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Posts Tagged marketing mix

Dear Customer Relationship Executive… ERGH!

Aug 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, People!, The Customer Service Dept | 6 Comments

Dear Customer relationship Executive.

Many thanks for the phone call recently, I note the last CRM person did not last long in the role… Pity, like you, he sounded  good on the phone, sent me a business card and an intro letter. He also asked me how my car was going. Nice…

Slight problem, the only time anyone has been in touch, has been to send me a Christmas card or to let me know the CRM person has altered.

Sure you did ask if I was thinking of upgrading my vehicle… (nope but I figure you get that kind of ‘smoke screen’ from a lot of people).

I figure you probably make such a lot of calls and get so little from it, iot would look good for your weekly stats however. The good thing about your call is it set me thinking, (And thanks for the nudge!) here is what I thought.

Nice that you called, but where’s the add on, the incentive, the relationship building, the “Hey next time you’re near here drop in for a coffee.”

Ok, so being the generous soul I am, may I give  you a few free chunks of info on how this could all alter.

  • The email program your dealership has is okay, but can it be tweaked to take into consideration my interests and let me know about things related to my interests? – Maybe
  • Can you send me a birthday card, a hand written one? – Yes
  • Can you chat to me about my interests and send me little snippets you might find (other than via email) ? – Maybe
  • Can you send me updates on programs your organisation is supporting? (Oh, so you did send me something once… er… what was it again?) short answer… Yes
  • Could you share stories of other people using the same type of quirky little vehicle I buzz about in town in… er yeah!
  • Could you have an in store tea and bickies session to chat about the latest version of the quirky little car, and developments in the future like an electric version? – Maybe
  • How about adding a photo of yourself on the intro letter so I can find you in the dealership and say hi, and thanks for the info, the invites, the great stuff the company is doing? -  Easily, so that’s a yes
  • Maybe you could ring me and invite me to be surveyed at a time which suits me… to find out what I love (and possibly hate) about the vehicle. – Yes (I’m a sucker for a good survey!)
  • Perhaps you could find a whole bunch of ways to build the relationship with me and others like me, ask me when my anniversary is or any one of a number of events which are of value in my life so you can assist me to celebrate these events and feel like the relationship with you is a special one. – Yes
  • How about the anniversary of when I bought that special quirky little car from you, how about we celebrate that too! :) – YES

So take that to your team and brainstorm a few more ideas, so you can blow me away with excellence, sweep me off my feet and find out what I have been up to lately.

Sure there are a few maybes and a few ‘yes’s’ but it’s a whole lot more to go on than simply one phone call a year and one card… BLEH!

So take a look at your card and see your title, ‘Customer Relationship Executive’ now build that relationship like you mean it. NOTE! The highest level of any relationship is  unconditional LOVE… so get on with the role of loving me, because I might just want what you, have and it could be sooner than you think!

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Creative marketing for 2011, will your business win this year?

Jan 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Innovation and Creativity, The Marketing Dept | 2 Comments

Its a tough time to be in business, GFC might be over to a degree, but buyers are holding back on spending, the following ideas are sure to get your friendly branding expert chatting and I am sure you will find ways to connect better with existing customers and excite new ones in the process.

Content creation on your website etc is one thing, but getting your target to see it is another. here are a few ways to explore a few pieces of the puzzle and develop a few answers. If nothing else this should be a spring board for your people to come up with some new options, share those in the comments!

  • Build digital communities people want to go to and stay at…. Give them reasons to stay, a gift, a prize and offer, an alliance, a chance to get tokens to build towards a bigger gift. along the way, they get your message.
  • Word Of Mouth as a way to get people to check out your social media information, blogs etc… so make a  you tube video of some people telling each other about your service. Imagine an office where two people are filmed by an apparently “sneaky camera” they talk about some of the benefits of using your biz, they say the biz name poorly at first (so you can’t quite hear it) then it gets clearer over time. have an anonymous you tube acct so it’s not your biz acct, then as they walk off the camera sneaks up and your biz card features on a desk..
  • Hand out your branded gear in an area where you are more likely to get to the sorts of companies which might use your services. Chat to your friendly branding expert for ideas and options.
  • Link a series of approaches together, your linked in group, with your face book page, with your blog, with your website, with your email’s and links on faxes out and adverts with QR codes to a starting point on your website.
  • Have fun doing suitable “stunts” and get media attention which features your website, a “mob event” for example try a creative dance group for some ideas.
  • Provide a suitable enticement via a promotion to get people to head over to your blog and sign up… If they are your target market then great! if not just give them the thing and move on… its a number game.
  • Create a PDF of value to your target market, they can only get after signing up to your blog. advertise it on  your facebook page and linked in group, while twittering about it a few times.
  • Create self qualifying adverts, “When you want what we have go here…” then lead them to your website and give them a reward for doing so.
  • Fortune cookies with a pr code in it to link to a specific page on your website.
  • Create a you tube video with your website featured in it, make it interesting, like have a home movie, or show  a calm and beautiful scene of rolling waves make it short and to the point, heck make a bunch of them, then send links to them via your email list, of course the videos have your website details across the bottom.
  • Load your autoresponder email outs with great tips, hints, ideas and links to your various resources. keep adding to it with brilliant information so they want to stay subscribed.
  • Develop strategic digital partnerships with others who can link to your target market, this way you can get more leverage and be seen as a go to person for resources and ideas.
  • Repetition, repetition,REPETITION!, some things just don’t change! Your adverts need to be seen by people multiple times to be effective… So will it be a branded product, a link to your site, PR codes (more linking…) emails to your targets or all of them! yep do the lot, one of them will be the one which connects!

More ideas you want to share? Use the comments section in the  header for this post to let us know..

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Marketing that connects

Jan 24

Posted by Steve Gray in The Marketing Dept | 1 Comment

Marketing can seem like a hit and miss affair and if not correctly planned and implemented it can miss more often than hit!

The aim is not just to get your name in front of people but to make it connect. When you get to connect with someone the longer you can do it the better, and the more effective the connection, even better still!

Here’s how it could work. If you put an advert in a newspaper and all it sasys is your business name and contact details, you might get a few calls, however if it has some degree of emotion connected to it, you have a better chance of connecting with the reader.

An example… a motor mechanic, if they play on the pain of a car breaking down and the hassle that can cause, chances are the people who know the pain would relate to the advert. Instantly you have a point of difference from the advert with just the details. And you are more likely to get people to take some notice.

It’s even better if the person wants the service you are delivering at the time when they need it most, so if you have played to the idea of connecting and your opposition hasn’t you will probably win more often.

So think deeper and figure out ways to connect so you can set yourself apart from a competitor.

Here’s another step… Let’s say you did a basic connect with the first step and you added a call to action in the advert “Mention this advert and receive a free gift when you come in” then you have a chance to connect again, let’s say the gift is a stress ball with your contact details on it and a tagline which says “We take the hassle out of your vehicle repairs.” Then there is a connection to the first message and you get to be the one to be remembered longer.

Freebies are just one way of connecting with your target customers over a longer period, but avoid just giving them out, make the people work for it, like bring in the advert and get a quote and we gift you.

Put your thinking cap on and see what you can come up with using the connecting rule as a starting point, if you need to, chat to a friendly branding expert to get more information, you will then have a head start.

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Do you do this with your marketing?

Aug 20

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

I’ve seen it done a lot, I’ve seen it done really well and I’ve seen it work exceptionally even in a down market.

I call it Marketing overlap, there is probably a fancy name for it in market speak but for now that covers it.

Many businesses rely on just a few forms of marketing and can measure the results of those, however what most fail to do is overlap the marketing so that as one method of marketing runs out of stem the next one kicks in.

An example of this is when you have a range of great products, and this month you have a special on one of them, the next month another special with a  different item and so on. By focusing on one product special then another people can get excited about coming to check out what you have on offer, often to get the special, but guess what they do, they often buy more than just the special.

If your business is expanding and offering new products you can launch them as the “special” then as you move to the next special the first one has nearly run its course, and so the overlap effect occurs.

This method generally ups your average dollar sale, keeps people interested in what you have to offer and if you can couple it with a range of marketing devices you will probably see great results. Want to develop a plan of action, then try chatting to your friendly branding expert to see what you can do to make it work.

So on, get out your marketing plan and cram a few extra marketing devices into the mix and overlap each campaign to keep the punters interested, if you don’t, your competition just might and take your customers out from under you. Chances are you may not notice until it’s too late.

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Tracking Your Marketing…

May 14

Posted by Emma Rhoades in The Marketing Dept | 1 Comment

I am still completely stunned when I talk to many new clients of mine who don’t track their marketing efforts. I mean -come on… what a waste of money!

How do you know if it works?

Yes it can be a pain.. personally I love it. I love seeing where my website visitors come from, what page they came in on, what they clicked on, and where they went around my site. I love watching my contact forms come back with the box ‘Where did you hear about us” filled out and realising that my marketing is reaching further than I thought!!

So if you don’t track your marketing efforts, at least start with your website. Write this down – - Google Analytics.

Now go and visit their website - http://www.google.com/analytics/ . Go on. I’ll wait.

 

Ok, now that you have had a look  – go and sign up!!! This site is amazing with tools that let you track the sales process and see where your potential customers are falling off the process. Do you get visitors but no-one is buying? Find out what page they leave and fix it!!

You can also test different pages. So if you have a product and want to try different content, you can do a split test of these pages and see which ones convert the highest.

This tool is essential for any business owner with a website, serious about succeeding.

The best thing?

It’s FREE!! Go and start tracking your site now so you can improve the bits that aren’t working! 

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Marketing Mix – How Powerful Is It?

Apr 22

Posted by Emma Rhoades in Starting out in business, The Marketing Dept | 1 Comment

I’m sure you are wondering “can the marketing mix really be held accountable for my success?” You bet it can. You see, the marketing mix is the foundations of any business promotion. Read on to find how it works…
Not many people know of the Marketing Mix, or if they have heard of it, what it really means. Some think it’s all about the specials that they run in their business, or how many newspaper adverts they put it. Actually, it’s a combination of what is also commonly known as The 4 P’s.
Product, Price, Place and Promotion. In that order. Without one, the others fail. All 4 combined together will be 100% responsible for your promotion success. Let me go over them each and how they tie in together and you’ll start to see what I mean.
Product.
This refers to your physical product, or your service that you offer. Have you really looked at it? Pulled it apart and examined it from all angles? (And I don’t mean physically pull it apart!) What is so special about this product of yours? What are you really selling? For example, a hardware shop doesn’t sell drills; it sells holes in the walls. A hairdresser doesn’t sell haircuts, they sell confidence. Find your benefits and see if your product really delivers what you say it does. Once you know that the market wants your product, you can then go about pricing it.
Pricing
Many people get stuck on pricing of their products. The only time this should stump you is when you are introducing a brand new, individual, never been done before product or service into the market. Otherwise this is where your competition analysis comes into play. Who are your competitors? What products do they have that are similar to yours? Are the same type of people buying their products that you want to buy yours? Where do you fit into the marketplace? Are you going to come in cheaper than your competition?(A strategy that can never be sustained, I might add) or will you come with a different angle. This will help you to complete the pricing component of your marketing mix.
Place
This element refers to how people can buy your product. Do you have a retail shopfront? Can they purchase online? Do you have your own distributers? You will see that this section is critical to your marketing success. If people can only buy from your shopfront – what’s the point of advertising in a city ½ an hour away? Especially when your competitors are closer to them? By analysing this point carefully, you will discover that you can save precious marketing $$.
Promotion
This element is the part that people skip straight to. And funnily enough, if you haven’t done the above 3 points first, it’s useless! You are just throwing away all of your money and profits if you don’t know the answers to the above. Test yourself – get someone to ask you all of the above questions, try to overcome objections about your product. When you can passionately promote your product and overcome customers’ objections without any hesitation then you are ready to move on to the promotion aspect.
As you may already know, there are boundless avenues to promote your business. From mainstream marketing such as newspapers and magazines, to free publicity via press releases, to online marketing and social web, there are plenty of strategies that will fit well with your marketing mix, and save you thousands of dollars on your business promotion.

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