Breadcrumb Marketing with Social Media

You remember the story of Hansel and Gretel, right? They dropped little white pebbles to mark the path back to their house. Breadcrumb marketing is similar, but instead of leaving crumbs to find your way home, you leave crumbs for your buyer to follow back to your business. In this analogy, “home” can mean different things. For a retailer, it might be driving traffic to a physical store. For a B2B company or professional service firm, home could mean generating a lead, altering brand perception, or nurturing a potential client through the sales funnel. In all cases, the breadcrumb marketing strategy leverages the power of Propinquity Points to uncover invisible sales opportunities for you.

Breadcrumb Marketing Explained

Breadcrumb marketing involves dropping small, enticing pieces of content (what I refer to as Cobblestones in my book) that guide your buyer towards a desired outcome. These “crumbs” can take various forms: blog posts, social media updates, emails, guest posts, podcast interviews (on other folks podcasts), speaking engagements, YouTube videos, and more. The key is to ensure each piece of content is valuable and compelling enough to lead the buyer to the next piece of content.

In traditional advertising, we’re taught to deliver the entire message in one go—whether in an ad, TV spot, radio advertisement, or direct mail piece. That makes sense in the realm of high-cost mediums to ensure a good ROAI. Social media, with its relatively low cost (note, I didn’t say free, I said low), naturally lends itself to a breadcrumb strategy approach. The character limitations on platforms like Twitter, for instance, necessitate breaking down the story into smaller, digestible pieces. With audiences having less time to pay attention to anything these days (note: I didn’t say shorter attention span… for more on that point check out this post on human attention span) small bits of information strategically placed where you audience is already hanging out with people they’re already paying attention to is the secret modern content marketing weapon anyone can afford to use.

The folks over at SparkToro recently wrote:

It takes a lot more than just SEO to win in content marketing today. Your content needs to be present before people start searching for the brands and websites they’ve learned about. Before they seek out answers to their problems. Before their journey to a solution even begins. It's modern content marketing and it starts with audience research.

Modern content marketing means being present in the places where your audience pays attention. The first step is discovering where your audience already hangs out, how they’re spending their time online, and how you can fit into the conversations they’re having and consuming. I know… it sounds exhausting. Fortunately, we have a guide to take you from start to finish, combining the best of both SEO and audience-first worlds.

Hmmm, now where have I heard that before? 🤔 Sounds a lot like a post I wrote back in 2012, where I talked about why you need to develop a Propinquity Marketing strategy. Nice to see that Rand and a lot of folks like him have finally adopted my point-of-view.

Enticement, Allure, Information, and Persuasion

Let’s break down the key elements of breadcrumb marketing and how they apply to B2B & B2C companies as well as professional service firms and solopreneurs:

1. Enticement:
Enticement is about capturing attention and sparking curiosity. The goal is to create a hook that captures the buyers’ attention and makes them want to pay attention to you or your brand. For example, when I was first trying to position myself as a thought leader on all things social media and business development, I invited folks to Come to Mardi Gras, my Tweet. I gave them a chance to see Mardi Gras through the eyes of a local in real time via five days of tweets.

2. Allure:
The allure of the Mardi Gras Twitter campaign for followers was the promise of a unique and authentic experience. By following my tweets, they could see Mardi Gras through the eyes of a local, gaining insider insights, real-time updates, and behind-the-scenes looks that they wouldn’t get anywhere else. This exclusive access and the opportunity to experience the event in a more personal, engaging way made the campaign highly attractive and valuable to followers. But there was also the promise of information.

3. Information:
Information is the substance that backs up the enticement and allure. It’s about providing valuable, actionable insights that help the buyer make informed decisions. At the time of the Mardi Gras experiment, no one was Live Tweeting actual events. Twitter was still fairly new to most people and nobody was using social media to alter brand perception. So the outcome, I promised to share everything I learned via an upcoming blog post, was super helpful information for anyone trying to learn this brand new marketing toolset. You can see the results of both the original 2009 experiment AND the expanded (still social only) 2010 experiment. I also captured data about the halo effect sponsoring the experiment produced for the corporate brands that underwrote the 2010 experiment. If you’re curious to see it, just drop me a line with a request and I’ll send it along.

4. Persuasion:
Persuasion is about guiding the buyer towards taking action. This involves using the insights gained from previous interactions to tailor your message and make a compelling case for your solution. For instance, you might use personalized email campaigns (based on previous breadcrumb consumption) that address specific pain points and demonstrate how you can solve a prospect’s issues. But it can also include backlinks to other relevant content to create a dynamic funnel. Either way, the aim is to build trust and credibility, making it easier for the buyer to take the next step in the sales journey.

Implementing a Breadcrumb Strategy

Now, let’s explore how to implement a breadcrumb marketing strategy using the Propinquity Points concept to build lead generation.

Step 1: Identify Your Audience
Understanding your target audience is crucial. Identify the key decision-makers and influencers within your target companies. Use Social Reconnaissance to develop detailed buyer personas that include their challenges, pain points, and goals. This will help you create content that resonates with them.

Step 2: Map Out the Buyer’s Journey
Outline the stages of your buyer’s journey, from awareness to consideration to decision. Determine what type of content will be most effective at each stage. For instance, during the awareness stage, you might focus on educational content like blog posts and infographics. In the consideration stage, you might offer in-depth guides, webinars, or case studies. In the decision stage, you might provide free trials, consultations, or personalized demos.

Step 3: Define Your Propinquity Points
Propinquity Points are strategic touchpoints where your prospective buyer is already hanging out to find information to help them with do a better job, solve an immediate problem or just interact with others like them. These places are where you drop your breadcrumbs that help your buyers interact with you or your brand. These interactions build familiarity and trust, increasing the likelihood of conversion. Again, Social Recon is an excellent tool to identify the key Propinquity Points for your audience and create content that encourages interaction at these points. For example, if your target buyers frequent LinkedIn for industry insights, ensure you have a strong presence there with regular updates and valuable content.

Step 4: Create Compelling Content
Develop a content plan that includes a mix of enticement, allure, information, and persuasion. Ensure that each piece of content provides value and encourages the buyer to take the next step. For example, an ad agency might start with a blog post about the importance of data-driven marketing (enticement), followed by a case study showcasing their success with a previous client (allure), a detailed guide on implementing data-driven strategies (information), and a call-to-action for a free consultation (persuasion).

Step 5: Utilize Multiple Channels
Distribute your content across various channels to reach your audience where they are most active. This might include social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter (sorry I just can’t bring myself to call it X), email newsletters, your company blog, and industry forums. Each channel should serve as a breadcrumb that leads the buyer closer to your desired outcome. Further, some prospects prefer audio, others video and still others are good old fashioned readers. Don’t limit the potential of your breadcrumb marketing strategy by eliminating channels based on content type.

Step 6: Measure and Optimize
Track the performance of your breadcrumb marketing efforts using analytics tools. Monitor metrics such as website referrals, engagement rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Use this data to identify which pieces of content are most effective and refine your strategy accordingly. Continuously optimize your content and distribution channels to ensure maximum impact.

But don’t just look at trackable data. Every time you interact with someone, ask them, “how did you find me/my content?” and then track this information inside your CRM. This will help you discover which channels, mediums, individual Propinquity Points or events are making the biggest impact.

Conclusion

Breadcrumb marketing is a powerful strategy for guiding your buyers through the sales funnel, one small step at a time. By focusing on enticement, allure, information, and persuasion, B2B & B2C companies, professional service firms, small businesses, and solopreneurs can create a compelling journey that leads to higher engagement and more qualified leads.

Need some help developing YOUR breadcrumb marketing strategy?

We can help you create your own breadcrumb strategy based marketing or business development program. We offer 1:1 coaching, workshops and fractional business development director services. Interested in seeing if we can help? Click here to schedule a Zoom call with me and we’ll find out.