7% of American internet users use the internet to shop, of which 57% characterize their behavior as shop online, purchase offline. (NPD Group)
90% of online commercial searches result in offline brick and mortar purchases. (comScore)
82% of local searchers follow up offline via an in-store visit, phone call, or purchase. (TMP/comScore)
80% of budgets are spend within 50 miles of the home. (DMA)
74% of internet users perform local searches. (Kelsey Group)
73% of online activity is related to local content. (Google)
68% of buyers like to compare prices online, before buying in an offline store. (Accenture)
67% of people prefer to research online before buying from . . . → Read More: Interesting Online Statistics
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
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
If you ignore your customers, they will keep returning and continue to be happy, paying customers for as long as they live.
Doesn’t make much sense does it? But this is happening every day in countless small businesses across the nation.
Most business owners don’t pay much attention to their customers if they aren’t already in their store. After all, how is the business owner suppose to keep in contact, and build a relationship with his/her customers when they aren’t in the store.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to build a relationship with your customers and prospects with . . . → Read More: Keep Your Customers Happy and Returning
Email marketing is essentially the same as direct mail except that instead of sending mail through the postal service, messages are sent via email.
The other main difference between email marketing and direct marketing is that email marketing is permission based. You do not send any email to any one without their permission.
Permission is gained when some one signs up to your newsletter, or asks for additional information from your website. Or when they give you their email address in person. Anything else is considered spam.
Basically there are three steps to email marketing.
1. Building your list of customers with their email addresses. . . . → Read More: What is Email Marketing?
Stay connected.
Personalized emails speak to an individual, not a group. Customers don’t want to be one of a group, they want to be special. And an educated, appreciated, incentivized individual feels a more personal connection with your business.
Returning customers.
If you offer a recurring service, and can remind them when necessary to return, they will appreciate that, and return. If you keep track of that, instead of relying on them to do so, that’s one less thing for them to worry about.
Customer loyalty.
These days more people than ever shop for value. If you continually provide value to your customers with your product . . . → Read More: What You Gain With Email Marketing
There are many ways a business can make use of email marketing. Here are several.
Newsletters
A monthly email newsletter is a very good way to keep in contact with your clients, and to educate them about your different services. This is a great way to build relationships with your clients.
Website opt-in
This is when you insert a little ‘opt-in’ form on your website, where you ask people to signup for your newsletter. Often you can provide an incentive for signing up, like a coupon or another type of freebie.
This is how you can get your email marketing or other email communications to people . . . → Read More: How to Use Email Marketing
So, you want to stay in touch with your customers. You might be thinking about a newsletter. That’s a good idea. But what’s the best way to deliver that newsletter to your customers?
How about a physical newsletter? How about email?
Comparing an email newsletter to a physical newsletter we see:
• Its virtually instant.
• No printing costs, and no printing delays
• No delivery (postage) costs.
• No delay between conception, production, and distribution.
Email newsletters provide fresh information and content on a regular basis that is easy fro your clients to access. People who subscribe to your newsletter only need to check their email, something . . . → Read More: Email Newsletters
According to a recent study by Experian Marketing Services 80% of emails to customers and prospects which contained coupons received higher open rates and transactions rates than emails without coupons. This is a significant advantage, one that should be exploited.
Most households still get their coupons from newspapers, however, the internet is fast becoming a growing coupon resource. In fact in the last three years coupons distributed online has increased 46 percent.
What does this mean for your email marketing efforts? That’s easy – include coupons in the email.
This is quite easy to do. Just use your favorite graphics . . . → Read More: Email Marketing With Coupons
There can be fine line between legitimate email marketing and spam. And it is a very bad idea to cross over that line. Once crossed you will alienate both your existing and potential customers. And you will never be able to cross back.
Legally and ethically any advertising email you send from your business to someone without their expressed permission is spam. It is just that simple.
For more detailed information about what is legally considered spam you should consult “The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003”. There are six basic requirements in order to comply with the Can-Spam law:
1. Don’t use false or misleading . . . → Read More: What is Spam?
Responsible, and effective email marketing is based on the idea of permission.
Basically, you need to have the email address owner’s permission before you can send them any marketing emails. If you don’t have this permission, the email recipient will most likely consider the message as spam.
You do not want to send spam, or even be perceived as sending spam.
If you are accused of sending spam, then you may find your email accounts closed down, your website shut off, and your reputation ruined. In some parts of the world, you may even be breaking the law.
Aside from these practical considerations, there is . . . → Read More: Permission Based Email Marketing
In order to run a successful email marketing campaign there are three measurement, or metrics that need to be monitored, the open rate, the click through rate, and the bounce rate. By keeping track of these metrics you can consistently improve your results over time. So let’s take a look at these items separately.
The Open Rate.
If you send out 100 emails, how many get opened? This number is your open rate. Of course, the higher the rate the better. A high open rate signifies that your email recipients consider your emails valuable, and/or you have created attractive subject lines that compel . . . → Read More: Email Marketing Metrics
|
| Now Published on Amazon
|
 |
| Are You Making These Mistakes? |
 |
|
Download this free report and find out.
(click on the image)
|
|