Establish a Plan Based on the sales cycle
In order to get the most out of your marketing dollars, you must have a plan and your plan must work. The goal is to attract leads, convert them into sales and, most importantly, turn them into loyal customers that return. Loyal customers then become brand enthusiasts that help spread awareness by word of mouth and reviews. Your plan needs to be tailored to this sequence of events.
This means you need different marketing pieces for each step of the process. For example, you might attract a new lead with a sales flyer or social media post, but you’d likely turn a loyal customer into a brand enthusiast by sending them a personalized email on their birthday. Make sense?
Use Multiple Formats
Yes, you read that right; print’s not dead. In fact, it’s alive and well in marketing departments all over the world. And the reason why is simple enough–it works. No matter how much time passes or how many technological advancements are made, there are some things that just don’t change. And the fact that people gravitate toward things they can touch is one of them. A sale flyer in the mail box is an effective way to get people in your store or to your website.
Most of us can agree that email is a great way to keep in touch with people. Greeting cards, family newsletters or even just dropping a line to say hello have all gone digital. And basically every transaction we make includes giving our email address to someone so they can keep us updated on their products and sales. This is a good way to stay in-the-know, but a lot of us will also agree that some companies overuse it, sending us multiple daily emails with all sorts of information we may or may not be interested in. This can lead to us simply deleting the email without opening it or, even worse, unsubscribing to their emails. The dreaded unsubscribe is a nightmare for any marketer and, luckily, it’s totally avoidable.
When your customers or potential customers give you their email address, it shouldn’t be viewed as an open invitation to spam them every day. Instead, take the time to send personalized emails with recommendations, discounts, insider information, birthday greeting or their anniversary of becoming a customer. Short, personalized emails will make an impression your customers will remember.
Web
With 3.5 billion users and growing, the web is an increasingly popular place to meet your audience. This is where your SEO-friendly website design will essentially do the work for you. By including certain keywords in your page content, your website will actually attract people and it’s up to the rest of your content to keep them there. Blogs, newsletters, infographics and GIFs are all effective ways to get viewers to your site and keep them coming back for more. Bonus points if you can get them to subscribe to your newsletter or blog.
Take advantage of social media
Because there are 2.67 billion users. And because it’s free, sort of. Joining is free, but you may need to hire someone to help manage the workload. In fact, many companies now have a separate, in-house position devoted entirely to social media management. With so many platforms out there, a company should have a presence on more than one, but not so many that it becomes too much to handle or your content quality suffers.
The main thing to keep in mind is that you don’t reach the same people on each site. So what you post on Facebook might not necessarily be the same as what you post on LinkedIn. As always, when it comes to your company’s social media presence, always do your research and work from a plan.
If you’re looking for help with your marketing planning or execution, we’re only a phone call away! myheartcreative, an Oklahoma web design studio, is your go-to source for professional web, logo and product design. We offer professional writing services and will turn your company’s website into a well-functioning work of art.
Drop us a line to schedule a consultation–we can’t wait to tackle your project!
