If you want to bring a big idea to market, there are better ways to go about it than traditional marketing and advertising. That’s what I discuss with Jon Ferarra in this interview. Jon is the creator of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and the founder and CEO of www.Nimble.com as well as being a master networker.
Getting Started
You will probably want to start your outreach to the people that you know, like and trust you. In the early stages of your idea, you can engage them as mentors and sounding boards to give you honest feedback about your idea. Doing that will let you know if you’re on the right track. When you develop your go to market strategy those people that were sounding boards might become directly involved with your big idea as collaborators or clients.
Reaching Out to the Right People
Traditionally many marketing programs focus on reaching out to your potential customers directly. There are better ways to go about reaching your potential customers.
It’s easier to build a base of potential customers by identifying who their trusted advisors and reaching out to the trusted advisors instead of trying to get to your end users directly. When Nimble launched Jon approached the trusted advisors for and influencers in the social selling space. Those people then brought Nimble to their audiences. Jon shares more details and approaches like this in our interview.
Listen In!
Another relationship marketing strategy Jon has successfully used is asking influencers to share their stories and then… listening! People love to be heard and they are attracted to people that make them feel heard and understood. It’s the old quote that “People hate to be sold but they love to buy”. Don’t sell to the people that you’re trying to engage, start conversations with them.
Watch the interview for more advice, engaging stories and more ways to bring your big idea to market!
About the Guest
Jon Ferrara is a serial entrepreneur and noted speaker about social, sales and marketing. He has re-imagined CRM by building Nimble – The Simple CRM for Office 365 & G Suite. Ferrara is best known as the co-founder of GoldMine Software Corp, one of the early pioneers in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for Small to Medium sized Businesses (SMBs). He has been recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Social CEO’s, Top 10 Social Salespeople in The World and Top 100 Marketing Influencers.
Learn more about Jon and Nimble:
