Author: R.Crowley

Categories
Marketing

Consumer Reviews – The New Advertising Model

consumerreviewsConsumer reviews are one of the most important and ever popular trends around.  Why?  Because consumers are looking for the best, cheapest and/or most ethical goods and services on the market that meet their needs.

According to the latest twice-yearly Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries, personal recommendations and consumer opinions online are generally the most trusted forms of advertising. Seventy-two percent of US Internet consumers trust consumer opinions posted online.

Surprising?  Not hardly.  Consumers want trusted advice and recommendations.  They want to feel in control, make informed decisions and avoid mistakes when making a purchase.  This is particularly important given the wide range of choices for just about anything in the marketplace.

As a small business, this means that you must adapt to the new powerful peer-to-peer arena if you expect consumers to buy from you instead of your competitors.

There are 1.6 billion consumers online and the majority are skilled bargain seekers, avid online networkers and opinionated reviewers and advisers.  Their ability to share online has become easier than ever before.

Google’s new Rich Snippets program allows the search engine to now display a product rating review count and actual review text in Google search results.  And the ease of producing video with technologies such as the Flip camera and Apple’s new iPhone 3GS, that provide direct upload capability to YouTube, make video reviews a popular medium.

As a business owner, you would do well to join the conversation, especially when you are the topic of discussion.  This can include posting apologies and solutions, preferably next to reviews from unhappy customers.  You can also refute any unwarranted claims that you feel (or can prove) are unfair or inaccurate.

The benefits?

Participating in the online conversation lets you know how consumers feel about your products and services.  Favorable reviews are an obvious endorsement for your business and can bring new customers.  Negative reviews provide you an opportunity to respond publicly and fix any issues internally to improve the perception of your business.

Changes in behavior and technology require a more transparent marketplace.  To keep pace with consumer trends and expectations, it is important to:

  • Track consumer reviews of your goods and/or services.
  • Actively respond to negative reviews.
  • Promote positive reviews.

If you do not currently have a system or processes in place to “join the conversation,” contact us now and we’ll help you get underway.

Categories
Marketing

Online Marketing – Your Call To Action

Today’s consumers are no longer passive receivers of advertising messages.  Rather, they are increasingly sophisticated and skeptical.  They actively seek out information, opinions, products and services that interest them.  The Internet is their vehicle for doing so.

Customer-EngagementThe web is trillions of the pages on a couple of hundred million websites, viewed by 1.2 5 billion people.  These individuals are from every country and walk of life, and increasingly interact with the sites they visit.  They link to, modify and comment upon what they see.  Their interaction with the Web changes it every moment.  This interactivity is probably the single most important benefit to your ability to attract prospects.

You now have the power to effortlessly create new content and receive feedback almost immediately.  This allows your current clients and prospects to experience your content the way they prefer, pass it around, and comment on it.  In the process, you are able to shape their opinions about you and your business.

A critical component of your success is embracing the power of the Internet and using it to enhance your overall marketing plan. Setting up a business blog, getting involved with social media and listing your business in local search directories are all ways to influence the customers you want to attract.

If you’re not involved in the online space, now is as good a time as any to get started. No more procrastination, no more fear, just take the plunge and discover a whole new way to attract and retain customers.

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Email Marketing

Engaging Your Customers With E-Mail Marketing

To succeed in marketing your products or services online, you must engage your customers.  Otherwise, a potential customer will show up at your website, click around for a few minutes and then disappear.  And you will probably never hear from them again.

visitor-engagementIf you engage your customers on their first visit, you have an opportunity to get their permission to contact them again.  In the information economy, information is both the ultimate commodity and the ultimate asset.  Whoever has access to the best and most accurate information has the strongest competitive advantage.  The most valuable information is that about your customers.

Knowing your customers — what they like, what they want, what they do — allows you to offer them products and services best suited to meet their needs.  You can deliver highly personalized service that will enable you to realize the maximum value from the relationships you establish with each and every one of your customers.

So how do you get the information you need?  You can accomplish this goal with a direct response e-mail marketing system.  This system allows you to service your customers in ways never before possible.  You can stay in touch with them on a regular basis, inform and entertain them, and encourage and listen to their feedback.  In short, you can develop a relationship with them.

When launching a direct response e-mail marketing system, it’s important to define your goals.  Once you determine your goals, you want to create message plans that allow you to deliver a sequenced stream of communication to each customer, consistent with your goals.  Over time, you will build long-term relationships and loyalty.

To learn more about how you can implement a direct response e-mail marketing system into your business, download our free marketing report.

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Email Marketing

Email Marketing – How To Turn Back The Hands Of Time

Before the era of mass merchandising and mass marketing, business owners had the opportunity to get to know customers personally.  They were able to greet every customer by name, communicate with each one as an individual, reward the best customers and provide great service to everyone.  Such service and attention breed customer loyalty.

email-marketing-guyTechnological innovation and a change in retail, however, no longer makes it possible to provide the same “personal touch” that was the foundation of American business.  The days of having a personal relationship with the neighborhood grocer is a thing of the past.  But, thanks to e-mail, you can recapture the ability to communicate and maintain ongoing dialogues with customers the way businesses did many years ago.

E-mail allows you to get to know each of your prospects and customers individually and give them all personalized attention and service in a timely manner.  You’ll be able to offer them a nearly limitless selection of products and services and still set aside the best deals for your VIP customers.

When you engage your customers through e-mail marketing, they listen and interact with you.  They care about what your company can offer them.  They spend more time with you and give you a greater share of their attention.  This translates into a greater share of their wallet and increased long-term value.

With all the noise and marketing distractions in the marketplace, customers are looking for a “service relationship” versus a “marketing relationship.”  They want the neighborhood store treatment at their beckoning call.  And if you don’t take advantage of the opportunity e-mail marketing provides, you miss out on the ability to develop loyal and lasting relationships with customers who are more than willing to tell a friend.

To learn more about how to integrate email marketing into your marketing strategy, contact us to get a personalized consultation today.

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Email Marketing

Email Marketing – Simply Powerful Yet Complex

The key to successful Internet direct marketing and to establishing valuable customer relationships is to establish individual service-based communication with each and every prospect and customer. The best tool for establishing this type of communication is e-mail.

There is no longer any need to guess how people are making purchasing decisions. More and more customers use the Internet for research before making their final decision to buy goods and services. And as the world of e-commerce rapidly matures, you must shift your focus from acquiring new customers to retaining them if you want to survive.

How? By engaging customers in a dialogue and by building lasting, service oriented relationships. E-mail marketing is the most effective means to that end.

Whether you’re sending special offers or promotions, publishing an industry newsletter or sending a purchase confirmation, e-mail marketing can do the job. E-mail is the strategic marketing tool that you can use to establish profitable relationships based on ongoing communication with your prospects and customers.

Categories
Marketing

4 Great Motivators That Get Customers To Buy

If your business is to be successful, you must give people what they want.  While many things can motivate people to buy, the most powerful motivators usually fall into one of the four categories below:

1.  Fear

fear-greed-exclusivityEveryone is afraid of something.  People fear getting old, taking risks, not being successful and not achieving their dreams, to name a few.  This fear is the greatest motivator you can use to get people to act.

To incorporate fear into your sales tactics, you need to tell the prospect about pain and loss.  Prospects will continue in pain unless they accept your offer.  Or, tell them what they may lose by delaying to act.

It’s important to be sincere, specific and believable to make fear work in selling situations.  For example, don’t just say, “Prices will go up soon.”  Instead say, “On January 1, prices will go up to $39.95.”

2.  Guilt

Guilt is a feeling of responsibility for wrongdoing.  Pull the guilt trigger to make your prospects feel bad about failing to take action.  This is particularly useful in fundraising programs.  It can also be used to sell products.  “Don’t hate yourself in missing this limited opportunity,” is a phrase that has sold millions of dollars of product.

3.  Greed

Who doesn’t want more?  To some degree, everyone wants that great bargain.  You can use your customer’s greed to your advantage through sales, discounts and bonus coupons.  And, the word FREE works wonders among high income and low income earners alike.

4.  Exclusivity

This is a powerful motivator because no one wants to feel left out.  We all want to show off things that others can no longer find.  Exclusivity can be created just by setting deadlines or triggered by using the word “imitation.”  In essence, you tell the prospect: “Remember, if you act now, you’ll be joining the elite!”  In a sense, you flatter the buyer… you kiss up to them by making them feel important.

If your business needs a boost, now may be the time to test new appeals and motivations.  Just remember, people are emotional.  Appeal to human nature!