In defence of the sales pitch: How to make the soft sell work hard

The debate between hard and soft selling is as old as time itself. Is it better to go in hard, or slowly build an audience with engaging content over time? Most of the time, the answer is: softly does it. 

Soft selling comes with its own set of risks, however. Too ‘softly, softly’, and your customers will remain stuck on the first step of the sales funnel indefinitely. The key? Gently guide your customers down the sales funnel with content and marketing that provides genuine value and builds trust, rather than a hard sell disguised behind the veil of ‘content’.  

Starting soft on social

Soft selling is a sales technique defined by subtle language and a non-aggressive technique. Social media is the ultimate soft-selling machine. Most social media users aren’t online for the purpose of being sold to, which means a soft selling approach feels much more appropriate.

A retailer’s interactions on social media should be driven by the goal of engagement rather than sales. The bet is that over time high engagement will lead to brand recognition, trust and yes…sales.

Being able to build an engaged audience on social media is an invaluable skill. Never create a Facebook or Instagram account for your business just because someone said that you should have one.

Your objective should be to build an engaged community that knows your business, values, and product via purposeful posts that entertain, educate or engage them.

Give them somewhere to go

Although soft selling via social is crucial for growing brand awareness and building a loyal audience, it’s also important that customers know how and where to take action. What is the point of spending your valuable time, effort and resources on creating quality content that engages your audience if the content contains no pathway for the user to continue on a journey with your business?

Encouraging your customers to do something after sharing information with them is known as a call to action. Calls to action might include ‘Click here’, ‘Find out more’, ‘Get started!’, 

‘Download here’, ‘Click on the link below’, or ‘Learn more’. 

Without a clear call to action, your conversions will remain low. If you’ve got somebody who’s already engaged with your content, give them somewhere else to go. Content is so much more powerful when it encourages your consumers to act and connect with your business. 

Nurturing your leads

When people first come onto your website, around 95% of them will not buy straight away. They may, however, want to stay connected with you and having a lead magnet on your website that pops up after 20 or 30 seconds is a great way to nurture those warm leads and keep them engaged.

A lead magnet is a free service, item, or download that you can give away in exchange for the customer’s contact information. Once you’ve collected this information (assuming your form meets data privacy guidelines), you’ll be able to implement a whole range of automated email campaigns to encourage your leads to buy.

Give your potential customers something special in exchange for their email addresses. They’re on your site and are already considering your product. What could you give them to educate, inform, or entertain, and hopefully come closer to converting?

Once you have those emails, don’t send the same email to your entire database. Systems are now geared to allow you to easily send a different message to different people in your database via segmentation and automation.

Email marketing automation allows you to send personalised messages (based on segments) automatically, as well as based on the actions that your clients take with your emails, website, and any action that is trackable. Retailers can create incredibly personalised emails that will resonate with their customers, to the point where selling doesn’t even feel like selling.

How soft is too soft?

At times, the ‘soft sell’ technique can feel like treading water. Content is read, but links aren’t clicked. Emails are read, but products aren’t bought. At times like these, it’s important to remember that the customer journey isn’t always linear.

There are many variations and alternative directions in which your customers might turn depending on their pain points, your competitors, and your communication. The important thing is that your content and communication strategy is set up to allow customers to change their minds, circle back, and re-engage when they’re ready.

Soft selling in the digital age is about building relationships, building trust and giving content that provides genuine value to your potential customers. If your brand can succeed in the nurturing phase, your soft selling efforts will ultimately land hard sales.