When it comes to marketing, digital marketing, in particular, many articles talk about how you need social media presence, PPC ads, SEO, etc. With all these fancy tools at our disposal, we often forget that most forms of modern marketing are really just a fuller application of the skill of negotiation. Here are some negotiation skills you can use to take your marketing game to the next level.
Both the negotiator and the marketer realize that it is essential to building a rapport with another individual before trying to sell them anything. The other person needs to know how much you care before they are willing to learn how much you know, so spend a few minutes connecting with your audience on a personal level.
This can be as simple as making a funny tweet that makes customers interested and makes them feel comfortable with the company and your product. Negotiators often take a few minutes to learn about their potential client and work to make them feel comfortable. Your ads should do this.
Each person enters a negotiation with a given pain point in mind. It is the things that they are willing to hand over if the other person is willing to meet them part way. Good negotiators know this point ahead of time. Emotional intelligence is key to a good negotiator and allows them to understand not only the point but also the motivations behind that person coming to the table.
The same scenario plays out in marketing where the person is ready to hand over cash, their email address, or something else in exchange for getting a product to solve their problems. As a service you’re promising to resolve a pain point for them, so your ads and marketing strategy should revolve around this fact.
Active listening is an essential skill in both marketing and negotiating. It allows you to engage with how the other person is thinking. It also allows you to come up with original engagement strategies to overcome the other person’s objects. Remember, however, that active listening requires you to actually listen to what the other person is saying rather than trying to come up with your next talking point.
This is a useful skill in social media marketing where potential customers are expecting a level of engagement from the company. This engagement is actually one of the reasons people even bother checking the social media accounts of businesses. They want to know they’re being heard.
Negotiators and marketers are both problem solvers. They can actively think outside of the box and give people workable solutions that others might never consider. In business, this is usually the good or service they’re offering. In both marketing and negotiations, this requires either a direct or implied promise. You have to make sure your product/service can make good on that promise.
Instead of asking yes and no questions, negotiators and marketers are good at asking more profound questions requiring a more thoughtful answer. In turn, they can see where the other’s objections lie so that they can overcome those objections. They are also able to frame their questions in a way that guides the potential customer towards the conclusion that they do need their product.
This is why negotiation skills are needed for any marketing plan to be successful. You need to realize that all the software and keywords in the world won’t be enough to convert if you don’t master the essential skills of marketers.
Let a website designed by us do some of the negotiating for you. We will be happy to work with you to design a website that converts!
