- June 20, 2017
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Creating Value (and Sales) With Passive Marketing
When you get to understand the true value of passive marketing, ‘good things come to those who wait’ might just become your new business mantra. Both active and passive marketing have a place in every integrated marketer’s strategy, but passive marketing is a way to create lasting value for your company. Take the time to learn more about these two distinct phases and how they work together.
Active Marketing in Action
Active marketing is just what it sounds like: actively pursuing leads through cold-calling, networking, running targeted customer acquisition campaigns, and even gifts and swag.
These activities can be important for generating leads, but they require substantial effort and you’re creating assets with limited use for your company. Active selling can have more active costs, as well: consider all the costs that go into a direct mail campaign.
But once you’ve done the work, it’s time to switch gears and focus your attention on passive marketing.
Passive Marketing Basics
Passive marketing doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything: it just means that you’re anticipating a customer need, as opposed to going out and trying to provoke one. It’s “being there” to answer a customer’s questions, before they even have one.
Examples of passive marketing include customer service, a listing in a directory, engaging with customers and prospects on social media, and blog posts. None of these things are as flashy as an advertising campaign, but they quietly build the success of your company—and some of the more creative ideas cost next to nothing. Like changing the signature line in your email, or mentioning your web URL in your voicemail message, which actually cost zero dollars but can leave a substantial impression on prospects.
Passive Selling Has a Longer Lifespan
One of the most beneficial aspects of passive selling, versus active selling, is that you’re creating assets that can be used at every step of the selling stage. For example, an interactive video brochure that lives on your website can benefit both prospects and existing customers. Because of this, you get a significantly better ROI.
A Good Strategy Should Have Both
If you’ve started to think that passive marketing is a good complement to your more proactive efforts, congratulations for thinking like a smart integrated marketer. Don’t wait to start beefing up your passive marketing efforts and let your present and future customers know you’re there for them.
