Being on social media is nothing new. A lot of businesses are on social media. Many are even spending a lot of time and effort on social media. But are they using social media to actually engage their customers? Treating social media as another advertising channel is a big mistake. Here are some social media resolutions that can improve your customer engagement and lead to true return on investment (ROI).
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Jul
28
2010
Old Spice Viral Campaign Increases Sales
While the Old Spice ad campaign, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” was amusing to watch, marketers were interested in whether it could lead to increased sales. According to The Nielson Co. and SymphonyIRI Group, the answer is yes, as reported by BrandWeek:
Over the past three months, sales jumped 55 percent and in the past month, they rose 107 percent, also per Nielsen. Recent sales figures from SymphonyIRI also show a lift for Old Spice Body Wash products. - Old Spice Campaign Smells Like a Sales Success – Brand Week
As the Old Spice Man responded directly to people via a series of videos, we took a look at the basic measurements available. Let’s take an updated look now that we have sales information.
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Mar
08
2010
The Best Use of Social Media? Building Relationships
People don’t buy from companies. They buy from people. Somewhere along the purchasing decision a person is involved: either a friend or colleague that makes a recommendation or a good salesperson or helpful customer service or even a question answered on an online forum or network. Even online people may purchase from a company once without a human interaction, but it’s probably the person-to-person contact somewhere along the line that brings them back. People make a company what it is.
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Oct
13
2009
News Flash: Selling Still Means Building Relationships
I had the honor of listening to Chris Brogan yesterday at the Detroit Chamber’s Marketing Mavericks event at the Detroit Zoo. I really like listening to people talk about social media, because it helps me come up with new ways to explain it to clients. One of the things Chris said was that selling is still about building relationships, social media is just a way to do that online.
Jul
20
2009
When References & Testimonials Aren't Enough…
We’re in the market for a financial advisor. Stop! Before you start spamming us with phone calls or emails – we’re not interested. What we’re looking for is a financial advisor that we’d feel comfortable going out to the bar with – someone who is recommended by someone else we trust. In this case, I don’t care what your resume is, or who your other clients are (unless I know them personally) or what they say, or what references you can provide. The service you’re selling is something that affects me personally and it’ll take several years before I know whether or not you’re full of it.
Mar
30
2009
12 Tips for More Effective Email Marketing
Emailing a prospective client can be difficult at best. Following up on potential leads is important, but so is saying the right thing. It may help to consider your email piece as an elevator pitch – you only have a few seconds to grab attention and entice the customer to continue the conversation. Here are a few tips to help make your email more effective:
- Keep it short – No one wants to read pages of text in an email. If it’s longer than 3 or 4 paragraphs, it’s too long. One or two paragraphs (short!) are best.
- Focus on the customer – What benefits are you offering them? What will they gain from your product or services?
- Be concise – Get right to the point about who you are and what you’re offering.
- Use bullet points – Short phrases in bullet points can be effective for getting across a message succinctly.
- Provide examples – Potential customers want to know what you’ve successfully done in the past. Keep examples short and link to longer explanations or case studies on your website.
- Keep it simple – Even people in your industry won’t want to read wordy technical explanations. Make sure just about anyone can understand what you’re talking about.
- Link to your website – for more information or longer testimonials or stories.
- Include a call to action – Whatever you’d like the person to do. It’s most effective if its something you’re offering them on your website (for free) that you can use to gather the lead (and measure that they’re actually interested).
- Introduce Yourself - Customers want to know who you are, but keep it to 1 or 2 sentences (think elevator pitch). Link to more information on your website.
- Followup – Don’t rely on customers to contact you. Followup with another email or a phone call during a specified time period. Ask when and how they prefer to be contacted.
- Respect privacy – Have a privacy policy and follow it. Allow people the option to opt-out of receiving emails from you. Post it on your website and link to it in your emails.
- Give them space - Don’t bombard potential customers with phone calls and emails. Give them time to think and do their own work. Contact them at specific times through their preferred channel.
This an evolving list. Do you have tips that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear them in the comments!
(photo by frozenchipmunk @ Flickr CC)
Technorati tags: direct marketing, email marketing, internet marketing, business, leads, lead generation, sales, marketing
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Oct
13
2008
30 Ways to Increase Sales on Your Business Website
As we discussed in our previous post on traffic, there are three ways to increase sales on a website: 1) increase qualified traffic (number of potential customers), 2) increase the number of conversions (sales) or 3) both 1 and 2. This list focuses on ways you can increase traffic or conversions. A good strategy would be to pick a mixture you’re comfortable with and continue to add to it as you see success.
- Increase your advertising budget
- Expand the keywords you target with Search Marketing
- Use/Expand Affiliate Marketing
- Purchase ads on niche websites
- Write articles with valuable information for your potential customers
- Start a blog
- Join social networks and start conversations in your areas of expertise
- Advertise on social networks
- Allow customers to rate and comment on your products & services
- Create a FAQ section on your website
- Add a discussion board to your website
- Start a podcast
- Target your marketing message to your audience
- Change to a customer-centric design
- Add support information about all your products and services
- Make it easy for customers to contact you with questions or concerns
- Create an ongoing newsletter
- Offer a free product or service in exchange for contact information
- Update your website design to a professional, modern look
- Add a sitemap to make it easy for customers to find information
- Include a search function
- Use structured menus instead of drop-downs
- Organize your website information intuitively
- Add contact information throughout the site
- Use a creative, but professional color scheme
- Incorporate all the information needed to make a purchase decision on product and service pages
- Solicit customer purchases from every product and service page
- Tout company accomplishments on homepage
- Announce company news through press releases
- Optimize your website copy for search engines
Do you have more ways to increase sales on your business website? We’d love to hear them in the comments below.
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(photo by timparkinson @ Flickr CC)
Technorati Tags: seo, search engine optimization, internet strategy, internet marketing, internet consulting
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