Guest blog post by:
Ben Salisbury of Salisbury Creative
If you’re not familiar with the 2003 book by Michael Lewis (and subsequent movie starring Brad Pitt), here’s a brief synopsis: Faced with a tight budget, a baseball team must outsmart its much richer rivals. Surely this theme will resonate with small Makers (and most Resellers)! Even if you haven’t read the book, the idea of debunking conventional wisdom and challenging “old school” traditions gets entrepreneurs of all stripes excited.
One of the best ways to “moneyball” the wine & spirits game is by fully leveraging technology. It’s such a potent equalizer! If you’ve already taken the step of leveraging the LibDib platform then the only thing left to do is drive well-qualified traffic to it (Resellers). And to drop another book reference, you need only be a Company of One to do it! For the cost of a modestly priced haircut, you can launch your first “lead ad” on Facebook.
So, what is a Facebook “lead ad?” It’s only one of the most underutilized tools in the box for small producers! Here’s how it works. Facebook has a special type of ad called a “lead ad” the purpose of which is to get people to “opt in” by providing their email address- directly from the ad. The “lead gen form” is built into the ad so it couldn’t be simpler. Now the key to making it work is getting the right messaging in front of the right audience which I'll talk about my upcoming webinar.
Here’s how this all comes together. You use Lead Ads to gather qualified leads from the community of Resellers in the states where LibDib operates. You then use email marketing to “nurture” a relationship with them over time. What you’re doing is building a “sales funnel.” Each time you engage a prospect, you pul
l them deeper into the funnel and the odds of them buying keep increasing. And the best part is, this can all be automated! What if you had the email addresses of 100 Resellers inside your MailChimp or Constant Contact account? Or 500? Or 1,000. What you will achieve is the ability to generate your own demand for your products. Now, that’s the way to Moneyball it!
Like most of this technology stuff, there IS a learning curve. But the good news is help is never very far away. There are tons of videos on YouTube to help you, Facebook has no shortage of searchable topics on their platform to aid advertisers, and LibDib has many allies in their orbit they can refer to you. If you stop and consider your alternatives which include the risky and expensive proposition of hiring your own salespeople, taking the time to master this technology is a no-brainer. And there’s really only two things you need to learn: Facebook advertising and email marketing. Deployed in tandem, they offer game-changing possibilities! In terms of bang-for-your-buck, its one of the highest return / lowest cost things you can do to control your own destiny (and outsmart your rivals).