4 Things I Learned About Direct Message Marketing

Direct Message Marketing is all the rage, these days. Everyone has a phone in their pocket. So, naturally, the guaranteed delivery of your campaign through DMM means you spend less money on mass marketing efforts and have the opportunity of immediately opening a dialog.

The Path to Success is Paved with Naysayers

Anyone that owns a business has experienced resistance to DMM at one time or another.  Now, I'm not talking about the attempts that are simply ignored, I'm talking about the nasty, rude responders that cuss and block you.  A common immediate reaction to these tantrums is to consider it an exercise in scrubbing your friends list of negativity.  However, it can be easily turned into an opportunity.  Consider your target market.  Did the "friend" fall into yours?  Could you have changed the messaging in any way to appeal to this individual?  Even if the answer is a resounding "NO!", you can still discover some areas of improvement that may generate more leads.

Don't Be Afraid to Get Feedback From Your Network

Developing your marketing strategy is hard.  Which is why it should not only be constantly improving, but also include reflection, so that any necessary changes can be applied.  One of the best ways to increase engagement with your community is to ask them for help.  As a service agency, I have found myself overlooking the need to get help from others.  But, when I do, I almost always come out of it with valuable information.

Avoid Using Open Ended Questions

A popular DMM tactic is to ask your contact a question.  As mentioned above, this a great Call To Action strategy.  However, if your question is too broad, it may cause cognitive dissonance as the reader often looses interest when too much effort is involved in a response, especially over chat.  For instance, avoid using the phrase: "Do you or anyone you know need... ?".  This type of question crams a bunch of questions together.  Not only does the reader need to have a grasp of what you are offering, but also if it applies to any of their current challenges AND those of others in their network.  Most people immediately say NO to this type of question.  It is better to try something simple, like "Hey!  I noticed the footer on your website isn't loading properly on mobile. Need Help?" and include a link to a specific service/product you are offering.

Focus Efforts Where They are Effective

People need to be in the right mindset before you reach out to them.  Using networks like Alignable and LinkedIn are obvious choices.  But, think about where your network is already looking for your services/products.  There is a good reason why so many entrepreneurs do well on Amazon. It's where customers go when they are already considering purchasing a product online.  So, similarly, think about where your customers go when looking for the type of services and products you offer.  I often hang out in tech support areas for quality leads to come knocking, popping into places like codementor.io, and the Drupal Slack, IRC and RocketChat channels to see if I can offer some help.  Leads from these places are often my best clients.