How To Market To Marketers

Have Something to Offer

This is the first category because it’s the largest. If you don’t have anything of value to offer but are looking to get another marketer’s backing or access to their clients, you better have something incredible to offer them in trade. If you’re trying to sell them something to make their lives easier through an app, downloadable program, or other sorts of add-on service – this process is made a lot easier. This is having actual value to offer another marketer, and our time IS money. If you’re a writer by trade, and incredibly good at what you do, and you happen to notice their site is full of flaws and things you could do better – SHOW THEM! Offering your services on a trial basis to see how they like you is a great way to get your foot in the door and become trusted by other marketers. If all you have to offer is yourself, you will need to work hard, and often for free for a bit to prove yourself to the giants out there. This is likewise true for anyone with website design knowledge or anything else that could help a marketer gain a definite edge.

When All You Have is… YOU!

If you’re looking to offer your services to another marketer, but you’re not offering them something directly related to getting their job done… it’s a bit trickier. To be able to work with another marketer, you need to be one of two types of people; an affiliate, or a contracted worker. If you’re an affiliate, this means that the marketer trusts you just enough to have access to their program to sell copies of it yourself through your own site and means. You get a percentage of the profits, so the more you can sell the better off you’ll be. If you’re a contracted worker, you have some skill of value you can offer the marketer that they seem to be lacking. Whatever it is you offer, be certain that what you’re offering is a worthwhile investment to the marketer. You don’t often get second chances in this industry, so proving yourself the first time is often the only chance you get.

Don’t Drop the Gimmick

We as marketers, all know the same tricks and we can spot them from leagues away when others use them. We aren’t annoyed by this, however, just because we can spot them doesn’t make us any less prone to their effectiveness. We like clever ads as much as the next person, and unlike others who aren’t marketers, we give thoughtful credit to the person who came up with the idea, because we know how hard it can be to come up with ‘the great one’. Just because we can see you coming doesn’t mean you should save yourself the trip. Come anyway, and bring the shtick with you. We want to see how well you can sell yourself to us, because if WE are sold, then we know that our audience and list will also love you. Selling to a marketer is a lot more difficult, but if you are full of confidence and know you have something of value, you may just have a winner.

Listen to Leaders

You may be full of incredible ideas that you are certain will transform the industry, but be mindful that others came before you and it’s in your best interest to seek their backing before trying to take on the world. To get anywhere as a marketer, you need to have the endorsement of someone more powerful than you. In marketing, power is the equivalent of the amount of trust, engagement and actual sales numbers that matter, and if anyone has more of that than you do, they could be an influencer for you, or you could have something of value to offer them. You could even ask them directly for advice if they have an email contact option or a live chat option. Don’t feel defeated if people don’t answer immediately or at all, marketing is a fast-paced world, and there’s no way to know how full one’s inbox may be. Tenacity and the ability to keep trying are a marketer’s two best points.

Outside Resources

Speaking of listening to leaders in the industry, we’ve included a couple links to articles from Entrepreneur and LinkedIn that talk about this very thing, and how to help deal with it if this is your target market. You may not even be looking to sell any product or service but yourself – with a mind to grow your own business. If that’s the case, be ready to offer up services for free, and be crystal clear about your intentions from the start. There is plenty of information out there about marketing to marketers, so you’re not limited by this post or these resources. There’s not as much out there about this as marketing to consumers, but it’s the web – so not much is still massive.

Take that tenacity for a spin and find out more!

Selected images created with Freepik