Some of your best advocates are your current customers - who are happy with the products and services that you provide.
Your future clients are more likely to believe a recommendation from a friend, than from any other advocate or form of communication. If you can get your current (satisfied) customers to talk about you, it will be of greater value than trying to convince new customers with multi-media marketing campaigns. It also costs a whole bunch less, and gives your current customers a chance to reinforce the positive image they have of you - especially if you reward them for the referrals.
Do you have a 'Word-of-Mouth' or 'Incentive' programme as part of your marketing mix? Have you set aside a specific portion of your marketing budget to allow for this? If not, you could be losing out on some really easy, really healthy growth.
Make it one of your key marketing priorities!
We've found a few examples of good incentive programmes:
Big Yellow give current customers up to 50% off their next 4 weeks storage if they recommend a friend
Temple Spa offer their consultants £150 or £1,000 worth of free products if they sign on 2 or 6 new consultants respectively, in any given month
Integrated marketing
Although it's really important to take into account all the New Marketing strategies and opportunities that are available, it's equally important not to completely let go of the Old Marketing strategies that we're so familiar with.
The best approach to take, is to look at a more integrated approach to marketing - involving a strategic mix of both online and offline media for your communication. Both have their own set of advantages and disadvantages:
online (cheaper, quicker, easier to customise and personalise and easier to measure), and
offline (more expensive, can last longer than online, used with online can create strong standout from competitors)
But, before you even do this, you really need to take a long, hard look at your customers, to understand exactly:
who they are,
where it is that they consume media, and
when and where they would be most open to hearing and responding to what it is you have to say.
You also need to know:
What it is that you are selling vs
What it is that they are buying
You may be very surprised to find out how very different these perspectives are. Do you REALLY know why your customers are buying your products and which of the needs you are fulfilling?
Once you know this, you will be in a much better position to ascertain the correct type of media to use that will optimise your customers being aware of you and help to create the demand that drives them to purchase.
If you need any help with any of this, give us a call on 07769 705 987 or get in touch and we can have a chat through how we can help you.
Is social media a fad?
We certainly don't think so...
What are you doing about getting up to speed with Social Media and your brand?
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Obstacle or opportunity
How many times do we face advertisy of one type or another? For example:
plans don't work out the way they were meant to,
sales just aren't happening,
a good prospective customer pulls out of the 'race' just short of you signing them on,
you know the deal...
The cliche that 'every cloud has a silver lining' can be really empty when you're facing a 'downer' head-on and the only light at the end of the tunnel seems to be an oncoming train.
But, the reality is, there are always two ways of looking at a situation. What you focus on, you start embracing! And, yes, everyone needs their down-time, their recovery time, their 'mourning' time. Allow your self that space. But, give yourself only a set amount of time to wallow. Once that time is up, set about focussing on the positive things that could come out of the situation. Write out an action plan and some steps to get you focussed on the positive side of things.
They say that hindsight is always 20 - 20. How often have you looked back at events in your life and been really glad that one chance meeting, closed door or conversation changed the course of your life for the better. You never know how this one event/thing could be changing your life for the positive.
Life is often measured by your perspective of it - sometimes it is good to look at your life from an outsiders perspective too!
What marketing research does
Consumer research is a brilliant marketing tool. It:
can help you understand a number of things about your business - e.g. their perceptions, attitudes and engagement with your company.
is vital to fine-tuning existing products or services.
is a great way to test consumer uptake of new products or services.
Consumer research is, however, limited in that it:
tells you where you currently stand with consumers
can only really give you a base knowledge on which to build a strategy
An interesting tip, when conducting research, is to keep it short. A study done by Survey Monkey, suggest that consumers start opting out of surveys after 15 and 35 questions.
If you would like to conduct any marketing research, we are now providing online marketing research as part of our service. Get in touch if you would like to find out more about how we can help you know more about your customers or clients.
