Start at the beginning. You don’t want to jump straight into marketing and not have clear plans. You should begin with a meeting of the minds between the sales and marketing teams. This is important not only to iron out your message, but to also come to an understanding on the difference between inquiries and qualified leads. You may be surprised to find that your team members have different definitions of both. And this can create some issues as you market your business.
Make sure you define:
- What is a qualified lead
- Where you will find those leads
- What your sales funnel looks like
- Who will handle what, when certain facets of your sales funnel may overlap
As a fulfillment business, you are marketing your services. There is no product to whip out and do a demonstration with. You can’t make YouTube videos showing clear as day that you have a product that will make your prospects’ lives easier. So your goal is to not only show your expertise in the order fulfillment process, but how you can help your future customer. And this means you need to focus on the benefits.
Your messages about your services shouldn’t focus on what you do, but what it does for the customer in terms of benefits. Someone contemplating the services of a facialist in order to reduce wrinkles doesn’t typically want to hear the ins and outs of certain facials and how it will scientifically increase the collagen in their face and then reduce the wrinkles. No, that person wants to know that these facials will take years off their face, make them feel young and beautiful and are worth every penny in terms of giving the person a new outlook on life.
So as a fulfillment business, you need to do the same and show the benefits in terms of how they can make the prospect’s business run smoother, save money, etc. These benefits can include many forms of saving:
- Employee savings (since they don’t have to have additional staff, pay for training, etc.),
- Inventory and warehouse savings (since they don’t have to keep items in stock or pay for a warehouse)
- Distribution savings (since fulfillment companies typically get shipping discounts due to high volumes shipped)
(Don’t forget to talk to your current customers about their experience working with you and the benefits they have enjoyed. Not only can this help you develop some marketing messages, but it can make for a great case study, which is a terrific marketing tool!)
As you market your fulfillment business, make sure to use multiple channels (website, social networks, direct mail, text or email messages, etc.), and track everything. As you do this, you’ll see where those leads are, and which leads convert to customers. You will also be able to see what is working and what is falling flat. Keep in mind that your marketing should not be static or constant. It should be changing to fit the data, changing to accommodate for the various channels and the responses you get and the data you gather. You want to be proactive, not a re-active marketer for your fulfillment business.