3 Ways to Create Demand In Less Than 140 Characters

Our window of opportunity to generate demand is literally shrinking.

It is estimated that 78% of smartphone users chose to access their email through that medium.
Twitter gives us 140 characters.
Facebook gives us 420 characters in a status update.

In order to create demand and generate leads, we have our name, our subject, and the first sentence to get our message across.

Here are 3 simple steps to an effective 140 character demand generation strategy:

1. Segment your database - There is no way that the same 140 character message could be used when engaging with all of your leads. Segment your leads, and create messages accordingly.

2. Run A/B Tests - There are all sorts of tools to track your messages. bit.ly is a great tool that will shrink the URL you are using as content(In order to save on characters) and will provide you with key statistics. The statistics will help you run 2 messages at the same time, chart the results, determine a winner and do it again.

3. Establish credibility - It takes roughly 7 impressions to engage a prospect. Just because you aren't receiving the responses you are looking for, don't give up.

Think of it as being on stage...
Someone is always watching you, so make sure they see what you want them to.

@aaronmandelbaum

Is "Old School" still winning???

When you want to use "new school", and you encounter "old school", what happens?

We are learning new ways to develop business, improve our lead generation strategy, and increase demand. The problem is that not everyone is ready for our efforts.

As part of the grind today, I was participating in my email marketing strategy. I was sending emails to Vp's of Sales in an effort to conduct a best practices discussion. An opportunity for executives of major sales operations to exchange ideas, ask questions, and if nothing else, extend networks.

Today, I happened upon one fella in particular I would like to share with you. And would love your feedback on...

Picture this:
Mid 50's, 17 year tenure at his place of employment, VP of Sales in the Mid West, 27 contacts in his LinkedIn network.

His response to my email request was:

"I would be delighted to speak and share my industry leading sales best practices for a flat fee of $20m. Fifty-percent due prior to the conversation, fifty-percent after. Otherwise, don't have time."

The same amount of time it took him to write that crafty response was the same amount of time it would have taken him to pick up the phone and speak with another VP of Sales in the United States, running a sales organization that does over $100m in annual revenue. You think that would have been a better use of his time?

My question is two fold:

1. How do we convince "old school" that "new school" is time well spent?

2. What do you do when you encounter opposition like this? Give up, isn't an option...

@aaronmandelbaum