Regardless of whether or not you have a Web site, if you are NOT using e-mail marketing for your products and services, you are ignoring a very low cost (and often no cost!) marketing tactic with high-return (and profit) potential.
We print it on our business cards and stationery. We give it out to (almost) anyone who asks for it. We conduct research and gather valuable information with it. We rely on it for communication with associates, friends and family.
“It” is e-mail. And there’s no denying that e-mail is fast becoming as common of a communication tool as telephones and fax machines. Regardless of whether or not you have a Web site, if you are NOT using e-mail marketing for your products and services, you are ignoring a very low cost (and often no cost!) marketing tactic with high-return (and profit) potential. Why not squeeze every ounce of communicative powers e-mail has when dealing with clients and customers?
How?
Begin by turning time-intensive phone calls into 60-second lead generators that provide IMMEDIATE customer service.
Use this easy four-step process:
1. Develop a list of Frequently Asked Questions
Every business receives telephone calls from customers/clients or potential customers/clients asking for the same information over and over again. Retailers get questions like “Where is the business located?”; “What are your store hours?”; “Do you sell such-n-such brand name?”; “What is your return policy”, etc. Service businesses field calls asking for a description of services, pricing, and credentials or references. Make a list of the calls your business gets most often and use this list to document these frequently asked questions – along with the answers.
2. Add an opening and closing paragraph to each document.
For each response: 1) add an opening paragraph that specifically thanks the customer/client for requesting the information, 2) provide the information, and 3) add a closing paragraph that, again, thanks them for requesting the information. Sign off with a specific contact name and phone number with an invitation to contact you directly for further assistance, to place an order, set up a meeting, or whatever else might be a “next step” to continue the communication. If you have a Web site, be sure to list it here and invite readers to visit it to find out more about the company, products, services, you, etc.
3. Develop a follow-up e-mail.
Just as you would initiate a follow-up phone call with a prospect, so should you prepare a follow up e-mail. Prepare a message to be sent a day or two (or longer depending on the information requested) after the first one. This e-mail should ask recipients if they received the requested information and if there are further questions you can answer. This would also be an appropriate time to announce a current special or sale, offer a limited-time-only discount, or introduce a referral program.
4. Create a computer file containing the questions and answers.
Set up an accessible folder on your computer that contains as many Q & A documents and follow up e-mails that make sense for your business. Some of the information may be best combined into one document, like store location and business hours. Other documents will require separate files. The objective is to be able to easily access these response files so you can quickly send them to people asking for the information.
Once you have these documents ready for use, USE THEM! The next time you get a phone call asking for information you have created in your Q&A file, you can say, “I’d be delighted to give you that information. Do you have e-mail? I can send it to you right away!”
Once you have the e-mail address, simply access your Q&A folder, cut and paste the information from the appropriate document file into the e-mail message and SEND! And don’t forget to save the e-mail address for future follow-up.
When using this technique, keep these cautions in mind:
1. ALWAYS give recipients an opportunity to be taken off your e-mail list.
While customers and clients may be willing to receive the initial requested information from you, don’t assume that they now “belong” to you. Make sure you include a message at the bottom of eacj e-mail you send stating how they can request to be taken off the list of future e-mails. Say something like, “Occasionally, we like to send our e-mail subscribers special discounts and send notifications of upcoming sales events. If you do NOT want to receive these notices from us, you can request to be removed from our e-mail list by .” And, when recipients request to be taken off your list, take them off. Don’t send another e-mail explaining why they should stay on!
2. YOU perform the initial action.
Make sure that the work to get the information is done by you, not your prospective clients/customers. For instance, you may have a Web site from which they can access the information. Don’t simply refer them to the Web site. That would mean they’d have to type in your site address, find the page where the information is located and then request it. Likewise, if, like me, you use autoresponders to disseminate information, don’t just give them the e-mail address of the autoresponder. If they have already initiated a phone call, they’ve done their part. This is still a customer service action and you need to be the one doing the work. All they should have to do is open their e-mail. Besides – asking for (and getting) that e-mail address is critical to building your follow-up list.
3. Make an offer ONLY when you have an offer.
Refrain from bombarding your new e-mail list members with offer after offer after offer. That’s just downright spamming them and before long you’ll see the list dwindle.
Using this e-mail technique will:
INCREASE your responsiveness to your clients and customers. You’ve just given them an IMMEDIATE response to their request. DECREASE the time it takes you or an employee to serve your clients and customers. You give personal and prompt service without taking up too much time on one customer. BUILD a prospect and client list for future follow up and SALES! As your e-mail list grows you will be able to send new product/service announcements, online coupons, and open house invitations, or use it to take surveys, and conduct customer preference profiles, research, start an e-zine, etc.
Some businesses are completely changing the way they get information into their customers’ hands by using this e-mail method. I’ve worked with clients to expand this technique to include the capability to send complete company brochures and catalogs. It’s also a great way to build a list BEFORE developing your e-zine.
How you use e-mail to streamline your business is up to you. You can keep it simple or you can turn the technique into a sophisticated (low cost) automated customer service system!
Take a few minutes to determine how e-mail can become an economical way for your business to increase customer service. They could be the best few minutes you’ve spent today to improve communication — and profits — tomorrow!
About the Author
Susan Carter helps business owners do more with less to operate and market their small and growing businesses. She is the author of How To Make Your Business Run Without You, and SPLASH Marketing for Overworked Small Business Owners. Carter offers FREE book chapters, and distributes free business-building advice in her twice-monthly ezine, SuccessExpress Press, available at http://www.successideas.com
MARKETING AUDITS: WHY PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN MARKETING ARE USEFULGeorge Schildge
Accountability and ROI for Marketing
MARKETING AUDITS: WHY PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN MARKETING ARE USEFUL IN PROMOTING COMPANY GROWTH
By George Schildge
More audits are being performed in financial departments today due to the irres
ponsible behavior of a few top executives. Why stop there? Might it not be useful also to look at marketing investments as a fertile field for scrutiny? A marketing audit would measure profit and loss just as an accounting audit does. That is, it would measure return on investment (ROI). This article points out the benefits a company can derive from measuring the ROI of marketing to see whether this vital activity is being used to its full potential.
The Problem
While marketing budgets are often being cut because they are seen by many executives as a superfluous expense item, marketing has evolved in some quarters to go beyond a discretionary item in the budget to being a critical component of tight budgets in the present economy. This evolution has been driven by several factors, a key one being a new perception of how important marketing is for growth. Simply understanding that better marketing is crucial is not enough, however. The impact of a companys marketing programs is often poorly measured, so their full potential cannot be known nor fully realized. Given the current depressed economic climate, it is essential for a company to be able to measure its ROI. When a company cuts marketing spending, it cuts the one function whose sole purpose is to increase sales.
History
Over the past twenty four months or so, many high technology and other companies were blind-sided by the economic downturn and did not know how to react. When some firms finally figured it out, it was too late. Jobs were lost, budgets slashed, market share lost and company value diminished. Of all times to stop investing in activities designed to sell more, a recession or period of soft demand or uncertainty would seem the worst; yet companies do it all the time.
Further, limited internal resources are causing increasing competition between marketing and other departments. Companies are looking to increase their new prospects while shortening the sales cycle by improving the marketing efforts without increasing the budgets. When budgets are thus limited, it is important to know which tactics within the program are working and which are not, so strategies can be realigned accordingly. In effect, the push for ROI is intended to justify marketing and demonstrate its effect on the companys bottom line.
The Solution
Yearly, semi-annually, and monthly audits in the sales and marketing organizations can help marketing executives, top management, and investors ensure they are doing the right things to help drive growth for their organizations. Information gleaned from these audits can align the marketing organization and put in place the scorecard to keep it on track.
A marketing audit is a thorough examination and evaluation of marketing practices and results. It offers a baseline for performance measurements and a framework for effective business planning to maximize positive external perception and demand generation. Many companies choose to measure the quality of marketing by the amount of generated leads as a means of determining marketing effectiveness. Measurements, an audit, must be based on marketing strategy and programs based on pre-established criteria that include factors such as quantity of leads, sales cycle reduction, and lower cost per sale. Periodically, this audit can be revisited to see if the changes have had a positive impact on company performance in the areas of sales growth and company value, or indicate where adjustments may be required, such as positioning, or demand generation on the sales cycles.
The audit helps the organization understand aspects of strategic importance in sales and marketing. Its results become the blueprint for strategic decisions, for future sales and marketing plans by tying funds for sales and marketing to direct sales and leads generated. For example, if the sales cycle is twelve months, the associated income must be discounted back to the date the marketing program funds were spent under the time-value-of money concept.
Additionally, an audit helps the company determine the value of a sale and a sales lead. Value of a sale itself is fairly easy to determineincome generated after all expenses incurredbut the value of a lead is trickier. Is the lead strong or weak, we ask. What is its income potential? Where is it in the buying cycle? What are the chances of closing the lead? Marketing measurement programsauditsthat factors in all of these variables provide a detailed picture of a marketing programs ROI and are critical for a company to stay in business.
There are no permanent right answers in marketing. Customers needs and wants are moving targets, and marketing programs require testing and retesting to find the most profitable formula. A marketing audit is the way to achieve success by providing an interim report card to help you and your staff tap into inherent resource. Whatever industry your company serves, whether or not you work with a marketing agency, your company executives should insist on developing robust measurement practices to assess and demonstrate effectively the value of your marketing efforts.
George Schildge, is president with Matrix Marketing Group, a marketing firm that specializes in helping small and emerging companies achieve profitable growth by getting the maximum results from their sales and marketing investments. George Schildge can be reached at george.schildge@mmg-us.com or www.mmg-us.com.
About the Author
George Schildge, is president with Matrix Marketing Group, a marketing firm that specializes in helping small and emerging companies achieve profitable growth by getting the maximum results from their sales and marketing investments. George Schildge can be reached at george.schildge@mmg-us.com or www.mmg-us.com.