Better Marketing Results

Some of our readers will note that in landscape mode tablets and smart phones can accommodate websites designed for desktop computers as these devices are fully capable of the screen resolutions that match the desktop.  However, I don't think these are the same! Web content will appear so much smaller and will almost be unreadable without zooming with your two fingers to expand the view.

With desktop computers we use mouse clicks and keyboards while for tablets and smart phones we use “finger sweeps” and on-screen touch keyboards.

It is a completely different user experience for the web visitor that I am sure you will all agree.

What do you think? If your business has implemented optimised web templates for tablets and smart phones, what were the drivers that were considered to making this a priority for your online web business presence?

QR codes can be used to increase the response rate of your marketing campaigns exponentially.

They are quick and very easy quick to use.  Use your smart phone to simply point and scan.  

What are some of the benefits for using QR codes with your marketing?

• Extremely quick responses and conversions for traditional offline marketing
• You are able to track responses easily
• Leverage on social networks to reach out to new customers
• Use premium advertising and marketing space effectively
• QR codes are so easy to share

What is your own experience with QR Codes?  Have you been a recipient of a direct response piece using QR Codes for the 'Call to Action? Did you use it? What was your impression?

Or perhaps, you have used QR Codes with your own marketing campaign? How did it go? Were the results to your satisfaction?

What makes direct mail campaigns successful? 

• Addresses a specific group of people or targeted audience
• Uses creative to cut-thru the clatter of the mail box
• Offers a personalised message that communicates a compelling benefit
• Creates a sense of urgency and excitement with the mail piece
• Provides a your clear and visible ‘call to action’

Using this structure approach will achieve superior response rates from direct mail campaigns.

How can we  use integrated multimedia to dramatically improve the results from direct mail campaigns? Consider the following factors:

• Personalise all communications with the recipient across the different media
• Using several multimedia channels in the promotional campaign
  • Letter, postcard or mailing piece
  • Mobile phones and other smart mobile devices
  • Web landing pages with personalised URL (PURL – define)
  • Email marketing and auto-responders
• Using a QR image (QR Code define) image to support the ‘call to action’

Essentially, an integrated multimedia direct mail campaign allows a one to one personalised engagement with the recipient.  It has the ability for the recipient to immediately accept the offer or secure additional information with readily available technology such as their mobile phone or access to the Internet.

What is your own experience with integrated multimedia direct mail campaigns? Let's hear from you.

At a recent small networking business group (SBNG) breakfast meeting, we discussed the challenges in marketing and what were their successful experiences in reach out to their target markets.  Here is the list complied from the meeting:

• Face to Face meetings (Personal Networking & Selling)
• Understanding exactly who is your target market/customer (targeting potential customers)
• Using a system to generate a prospecting funnel and manage the conversion process
• Testing marketing first before bulk roll-out of the campaign
• Having the right attitude toward communications with your prospective customers - helping instead of selling
• Target your own customer database using RFM segmentation (define)
• Market & sell your benefits not features (how) or use an Objectives-Benefits-Features (define) chart
• Use marketing mediums that your customers use not what you are comfortable with.

What did you think? What is your own experiences with successful marketing?

In my experience as a marketing consulting with business owners I havefound that the following traits are characteristics of successful businessowners along with a profound view that they have ownership and areaccountable for their own success.

• Planning
• Systemise
• Test & Measure
• Watch Competition
• Focused Marketing
• Engage with Stakeholders
• Persistence and Perseverance
• Cash is King
• Entrust your Staff
• Keep it All Together
• Look after Yourself
• Dedication and Passion

What do you think? As a business owner how many of these characteristics are in your profile?  What have you identified as an area for development and what are you going to do about it?

Many businesses neglect this very valuable asset - your own in-house database. Why? Most think it is too time-consuming to keep updated or simple fail to realize the potential goldmine from using and maintaining their database.

You may have heard of the marketing phrase “Content is King”, however, you may not have heard that the “Database is Queen”!

Your database must be viewed as a valuable resource asset. It is a potent source for marketing intelligence and a powerful tool for building relevance while nurturing relationships.

To make the most from your database you must be able to answer these five questions:

1. What is your database objective?
2. What information is available?
3. How can the information be captured?
4. How can you use the information?
5. What is the best way to segment your database?

What do you think? Have any of you taken the time to segment your database to achieve better marketing results?

View my presentation titled "Why your database should be your best friend" at the recent Email Marketing Summit Australia EMSA 2010 held at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney.

We can easily observe that people love and are incredibly engaged with interesting web videos.

We can harness the exceptional persuasive power of videos with videothat is benefit-oriented and with real entertainment value.

Web video that is entertaining and relevant to the audience is most likely to be shared with their own network of business colleagues and friends using social media like FaceBook and Twitter.

What is your view and your own experiences with using video to engage with your own audience?

You would have heard so many marketing experts telling everyone to use socialmedia as part of their promotional marketing mix. The Internet is flooded withinformation on using FaceBook, Twitter and other social media sites.  Numerousarticles have been written on how using social media can help promote your brandimage and how it can generate web traffic for your main businesswebsite.

Keep in mind that that social media is a marketing tool and itis only effective when used properly to promote your business. The keyquestion for a business is “How is social media harnessed to generate realrevenue and customers?”

Here are the 7 Business Development Marketing Tips for using Social Media: [Read complete article]

1. Go where your customers are and not where you are comfortable
2. Engage and interact
3. Research your competitors’ activities
4. Release offers and programs that are exclusive to your social media channels
5. Social media participation requires authenticity and transparency
6. Look for value opportunities in selling through social media
7. Always test and refine based on results generated

Social media programs as a marketing channel are not exempt from testing and refining your messages and offers. You must make the effort to test, gather results and analyse how it can be improved before launching the program to the entire channel.

Apply these 7 Marketing Tips for using Social Media to give you the foundation for success building and growing your business using these communication channels.

I am sure many others can add to this list, share with us your own successes using social media!

Many businesses focus all their marketing efforts in generating new customer leads while at the same time neglecting the potential gold mine that exist with their current customers! Your promotional marketing plan should always include targeting your most desirable customers with relevant and timely offers.

To identify your most desirable customers I recommend you utilise the Recency-Frequency-Monetary (RFM) segmentation method.

The RFM segmentation analysis method will identify your most desirable customers from your current customers using three different lists, namely;

1. Recency – to determine the time frame of orders from the date of your analysis. Your generated list must sort by the most recent orders first as your priority target.
2. Frequency – to determine the number of orders that customers placed with your business. Your generated list must sort by the most number of individual order transactions in descending order.
3. Monetary – to determine the total monetary value of orders placed on your business by your customers. Your generated list must sort from the highest total value to the lowest total order value.

Next, from these three lists select the top 20% in each of these lists.  These will represent your most desirable customers who are potentially most inclined to act on a relevant and compelling offer from your business.

Let us know what results you have achieved!

You most likely will have heard this before “businesses that fails to plan, plans to fail”.

It is a simple truth – you need to know where you are going to get there!

Small business owners must recognise that marketing planning is essential to achieving their company’s full potential for success. I am not talking about a huge document that sits in the desk drawer never to be taken out again once it has been prepared.

In small business, you need a practical and concise document that you can refer to regularly. It should not be more than two to three pages long because you need to post it in front of your work space where you can see it and refer to it frequently.

How can you put together such a marketing plan?

Here’s how to build your small business marketing plan:

1. Define and list your top three marketing objectives
2. Formulate your marketing strategies for your target markets
3. Identify the marketing programs needed to implement your strategies
4. Outline how you will track and measure your marketing results
5. Create a marketing calendar

The question is - as a small business owner what support would you need to be able to prepare such a plan? or from your experience as a small business owner can you do it yourself? or perhaps you feel you can do without a plan?

What do you think? Let us know your views and comments!