Its often easy to focus all your marketing attention on acquiring new customers. But don’t make the mistake of forgetting about those who got you to where your are today. Check out this article.
New Customers are Great, But Don’t Forget Your Old Ones
By Walter Dailey
Published September 21, 2011 FOXBusiness
I recall speaking with a client about the launch of their ad campaign. Their business had been doing well and the company decided to ramp things up a bit and become more aggressive. As I reviewed their strategy for their campaign, I began to inquire about their target audience. They indicated that they . . . → Read More: Don’t Forget About Your Regulars
Let’s say you have a business. It could be a retail or service business. Let me ask you this, “Does your neighborhood know about you?”
Think for a minute, just because you’re there doesn’t mean that people and other businesses around you know about you. People may notice a new business, or a new building, but if you’ve been at your location for a while you may be just part of the surroundings that don’t get noticed.
So how do you get noticed? Search lights and marching bands? Well maybe.
Here are some more practical suggestions to getting you . . . → Read More: Neighborhood Marketing
If you’re wondering about why customers leave or don’t return, here’s what studies have shown.
One percent die.
There’s not a lot we can do about that. Its the old ‘death and taxes’ thing. Fairly unavoidable.
Three percent move away.
There’s not a lot we can do about that either. People move, now more frequently than ever. Often out of the reach of our businesses.
Five percent follow a referral.
These people get a referral or recommendation from a friend or family and decide to make a switch away from your business. Referrals are a very strong motivating factor. They’re the . . . → Read More: Why customers leave
Suppose you happen to remember and old customer you once had. The last time you saw him or her wasn’t that long ago, maybe a year or two.
What are they up to? Why haven’t they been around lately? I wonder if I should do anything about that? No more wondering – I haven’t got time.
Are you, or have you been in this position? And if you check you customer database, how many of them have you not seen in the last year? I bet if you total up every customer you haven’t seen in the last year, you’d have a nice . . . → Read More: Reactivating Lost Customers
Most businesses understand that it is a lot less expensive to keep a customer than attracting a new customer.
However, some of these same businesses don’t know, or even understand the concept of long-term customer value. They will spend incredible amounts of money on advertising and marketing to potential customers, while neglecting their existing customers base.
We’re working in a different economic climate now, where attracting new customers is increasingly difficult. That means that replacing an existing customer will be very expensive in both money and effort.
Research has found that 60% to 80% of a business’s lost customers were either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very . . . → Read More: Satisfied or Loyal Customers
Referral marketing is an often overlooked facet of marketing. Word of mouth referrals are extremely valuable. When people are looking to make a buying decision, that often ask friends or workmates for their ideas about who to buy from.
A recent study into the value of a referral program determined these two attractive conclusions:
Referred customers exhibit a higher contribution margin, retention, and customer value.
Referred customers are more valuable in both the short and long run.
Source: Philipp Schmitt, Bernd Skiera, & Christophe Van Den Bulte (2010) “Referral Programs and Customer Value”
Think of all the possible contacts each one of your clients . . . → Read More: Referral Marketing
Most business share a common problem. Over time they lose customers. Much of the time this is unavoidable, and can amount to about 20% of their existing customers.
Some of these lost customers comes from people moving away. People don’t stay in one place for very long any more, statistics show that about 40% of people will relocate in any five year time span.
So businesses need to replace those customers they loose every year.
One of the best sources for new customers is new residents – people moving into your business’s neighborhood. To do this you need to get the attention of these . . . → Read More: New Resident Marketing
When most people think of marketing the first thing that pops into their head is an advertisement. This leads many people to believe that marketing and advertising are actually the same things. They aren’t.
Here is the definition of marketing according to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary:
Marketing is “the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.”
And here is the definition of advertising:
Advertising is “the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcement.”
So you can see that by definition, marketing is much broader than advertising. Advertising is actually a part of marketing. But it’s . . . → Read More: Marketing vs. Advertising
An elevator speech is a quick speech that you can give that explains or describes what your business (or product) is all about within about a half minute or so. It’s called an elevator speech because you should be able to give the speech in the amount of time it would take to travel in an elevator. It’s usually about 150-200 words. But it can be as little as 10 or 15 words. It just has to be effective in communicating what you’re all about and explain the benefits of your service or product.
Most likely a lot of people ask you . . . → Read More: Elevator Speech
One of the basics of marketing is to create a unique message that you want your business to communicate. You need to decide on what you want your business is to say to people. This message will be laced throughout everything you do.
The message needs to grab the attention of people and make them want to use your business. The message also has to set you apart from other people.
This is commonly called a USP, a Unique Selling Proposition, and it is essential to your marketing message. You need to set yourself apart from your competition. You need to have a . . . → Read More: Your Message
