Effective Methods to Update Your Customers About a New Offering

Recently, I added a fractional CMO as my new product or service offering. In this blog post, I explained the definition of a fractional CMO, a full-time CMO vs. a part-time CMO, and the approach to finding an executive that fits your needs.

I added the new offering because two clients hired me as a fractional CMO. Both clients have different needs as to why they hired me. One wants me to lead, plan, and manage everything related to marketing; the other focuses on two strategic areas based on my consulting recommendations.

Looking back, I’ve already done several fractional CMO jobs without even realizing it.

I made some changes on website and digital presence to incorporate this new product and service offering. Here is a sample to-do list if you decide to add a new product or service offering as an independent consultant or a small business.

Determine your unique differentiator and value proposition

When you offer something new, you need to determine how your offering is different from the others.

In my case, I asked myself: “How am I different from other fractional CMOs?”

I used my messaging framework to develop some key points.

Here are the 5 unique differentiators:

• I’ve been on the client side all my life. I know how to work with internal teams to ramp up fast.
• I know how to support direct and indirect salesforces. No matter the sales organization, I’m equipped to handle it.
• Also, I’ am well-versed in martech, workflows, and processes.
• I share the good, the bad, and the ugly. If I am not doing well, I call myself out.
• I genuinely want to help others succeed and grow.

I incorporated these differentiators into my website copy, content pieces, and social media posts as I saw fit.

I’d recommend you do the same to understand why you are unique when introducing new products and services.

Add a new product page on your website (For SEO)

You’ll need to update your website if it’s a new product or service. A must in the digital world.

I created a separate service page for SEO by adding relevant keywords. Anyone who would like to understand what a fractional CMO is and what I can do to help can go to the page for more info.

I also can use that page as a landing page for social media promotions.

Check out my “Fractional CMO” page to see what I mean. You’ll also notice the unique differentiators sprinkled throughout this page.

Modify different pages on the website as needed (Again, for SEO)

To create a coherent experience, your web team should also decide where to showcase the new product or service is essential.

Updating the Home page, the Services Main page, the Speaking page, and the About page made sense in my case.

Home page: I carefully added Fractional CMO to B2B Consultant for SEO purposes.

Services main page: I incorporated “Fractional CMO” into my list of services.

Speaking page: I elevated keynote topics to showcase my strategic thinking ability.

About page: I added “leading marketing team” as a service summary at the bottom.

Work with your webmaster or the digital marketing team to determine which pages to update and revise to help your audience connect the dots.

Take time to think it through.

Create or update content

In many cases, you may need to create content to explain new products and services, such as product overviews, solution briefs, pricing comparisons, feature benefits, etc.

Blog posts, podcasts, and videos are helpful content to inform others about your new products and services.

As part of a go-to-market or new product or service announcement, you should have a list of content you must create as a slide.

For me, I updated my one-pager and speaking package, as well as created new blog posts.

Therefore, I included “Fractional CMO” and added 1-2 sentences about leading and managing the team in the one-pager. I updated the speaking package with the new speaking titles.

See the one-pager.

I also wrote a blog post about fractional CMOs covering everything from what they are to who needs one and how to find one.

I could also create a video and interview several CMOs in the future; I just haven’t had a chance to do so yet.

Write several useful content pieces related to your product offerings and the benefits that your audience would receive.

Spread the goodness of your new products and services.

Review your LinkedIn profile and headline (for LinkedIn SEO, LOL)

LinkedIn personal profile updates are more critical for independent consultants and small businesses.

Let your prospects know you have new products and services for all businesses by updating your company business page.

In my case, I updated my profile and headline to include fractional CMO services so that recruiters or prospects could find me.

Check out my profile. I made it casual and bullet-point-driven for an easy-read. Don’t write lengthy paragraphs; use bullet points.

Use space and allow words to breathe.

Modify social media channel bios

Although your company’s bio doesn’t need to change on other social media channels, adding new products to social media channel bios or descriptions in the first several months after the launch is fun.

As an independent consultant, I went through my social media channels and incorporated “Fractional CMOs” wherever it made sense to create a more seamless update across all social media channels.

Create an announcement on social media

When you have new products, many companies would have a go-to-market (GTM) plan to formally announce. You should also encourage your employees to share.

In this case, I also announced it on my LinkedIn personal and business pages.

Additionally, I made announcements on various social media channels with the call-to-action to read my blog posts or contact me.

Grassroots promotions whenever and wherever possible

With all the updates, revisions, and additions, now is the time to promote and share relentlessly, but don’t be repetitive by sharing the same posts.

Write your posts differently each time. I talk about my prospects’ challenges and pain points from different perspectives, then mention how I can help or what they can do to help themselves.

Be consistent and empathetic in your social media outreach.

Paid media, sponsorship, and influencer marketing broaden your outreach

If you have the budget, I’d strongly recommend that you dial up on paid outreach. Paid media comes in different forms and shapes and in many channels. You need to determine which channels you want to spend your budget. Work with your internal team or external agency partners to create media plans. Make sure whatever you do, you have relevant content, strong hooks and clear calls-to-action, otherwise, you’d be wasting your media dollars.

In summary…

Look at how much work I needed to do! All the work only counts as “Organic” and “Organic Social” media in the digital marketing world of organic, paid media, and paid social.

For enterprises, all these efforts take much longer to do. That’s why a thoroughly planned go-to-market (GTM) is vital. Check out my GTM blog post (part 2).

So, digital is a total pain. If you want to do it right, it’s expensive and time-consuming –> the nature of the digital beast.

When you’re ready to add a new product or service, think holistically about how you want to position your products, where and how you need to update them, and what content to create or update to educate your audience.

Since so many digital and offline elements need to be taken into account, that’s why all marketers constantly feel overwhelmed because there is always something that needs to be added, deleted, or updated.

I totally understand that feeling. Sigh!

The key is creating a plan, getting the ball rolling on working with key players to cover as much ground as possible, and communicating promptly and consistently.

Marketing, in the digital world, is a long game!

Embrace that.