Many B2B products are bought, not sold. What this means is that you must be at the right place, at the right time when the prospect is ready to purchase. And creating awareness so that when that time arrives, your company is right there in the top of mind awareness. Top of mind awareness (TOMA) was a term created some twenty years ago, but is still very relevant today. There are many media available today to reach your prospects. Some are quick to adapt,and others take time, patience, and some skill, like email campaigns, social media, the internet to name a few. However, good old direct mail is still a very viable media and with a clean and accurate database, can deliver a powerful punch, and one of my forklift dealership clients on the east coast recently found out.
I’m a proponent of mixing your media. You don’t want to be a one-trick pony. So email and direct mail are the basics for starting a good foundation of constant contact with your database. My client engages his market smartly with a bi-monthly eMail specials, and mixes that with a bi-monthly tri-fold 11″ x 17″ direct mail “specials” to supplement those we do not reach with eMail. And while this is the exception and not the norm, he got a nice surprise a few days after the mailer dropped. A call came in from the materials handling manager inquiring about a special we were running one of the lines he carries. This resulted in several personal visits to evaluate his entire operation, and an order for two new forklifts, and all of the service work on his fleet, which will be over $50,000 annually soon followed.
Calculate the ROI on THAT! My client…who “gets it” and engaged my services several months ago, is now not only reaping the benefits of promoting his dealership, he’s paid for all of his marketing efforts for 2010, plus some! Don’t miss the forest because of all the trees standing in your way. Every day you have prospects making purchases, or at least planning them. Is your brand on their minds? Are you out there, marketing to them? If not, get out there!
Good selling!
Symbion Marketing 
I like your tactic of integrating different types of marketing. I do, however, believe its very important to implement a social media strategy. I found this exerpt from a blog: “When potential buyers are in the market for a new product, they will often post a question online asking their peers which products are the best.”
This just goes to show you never know where your target marketing may be online.
Thank you for your comment Elizabeth. There’s no doubt that social media should play a role in the marketing mix. Finding out how-to, how-much, and where is what most companies struggle with today.