Page 110 - The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million - PDFDrive.com

conversing. Your target buyers are having hundreds, sometimes thousands of
conversations online every day. Many of these conversations are related to the
value your business provides to these target buyers. Social media is like a live
conference that is happening every second of every day. Set up your booth and
get involved in the conversation.

Here are some examples of the nooks in which your target buyers may be
conversing, and examples of how you can engage with them online.

Perhaps there are a handful of blogs that many of your target buyers read. You
should read those blogs too. Add value to the conversation by leaving an
intelligent comment. Sign the comment with your name and hyperlink your
name back to your blog. If you leave the first comment on a hot article that
eventually goes viral, that will be more beneficial than any online advertisement
you can purchase. Furthermore, most great bloggers love getting comments on
their blogs. They often respond to the comments. They mentally note who leaves
insightful comments on their blogs. Don't be afraid to reach out to them via
email once you have been active on their blog for some time. Form a tighter
relationship with the blogger. Invite them to guest blog on your blog. Ask if you
can submit a guest blog for their blog. They will probably be interested. Now
your thought leadership will be promoted to a new audience of target customers.
Even better, your thought leadership gets a big rubber stamp of approval because
this blogger, whom the audience already trusts, has authorized and endorsed
your content. How valuable will that be to you?

Another source you may try is Twitter. Find the people on Twitter who your
target buyers follow. Follow these same Twitter users. Read their tweets.
Retweet the posts you find interesting and relevant to your buyers. A lot of these
authoritative Twitter users will probably follow you back. Don't be afraid to
reach out to them via email and form a tighter relationship with them, just as you
did with the bloggers. The next time you publish a piece of content, ask if they
wouldn't mind promoting it on their Twitter stream. If you have already
scratched their back by promoting their stuff a few times, and if your content is
high-quality, almost all of them will return the favor. Now their 5,000 followers,
the majority of whom are target customers for you, just received a big stamp of
approval for your thought leadership (and your business) from a thought leader
they trust. How valuable will that be to you?

Finally, find the LinkedIn groups in which your prospects are congregating.
Read the questions they ask. Answer the questions that are most relevant to your
company's value proposition. Don't worry about promoting your product. In fact,