"Word of mouth" is one of the most valuable forms of advertising. It's powerful, effective, and very inexpensive! Your satisfied customers can be your best spokespeople and biggest cheerleaders.
However, even happy customers can use reminders that they ought to “tell a friend." How can you encourage customers to do so? Here are some ideas:
A positive testimonial about your company – delivered directly from your satisfied customer to a potential customer – is one of the most powerful forms of advertising there is. It pays to encourage your customers to tell their friends about your business.
One way to generate publicity for your firm is to become known as the “go to” expert in your field. Your business’ goals will determine whether your aim is to make a name for yourself nationally, locally, within your line of work, in relevant online communities or in some combination of the above. What can you do to establish yourself as an expert? Try some of the following tactics:
Although becoming known as an expert requires an on-going effort, the benefits – increased exposure, leads and sales for your business – can make it all worthwhile.
Before you can create a successful ad, website, brochure, direct mail letter or other marketing piece, you must first ask an important question: Exactly who is the target audience? After all, your business most likely has a number of different target audiences, each of which has their own particular hot buttons, needs and wants. The most successful marketing campaigns are those that target the specific needs and wants of a particular market segment.
For example, say you manufacture a product that is sold both to retail stores and direct to consumers through a website. Your list of target audiences might include:
Rank your list in order of importance, and then decide which group or groups you will focus on with this marketing piece. Think about the specific benefits that your product or service brings to these groups and tailor your message accordingly. For example, while retail stores might want to know about your product's compact and attractive packaging, consumers are probably much more interested in your product's durability.
Finally, make sure that everything about your marketing piece – words, colors, overall layout, photos used, etc. – speaks directly to your chosen audience.
As the Cheshire Cat said to Alice in Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." Your business' marketing plan is your roadmap for success; without one you're just wandering blindly through the forest.
Your marketing plan can be a simple 1- or 2-page document or a detailed 60-page booklet, complete with charts and graphs. Either way, the exercise of creating a formal marketing plan can help you determine exactly what it is that you want your marketing program to accomplish, how you intend to reach these goals and what yardstick you will use to measure the results.
A basic short-form marketing plan should include the following elements:
Do you have a marketing plan? If not, now's the time to create this critical document.
How are your marketing programs doing? What's your average response rate, cost per sale and size of sale? Which publications, venues, ads and offers have received the best response?
If you're like many business owners you've got a gut feeling about all of these things, but a dearth of hard data. If so, you're really flying blind…and you may be wasting much of your marketing budget as a result.
Every business should systematically track and analyze responses to their marketing programs, so that future decisions can be based on historical results. What data should you capture? As much as you can! For example, for print ads I recommend that you track the publication name and circulation; ad name, date and cost; offer and coupon code (if applicable); date and amount of customer's purchase; and customer name and contact information (if appropriate). Remember, it's not enough to know that a customer saw your ad in XYZ Publication; you want to know if she saw this month's ad or the one you ran last fall.
So what do you do with all of this data? Start by looking at your response rates for each marketing program. This is the number of people who received or had the opportunity to see a particular ad or marketing piece divided by the number who actually responded to it. Look to see how this response rate changed if you changed the ad, offer, publication, mailing list or other factor. How many sales were made? Compare the average cost per sale and size of sale of each program, and then look at the return on investment (ROI) by comparing the total net sales (or the anticipated lifetime sales to these new customers) to the cost of the program itself.
Think of your historical data as a valuable treasure trove of information, and use it to fine tune and maximize the success of your marketing program.
Have you ever stopped to think about what it is that you’re really selling?
When it comes right down to it, you’re not selling a product or service. You’re selling solutions to the problems, needs or desires that your ideal clients have. Does your local gym sell hard work, major time commitments and exercise? Of course not! They sell sexy bodies and good health. Likewise, Mercedes doesn’t just sell transportation – they sell status.
Of course, you’re probably selling more than one thing. For example, a restaurant might sell “convenience” to one target audience, a “fun evening out” to another group of people and a “way to connect with family and friends” to others.
The important thing is to figure out what solution you’re offering to the particular group you’re targeting, and then focus your message on this.
People don’t buy things; they buy what things can do for them. For example, people who buy my book, “What’s to Eat? The Milk-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free Food Allergy Cookbook,” aren’t buying recipes. They’re buying a way to feed delicious food to their entire family, including a family member who is on a restricted diet.
This adage is equally true for services. For example, your neighbor goes to the chiropractor to relieve his back pain. The chiropractor is selling pain relief, not spinal adjustments.
To really connect with your customers and potential customers, keep in mind that you’re selling solutions, not products or services.
Patrick Neeman is Director of User Experience at Jobvite, a social recruiting platform and runs both the UX Drinking Game and Startup Drinking Game | More | Contact
