How is 2014 shaping up for your business? Are your newly created marketing tactics panning out? Whether you started incorporating social media into your marketing plan for this year or hit the road with your mobile showroom on the trade show circuit, its time to stop and assess their efficacy. Because let’s face it – you don’t want to continue with a campaign that is doing nothing to increase your ROI.
CC Image courtesy of Muffet on FlickrHere are some tips to make sure you’re doing all you can marketing-wise to increase your revenue and grow your company into something great.
Clean up your contact lists. Stop wasting time sending email newsletters and promotional information to those who don’t want to see them in the first place. Start with those addresses that are invalid and bounce back to you, and move on to check for duplicates. Start the practice of sending out what I like to call an “are you still with me?” email to all valid email addresses on your list. Start by telling customers though it’s great they receive your emails, you want to make sure they are reading them and not just deleting them instantly, or sending them to their spam folder. Explain that you don’t want to clutter their inbox with emails they never read, so if they would kindly click “reply” and “send” you can keep them on the list. Some might say, “Hey, but then I’ll have to remove people from seeing my emails, which lowers my reach!” To that I say if they aren’t looking at your emails anyway, what’s the point of sending them in the first place? In this way, you are reaching out to those customers who actually look at what’s going on with your company and will actually make a purchase! What’s more, it makes more room on your list for those who wish to add their name to the list at your trade show booth. I would do this once per year, or once every couple of years.
Break down those lists. When you have finished tidying up your list, you’re not quite done yet. Go through your contacts if you haven’t already and divide them up into groups to target your marketing efforts even further. Distributors and customers are easy to separate from one another, but can you go a step further? Do some research on each customer to figure out what they typically purchase so you can further target your emails. For example, you are a sporting goods store. When you have someone sign up for your email list, include a brief survey asking them to indicate their interests (duck hunting, deer hunting, deep sea fishing, apparel, shoes, freshwater fishing, etc). Let’s say you have a sale on deep sea fishing poles and equipment – you can send the promotional information to those who are interested in deep sea fishing instead of those hunters who never fish. Your customers will appreciate getting offers they actually want to take advantage of, and you aren’t wasting your time sending it to those who couldn’t care less.
Engage with your customers. It’s great you set up that Facebook page, but if you aren’t engaging in a meaningful way, you’re wasting your time. When a customer posts their undying love for your new product, respond, even if it’s just a quick “Thanks!” If a customer asks a question or has an issue, address it right there, immediately. Not only will that customer feel important, other customers will see that you respond quickly when there is a problem, building their trust.
Post meaningful content, but be fun sometimes. Speaking of social media, what are you posting? If you’re treating it like a sales pitch, only posting new deals and products, they’ll tire of that quickly. Yes, you can post new products, but go further – post articles that you find that relate to your business or new product line, post your own blog posts, and yes, you can post funny memes that relate to your industry or a new product. There’s nothing wrong with that – your customers love a good meme, and if they are sharing it, that’s more eyes on your business.
Exhibit at more trade shows! No matter what is big in the digital world, people will still rely on good old-fashioned face-to-face connections. There are those that prefer meeting the face behind the company, or wish to shake your hand rather than conduct all business on the internet. A trade show is the best way to accomplish this goal – you can be sure that those attending are great candidates for your mailing list because they are showing an interest in your industry just by attending.
You can get your marketing tactics on course to make 2014 the best year yet. Just remember to mix digital with face-to-face and you’re well on your way! If you haven’t yet entered the world of trade show exhibiting, now is the perfect time. Contact us today to discuss your options!