Drum, an on-demand network sales force, has just been launched by the founders of Kabbage. The new platform offers SMBs a way to gather freelance influencers to promote their brands for a commission.
Small Business Trends contacted Vikram Raju from Drum to find out how this new system works.
He started out describing the groups it focuses on in an emailed response.
Drum Provides Access and Opportunity
“Drum’s goal is to provide access and opportunity for three parties: (1) businesses looking to find new customers, (2) gig workers looking for opportunities to earn and develop skills for their careers, and (3) buyers looking to cut through the clutter and find businesses through a more personalized channel.”
It works like this.
Businesses publish offers with the commission they will pay for a new client. Guidelines for messaging and the target audience the businesses are after are included.
“‘Drummers’ search the platform for businesses, save those and promote them within their current and growing networks,” Raju explains. “They share the offers with buyers who are interested in them.”
Interested Buyers
Interested buyers redeem the offers with the businesses. Once the deal is finished, the drummers are paid the agreed to commission.
Small businesses across different industries can get involved. Essentially, Drum takes advantage of word-of-mouth marketing in a digital way. That makes it an incredibly powerful channel for SMB’s.
This new tool allows small businesses to access a set of influencers/ambassadors to promote their brand. It’s a great way to spend less time juggling content and social media to get business.
Popular Tool
Raju draws a comparison to another popular tool SMBs use to grow.
“We make standing up a human sales force as fast and easy as standing up a Google AdWords campaign.”
There are some other boxes to check when comparing Drum to other existing options.
For example, a full-time sales force can be expensive. Traditional advertising like print and radio can be hard to measure. Even digital marketing like pay for clicks doesn’t guarantee a good ROI.
“Drum addresses all these pain points with its instantly available and massively scalable platform. It allows businesses to pay for performance,” Raju writes.
Sales Cycle
Got a long sales cycle? Then this might not be for you. It could be difficult to find drummers willing to commit their time for a payout that’s off in the future. Most SMBs don’t fit this long cycle category.
Getting started as a small business is easy. All you need to do is create a business profile that tells both Drummers and buyers what your business is all about. Then you can publish offers, keep track of them and even view the performance of your Drummers.
The cost for this platform is attractive too. Raju explains:
“It is free to sign up and post offers. Businesses can choose what they pay for new customers, and only pay when a new customer comes in the door.”
Number of Offers
They can also set a cap equaling the number of offers or an overall cost. SMBs can also tweak commissions as they go along.
There are some important upgrades coming like a learning platform for Drummers to hone their skills.
Finally, Raju adds some other important features.
“A SMB can sign up and post an offer in less than 15 minutes, and our Drummers will do the rest,” he writes. “We also have content and support to help businesses optimize their participation.”
Topics include how to create and post and offer, how to decide the right commission etc.
Image: Depositphotos.com