What do the Chicago Cubs and your marketing campaigns have in common?

The Cubs broke their 108 year losing streak last Wednesday night and won the World Series. What a game! They outlasted the Cleveland Indians in Wednesday’s do-or-die Game 7 in a dramatic 8-7 victory—a roller coaster of emotion that will go directly into the history books.

So what does this have to do with your marketing?

The clue is in the preceding sentence: they outlasted everyone else. The Cubs never gave up. And your marketing can’t give up either!

Multiple, varied, soft touches are the best customer conversion tactic.  90% quit too soon.

Even if you have The Most Wonderful Product or Service - G-d’s gift to mankind - most of your prospects will not buy from you the first chance they get.

They’ll file your information away and wait. And wait. Perhaps they’ll wait for their current (insert your product here) to break. Or until they need your service. Or they’ll wait for their cash flow to pick up.

But the bottom line is that most prospects won’t buy right away. But this doesn’t mean that they’re not good prospects. They just need to be nurtured.

Check this out:

A research study by Sales and Marketing Executives International found that 81% of prospects don't respond to an offer until after the fourth contact.

How often are you hitting your prospects with your marketing message? Once, twice, maybe three times?

What’s really shocking is that according to the second part of the SMEI study, 90% of companies give up before the fourth contact. That means only 10% of the marketers stick it out. Imagine if you could eliminate 90% of your competitors and increase your chances of success 81%. That's exactly what you're doing simply by nurturing your prospects through multiple touches.

But here’s the catch.

We use the word “nurture” for a reason, because that’s what it’s about. It’s not about bombarding, pestering, or being downright annoying to your prospects.

We all get junk mail. And we all hate it (hence the name we’ve dubbed it!)

It’s not about being a broken record, it’s about finding different mediums and tactics to touch your prospects with an offer that they genuinely want. It’s about repeatedly offering them something helpful, interesting or entertaining.

The method is to gently remind them multiple times through various mediums that you have a solution to their problem. So how can you succeed?

Here are 6 Tips & Tricks to Winning the Multiple Touch Game:

1. Calendar It.

Create a marketing calendar of touches. Remember, most businesses reach out to prospects a few times, but fail to keep it going. And that’s where the real money lies.

You may start out excited and optimistic, but 8 months later when you’re running up against getting your taxes in, your multiple touch desires may fall by the wayside. Think ahead and calendaring your process. Staying one step ahead of the game will make a dramatic difference in your ability to keep up with the multiple touch process.

2. Automate It.

Technology is your friend. Take advantage of automated email providers such as Constant Contact, AWeber, Infusionsoft, etc. Create automated video series and evergreen courses. You don’t have to be exclusively touching your prospects in real time.

3. Repurpose.

It’s challenging to constantly pump out new content. You’re busy running your business, managing employees, and overseeing the finances. Who has time to think about writing ebooks and designing infographics?!

Repurpose. Bingo. Take old content, repackage it, spruce it up, and voila, you have new, valuable content to touch your prospects with.

4. “Edu-tain.”

A “soft touch” or a “soft sell” is when you provide value, rather than hyping your service. Educate, entertain, or do what we call “edutain.” Not only does this help you touch you prospects multiple times, but it also positions you as a trusted expert in their eyes.

5. Offer Irresistible Bait.

Either free information or free stuff. Free information can be a report, ebook, a how-to-guide- something that solves your prospect’s problem so much that they can’t turn it down.

Free stuff also works well. Stone Street Capital offered its prospects (lottery winners) a mini sound system simply for calling the office to find out more about their financial planning services. The mailing ($3 per piece) generated a 10.4% response rate ' the most it's ever had in its 14-year history.

6. Outsource It. 

You don’t have to do it all yourself. Recruit internally or hire outside talent to help you create multiple mediums to touch your prospects. Take advantage of sites like Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, and various freelancers to help you get the job done.

Here’s where marketing experts can come in handy. Knowing which medium to use is one art form; getting it done is another expertise altogether.

You have a lot of know-how at your disposal. Call us - when you’re ready.

And until then, you’ll be hearing from us.

Taking you from where you are to where you want to be,

Jon