What do you do when your audience is sort of unattainable to succeed in? For those who serve CEOs and different prime C-suite executives at bigger corporations, you’ve in all probability requested this query your self.
Right here’s the way it goes down:
Let’s say you’re a guide who needs to work with prime management at a selected enterprise. You examine their web site, however there isn’t a particular person e-mail tackle, telephone quantity or different means to contact them immediately. So that you look them up on LinkedIn—figuring out that you need to use the platform’s InMail characteristic to succeed in them. Solely they aren’t on LinkedIn! Nor are they on X, Fb or every other social platform.
You name the corporate’s principal line (not hoping for a lot, however it’s one thing). You’re directed to an assistant who takes a message however gained’t decide to a callback. After all, you hear nothing. You think about sending an e-mail by means of the web site’s principal contact type, however you know that’s going to be a lifeless letter. What do you do?
Finally, you quit in frustration. You by no means even acquired a glimpse, a lot much less a shot.
Now, I’ve labored with a few of these unattainable leaders. They inform me they don’t have the time to interact on LinkedIn or cope with unsolicited e-mail. They don’t need advertising and marketing or gross sales pitches. The gained’t ever obtain a chunk of content material. That’s not how they function. Being inaccessible permits them to give attention to the vital issues.
Do you throw up your palms? Are they merely unreachable?
Under no circumstances.
You see, slightly below the highest leaders are a cadre of executives and higher administration who work together with them day by day. Leaders depend on these people to implement key selections, provide insights into the corporate’s efficiency and supply a variety of recommendation.
In brief, this penultimate tier of administration is extremely influential. For those who can catch their consideration, you might have a pathway to the highest. And likelihood is, these people are way more accessible.
However to succeed in your final aim—the highest executives—you want a change in technique. It’s good to persuade these one-rung-down executives that you simply or your agency has one thing particular to supply.
Whether or not you’re utilizing advertising and marketing to focus on particular executives or to succeed in a selected position or section (for instance, VPs of Know-how and CIOs), you need to use a quiver of acquainted methods to nurture them, reminiscent of social media, e-mail, promoting and networking.
Probably the most fruitful path to your vacation spot, nevertheless, is to ascertain familiarity and belief in your agency. Which means exposing your (recalibrated) viewers repeatedly to your experience. Search for alternatives to talk to them about enterprise challenges that your agency can clear up. Write professional instructional articles, weblog posts and guides. Use the rules of search engine marketing, AEO and GEO to make your content material and agency findable on-line.
As you write, nevertheless, needless to say your final viewers is a busy chief, not a technical skilled. The aim is to supply content material that may simply be shared up the meals chain and that the CEO you wish to attain (or whoever you’re focusing on) will discover insightful.
An equally vital aim is to show the one-rung-down executives into followers—individuals who will readily suggest your agency to the highest executives when they should rent an out of doors useful resource to unravel the sorts of issues you cope with day by day. Repeated publicity to content material is a vital element. Video, webinars, podcasts and talking engagements might be nice methods to place a human face in your agency and construct a private connection that is more difficult with the written phrase alone.
On the finish of the day, advertising and marketing to ivory-tower CEOs will not be that completely different from the sort of advertising and marketing I’ve written about numerous instances earlier than on this e-newsletter. All it takes is an easy shift in your audience—and the endurance for the technique to bear fruit.
