Online MR Magazine January 2017 2017 1st edition | Page 4

5REASONSW HYONLINEPANELCOMPANIESMUSTLEVERAGE CONTENTMARKETING ( ORELSELOSEBUSINESS ) -EDITOR ’ SCHOICE
5REASONSW HYONLINEPANELCOMPANIESMUSTLEVERAGE CONTENTMARKETING ( ORELSELOSEBUSINESS ) -EDITOR ’ SCHOICE
The biggest problem with online panelbusiness is the entrybarrieristoo low – with justalaptopandafalseclaim that “ wehave2milionpanelsin 24 countries ( build in few months !)” any tom , dick and harrycanstartanonlinepanel company .
Butthisstrategy doesn ’ twork fortoo long – asseen in the past5 yearsso many people startedonlinepanelcompanies have shuttheirshopsand are now lookingforajob . Evenfor genuine online panel companieswhomayhavesome panelbasetheproblem is ‘ how to getbusiness ?’– and rightly so – with big companies like Toluna , Research Now , Lightspeed orSSI – whywila clienttakeriskwithyou ?
Butthen again the problem is the short-sighted mentality of online panelcompanies – as they falsely believe that somehow ‘ by magic ’ they wil getbusiness .
TodayIam goingtosharewith you 5 reasons why old sales strategies won ’ twork foryou and how only content marketing is the realsolution foryou .
Reason 1 : conferences are a wasteofmoney
Iknow some ofyou wilget ofended by this headline – especialy those who organize conferences ! Butfirsthearme out – ifyouatendconferences to atain knowledge then you mustatendone – butdoonline panelcompaniesparticipatein conferences to get enriched withinsights ? Ofcoursenot !
Ofalthe conferences Ihave atended – I only see sales persons of the online panel companies distributing businesscardsandpleadingfor business – butguesswhat – this strategydoesn ’ tworksatal – as potential clients have become smarter and have started avoiding salespeople . Therefore online panel companiesarefacing problem to justify their ROI on conferences .
The inherent problem is the COST – justreadcloselywhatI havetoexplain :
Aconferenceparticipationmay cost you USD 5,000 – USD 20,000 + dependingonthelevel of participation – which includes cost factors like sponsorship , number ofteam members , logistics etc . now atending just1conferencewil not help you make your presence felt – you need to atendatleast6-7conferences inayear – whichwilcostyou USD 30,000 – USD 120,000 +– buteventhenalso thereisno guarantee that you wil get business .
Now theoutcomewhichonline panelcompaniesseek from a conference isVISIBILITY – but spending thatmuchamountis blasphemous !
InInsteadinvestingamuchlower amounton contentmarketing can give you visibility and perception of subject mater expertisethroughouttheyear . If you paste insightful articles thrice a week – it means throughout the week / month / year you are VISIBLE to potentialclients – plus content marketing is completely non-intrusive in nature unlike shoving a businesscard onthefaceofa prospectiveclient .
Butthen mostofthe people reading thisarticlewilthink – huh ! Our old strategy has worked forsolong – and Iwil justsay – updateyourresume asyouwilcloseshopsoon !
Reason2 : spammingLinkedInis notgoingtohelp
The creators ofLinkedIn may have neverimagined in their wildest dreams that their platform wil be misused rampantly in order to get business . But online panel companies in desperation to get business are spamming LinkedInwithsalesmessages .
JustlookatyourLinkedInfeed andyouwilfindanonlinepanel company puting up spam messages like “ Do you need onlinepanelsinTimbuktu – we