Entries Tagged 'marketing' ↓

Hmmm…that sounds rather scary. Email marketing is for life – but that doesn’t mean you have to do it forever and ever even once you’ve retired to your Caribbean island paradise (I can dream).

The ‘life’ I’m referring to is the life cycle of your customer.

Yes, it’s great to have regular newsletters or email offers that go out updating your customers of new products, great advice and the occasional not-to-missed offer. But it would be even better if they received emails that reflected their relationship with you.

Matching your email marketing to relationship status

To make your emails resonate with your customers it is essential you send timely targeted emails. By that I mean your emails should be tailored to the stage in your relationship you are at with your customers.

Some examples would be:

1. Welcome

Once someone has signed up for your newsletter or made their first purchase from you, send them a Welcome email.

It doesn’t have to be a long communication just something that welcomes them, tells them the type of emails they’ll receive from you and perhaps an introductory offer – perhaps offering 10% off for one day only.

2. Conversion

You are bound to have customers who receive your emails but don’t take any action. Perhaps they’ve only ever made one purchase from you and you need to tempt them back to buy again. They may never have bought from you.

If that’s the case this email needs to encourage them to open their wallets and buy. A great way to break down the barriers that’s preventing them from buying is by making them an offer they can’t refuse. Perhaps a buy one get one free, or 20% off your next order if made within a week.

By making your offer time limited you’ll encourage them to take action quickly.

3. Come back

On your mailing list you will have a lot of people who have gone cold on you.

They probably signed up a long time ago but have never made contact or bought anything.

Many companies spend a lot of time and effort attracting new customers but don’t lose sight of your existing customers.

The best way to tempt them back is a win back offer – tell them they are important to you and you want them back. Make them an offer they can’t refuse, something so tempting they’ll just have to buy.

As you can see, tailoring your email marketing campaigns to your customers is a great way of developing relationships and showing your customers they are important to you.

Standard emails are all well and good but by tailoring your communications to each individual type of customer you will strengthen your relationship with them.

Remember to look at your marketing list not as one entity but as several different types of people. Work out where each person is within their marketing relationship with you and send them emails accordingly.

That may sound like a lot of work but many email marketing systems these days offer you the flexibility of running these types of campaigns.

Give it a try.

Perhaps you’re already splitting your marketing like this. If so, leave a comment below and share your experiences. Do you find it works?

Do you understand what your brand is?

You do? Great, write it down as succinctly as you can.

Now you have your idea of what your brand is written down, let’s look at what a brand really is and see if you were right.

Knowing your brand

If you run a business you probably spent a huge amount of time thinking about your brand when you started out. That would have equated to spending hours with a graphic designer to come up with a cool-looking logo.

Once that was done, you’re next job was to find a web designer and begin work to create a funky website that had all the latest gadgets and gizmos. Your logo was inserted into the header and there you go, your business was launched.

Was that it?

You have a logo, you have a website and therefore you have a brand?

[Take a look at what you wrote down at the start of this post – did you say logo?]

It’s not necessarily that straight forward.

Your brand is a lot more than just your logo. Branding is all about colour, graphics, words, design, perception, and it’s about you.

Are your values shining through?

Let’s go back a step or two.

Before you even begin to think brands, you have to understand your business and its values and who your customers are and their needs. That’s a lot to get your head round but it is vital if you’re to position yourself correctly in the market.

If you don’t understand your customers how can you position yourself correctly to attract them?

After all you’re aiming your products and services at them so the way they are ‘packaged’ has to meet their needs and expectations.

This packaging includes:

– Your website copywriting and look
– Marketing materials
– Business cards
– Logo
– You

Surprised by the last one?

You shouldn’t be.

When in front of a potential customer, you are your business and your brand. If you don’t match the image your business portrays online (or through your literature) the disparity will be unnerving for your customer and give off mixed messages.

Let me elaborate – if your website projects a classic, well presented image and you turn up in jeans and a t-shirt your ‘brand’ won’t gel.

A consistent and well thought out brand will instil trust. If your website reflects your business’ values and activities through its words and design, your customer will instantly understand what you are offering them. It will give them an idea of how expensive you are likely to be, how open and approachable you are and whether you are a progressive company.

A fluid brand

Your brand will also be fluid.

If your business has been going for a few years I bet your customer base has changed. That means your brand must also reflect that change.

Therefore it is a good idea to revisit your brand every few years to ensure it is still giving a true picture of your business. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to change your logo, although it may be something to think about if it no longer represents your business’ ethos.

This is me at the moment:

As you can see my marketing materials and website aren’t singing from the same hymn sheet anymore. Although my website has done me well over the past few years, my client base has moved on since it was designed.

Now I have to rethink my image and market position to align my brand with the market I am now working with.

It’s a scary process and, at times, uncomfortable. Take my logo for example. I am rather attached to it and want to keep it. My proposed new website design is far more contemporary than my present one and I feel it would sit well within it. Especially as my new site will be more ‘social’ (i.e. more focus on social media). After all, if you look at my logo it has the appearance of a social media ‘button’ – very forward thinking considering it was designed over 3 years ago!

Take a good look at yourself

Once you realise the complexity of your brand you can then start to work on your image and that of your business to project a uniform message.

Branding isn’t something that always gets the attention it deserves. In fact this post was prompted following a recent branding workshop I attended. As usual it’s not until someone else points these things out to you that you realise there’s a problem.

Branding is so much more than a logo.

Does your personal and company image gel or are you sending mixed messages? Please leave a comment and share your take on branding and how you arrived at the look you have for your business.

Every business has to do marketing in some form or another.

Large corporations have their own dedicated marketing departments who take care of everything leaving the big boss to concentrate on other more important things…like golf.

But what happens when you are small business or a one-man-band?

You are unlikely to have an enormous marketing budget so most of the work will probably fall on your shoulders.

All of sudden you have to be everything to everyone – you’re the Finance Director, Operations Director, Marketing Director etc. And, unless you happen to be a very rare breed of superhuman, you’re not going to be an expert in all of these fields.

Marketing melee

What do you think of when you think marketing?

The promotion of your business can take many forms:

• Website
• Brochures
• Email marketing
• Press releases
• Case studies
• Direct mail
• Blogs and articles

And that’s just for starters. But what do you really know about each of those? Probably not a lot other than what you’ve read on blogs like this one.

The words that you use within your marketing materials are vital. Most people put graphics and images first not realising that it’s the words that will do the selling. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you hit the right tone. So to help inject some life and zest into your marketing materials it’s a great idea to find yourself a professional copywriter who can take the burden from you and create amazing copy that will really work.

Going it alone

If you decide to go it alone, marketing can seem an endless job. No sooner have you finally revamped your website copy you realise that your brochure is now out of date.

The launch of a new product or service means press releases, new website copy again, email marketing, perhaps even flyers.

Marketing is a constant merry-go-round.

So what happens when you wake up in the morning and really can’t face doing any marketing?

Do you just sit back and take the day off?

Although tempting, it’s unlikely to do your business any good. If you really can’t face it, be productive with your time and do something else; something that is equally important and that your customers demand.

Going the extra mile

Marketing will obviously get your message out into the marketplace and get your business noticed. But there is something else that your customers want that will really set you apart from your competitors.

What’s your customer service like?

Let’s go back to the morning when you wake up and really can’t face doing any marketing. Rather than nothing, invest some of your time in enhancing your customer service.

What do customers want? That’s easy to answer. You are a customer so think about what’s important to you.

When approaching a new company, their attention to detail is what will get them noticed over and above everyone else. You want a company that welcomes you, one that offers advice, one that isn’t pushy and one that has great after sales service.

So if you want to stand out that’s what you have to emulate.

Exceptional customer service

If you’re exceptional customers will come back again and again and recommend you to others (how about that for a marketing idea).

What do you do once a customer has bought from you? Do you wave them goodbye and hope they come back or do you keep in touch?

Whether you get their permission to send them your emails or newsletters, or send a ‘how are you?’ card, keeping in touch with them and sending them advice (as well as future offers) shows that you’re a company that cares about its customers and is willing to go that extra mile to ensure they are happy.

So the next time you really can’t face writing your marketing materials, take a break from them and review your customer service instead. Making small changes within your business (such as creating an advice sheet that can be handed out with every sale) can make a huge difference to your customers and their perception of you.

Let’s face it customer service and marketing go hand in hand. Make a great impression every time you interact with a customer and they’ll spread the word generating new business for you.

Do you use any innovative customer service techniques to drive business? If so why not leave a comment below and share them.

That might sound like a strange question to ask.

But think about it for a second – why do you have a website?

If your immediate answer is ‘because everyone else has one’ you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Yes, if you’re in business today you are expected to have a web presence but that shouldn’t be the sole reason for your website to exist.

Your website has to do something for you and, more importantly, something for your customers. Let me explain.

Your website and you

By having an effective presence on the web you will be able to:

Free up manpower because your website should answer most of your customers’ questions

• Be a source of information 24/7
• Help people find  you on the internet
• Publicise events and your latest news
• Showcase you products and services
• Take orders online

And that’s just for starters.

But it’s not just about that. Yes, all of those things will make your life easier and, to a certain extent, your customers’ lives. But your website isn’t just there to help you.

Your website and them

Who is ‘them’?

They are your customers. Your website is a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week interface between you and your customers. As such it must speak to them directly, address their needs and show them what you can do for them.

When they land on your website they want:

Great service

• A great experience
• To be made to feel like an individual

You see, for your customers the most important thing is what you’re going to do for them so first impressions are vital.

First impressions count

Whether you already have a website or are in the early stages of development, here are a few pointers to bear in mind when thinking about its design:

• Does it reflect you and your values?
• Can your customer tell what you do from the design/layout?
• Are your contact details easy to find?
• Does your website reflect your brand values?
• Does the copy talk to your reader?
• Is it selling you or the benefits of your service?
• Is it social?

When someone first lands on your website they should be able to instantly see what you do. Your website copy should be benefits led and your site navigation should be easy to use.

Also, make sure your contact details are prominent – after all, your customer is going to want to know that they can get hold of you if they need to. But you also need to consider social media. If it’s right for your business you must use social media – customers expect it. Make sure they can easily interact with you via Twitter and Facebook as well as via the telephone and email.

If you still think a website is just an online brochure, think again. Today your website must work for you. It has to show you are a progressive company that has embraced social media to open up the lines of communication with your customers.

It should be your primary marketing tool so make the most of it.

Gemma Thompson is a communicator and endlessly curious. Use of Facebook & Twitter led to excellent brand awareness for her start-up business a few years ago. In less than a year she had a substantial ROI – £4,083 of business for £950 hours spend, and was being asked to teach others how she was doing it! She is now a full time social media consultant.

The author’s views are entirely her own and may not reflect the views of FreelanceCopywritersBlog.com. If you are interested in producing a Guest Post for this blog, please get in touch with your ideas.

I hear so often that people are too busy to add social media into their business lives, and in fact I’ve felt the same way sometimes!

But social media is so much more than the sum of it’s parts, sure it’s great as a resource and fantastic as part of your marketing mix, but where social media really comes into it’s own is when it is recognised as being a channel for communication and used as such.

Danger Ahead!

The danger of being ‘too busy to tweet’ is that what that really means is that you are too busy to talk (and listen!) to your customers!

The times are not changing, they have changed. So many people use social media to interact with the business’s they buy from and they want to know that you value their custom. The easiest way to do this is to talk to them, listen to them, value their conversation and even enjoy it! Scandalous I know but then in my view business really should be fun!

But I do understand the demands on time, particularly if you are a small business or sole trader, of course you can’t put off doing the work your customers are paying you to do!

Phew – A Safe Passage!

However once your selected social media channels are set up and you know what your strategy is, social media doesn’t have to steal away every minute of your day. In fact I regularly recommend to my clients that they check in just three times a day, first thing in the morning, just before or after lunch and just before the end of the day. This pattern was strongly recommended to me when email became something that threatened to overwhelm the world and I find it holds true for social media too.

There are also many tools on the Market now that can help you fit it into your day efficiently, spending time with a social media strategist can help you define which of these will be right for you.

If you really can’t squeeze 30 minutes a day of social media use into your day then I’m afraid it is time to ask yourself what you are doing that could be changed, is it time to take on an accountant instead of slogging through your receipts yourself? Maybe hiring a virtual assistant to help with your filing or outsourcing your copywriting will help? It may be that you need to employ an additional staff member.

Whatever you need to do, do it. It’s vital you take the time to talk with your customers through social media, and it is most time efficient and effective when it is you that does it. Yes I offer social media management as part of my services, but it’s not what I recommend in the majority of cases. Nobody knows your business like you do, and nobody can change things as quickly as you when your customer base is telling you they need something else. So make that time, 30 minutes a day to communicate with your customers, because they’re worth it!