percent of consumers do online research prior to a purchase. If you're not giving your prospects content they actually want to read, it's like you've invited them over to view photos from your vacation to Mexico. News flash: No one wants to sit through a presentation where you only talk about yourself.

With stirred marketing, you can offer your prospects informative and creative content to draw them in and develop trust, leaving them wanting to hear more from you.

Daring

If you are not challenging people, you're going to be forgotten. Address the problems that your target audience deals with every day in a creative way. Make them feel like you've read their minds and are delivering a solution that touches their hearts.

Trustworthy

Give your consumers relevant landing pages, clear, compelling CTAs and content that changes the way they do business. After having their expectations met, they'll learn to trust you as a thought leader in the industry, and they'll share their experience with others.

Implement your stirred marketing strategy, warm up your leads and capture the girl... er, leads.