Marketing Ideas

We are getting a lot of emails from our subscribers, asking for some marketing ideas. No problem - we did a quick brainstorm - and came up with 3 very powerful startegies we use.

Remember these have worked for us in different sized businesses, across different industries - its just a matter of thinking about how you can apply them to your business. Please leave questions or comments at the bottom.

 

Marketing Idea #1
Partnerships or Strategic Alliances.

This works by you finding other businesses that already have customers that would be interested in your product or service. Then you ask that business to connect you to their customers, in return you pay the business a commission for each new customer you gain.

So the business would write or email their customers or clients, and tell them how great your product or service. Additionally you then need to give those people an extra reason why they should call you or buy from you.

Do this by simply offering a free consultation, limited discount or adding value in some way. Also make sure that the offer is time sensitive.

Let’s take an example.

A web designer goes to a couple of accountants, and says this:

“Let me redesign your web site and get it ranking in Google for free – something that usually costs over £3,000. In return you write to all of your clients saying something like:

Dear John,

Paul here, your accountant. I hope this finds you well.

I need to get something of my chest. As one of my preferred clients I really wanted to let you know about this new web company that I have been working with recently.

They have not only redesigned my site amazingly but they have also got me to the top of Google, which is now generating me free leads!

Blah, Blah, Blah…

Here is the good news… For all my preferred clients I have negotiated a special deal. Greg the MD will sit down for 1 hour with you and develop a strategy so that you can use the Internet to generate more leads and sales – FREE. Just call 0800 000 0000 and mention my name – Blah Blah – Because he doing this as favour to me and you - he can only do you a free consultation before the 27th March so please call him today.

Blah, Blah …

We do this a lot – it works brilliantly. We did actually do this for a web design company back in 2000 when we used to do some consulting. It brought in over £27,000 of new business in one month. The great thing with this deal was there was no commission involved, they just built a web site and did some search engine optimisation for free for the accountant!

Action Point:
Identify a few businesses that you could approach to set up a partnership or strategic alliance. You might come up with some really big players, but start small - do it with a smaller company first and get it right before you approach a bigger player.

Also think friends, family, friends of friends, business networks, chambers of commerce, business meetings, etc.

 

Marketing Ideas #2
Pay Per Click Advertising.

Generally speaking pay per click (PPC) advertising can be a lot cheaper and more targeted than other forms of advertising. Do this right and you will really see a significant increase in your revenue.

Even if you are already doing it, there are so many ‘secret’ ways to reduce costs, increase expose and targeting and convert more prospects – watch out we might share some of these ‘secrets’ at some point;)

We love PPC. In the last 6 years in has absolutely revolutionised our business interests and business we work with. You can’t afford to ignore it, or say that it is not applicable to your business – you must embrace it.

It doesn’t matter if your business is local, regional or national – there are various tactics you can adopt to geographically target specific areas.

Seriously - we have used PPC to literally double businesses revenue very quickly, even those that were previously using PPC - but not doing it right.

SIDE NOTE: In future blog posts we will be drilling down further into this, and getting more specific, possibly with videos as well, watch out for it.

So what is pay per click (PPC) advertising?

Basically you pay to have your business listed in search engines when someone searches for something related to your product or service.

If the person clicks on your advert then you pay an amount that you have pre-specified, if they don’t click on your advert then you pay nothing.

So if you sell widgets and someone goes to Google and searches for widget and clicks on you advert then you pay X.

In the UK the 3 main PPC ad providers are, Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN Adcenter. For the time being will are going to look at Google Adwords as around 75% of decent PPC traffic (web site visitors) comes from here.

Here’s a quick overview of how Adwords works:

1. You choose keywords that you want your adverts to show for. Keywords are the search terms people type into the search engine to find what they are looking for. So for a florist in Southampton, you might target “flower delivery Southampton” or “florist in Southampton” or “Hampshire florist” or “wedding flowers Southampton” etc.

You need to think about the keywords you are going to use, there are various strategies and tactics you can adopt that we will try and cover in a later post.

2. You then write adverts for these keywords. The adverts will appear to the user when they type in one of your keywords. You need to give them a reason why to click on your advert.

3. You then decide the maximum cost per click you want to pay. You will never pay more than what you specify.

4. Your adverts are now running. Every time someone searches for your keyword, your advert will be shown. If they click on it, you get charged, and the user will be forwarded to your web site.

Please note this is a simplistic breakdown.

But think about it. You can use it to drive traffic to a web site or specific page on your web site (known as a ‘landing page’). You can then convert that user into:

# A lead – ask them for their name, address, phone, etc for further information.
# A sale – ask them to pay for something there and then.
# A call – ask them to call you.
# A visit – ask them to visit your business.

The majority of businesses don’t understand how much of a leveller PPC is. By using little known PPC strategies it means that a small company, with a small budget can out market a big company with a big budget.

PPC also brings great accountability and transparency to your marketing. You can test and track everything – which means you can refine your whole marketing efforts.

Because everything happens in real time you turn things on and off quickly. So if you have spent £100 and generated 10 leads or sales, you might decide that’s it for today, and stop it. Where as with a newspaper advert you spend £400 upfront and don’t know what it is going to bring in. PPC is instant – instant results – it is like a tap, you just turn it on and off.

With PPC you are almost paying for results. This is actually true as recently Google has introduced a system where you only pay results (a lead, sign up, sale, etc). You don’t pay for clicks, just your desired outcomes. Do newspapers or magazines offer that? No.

We could go on and on about all of the different reasons why PPC is something your business needs to test or if you are already doing it - work at increasing it effectiveness. But we think you get the point!

Action Point:

How could you use PPC advertising to increase leads and/or sales?
What actions can you take to increase the effectiveness of your current PPC Campaigns (if you have any)?

 

Marketing Idea #3
Communicate With Your Customers Regularly

This is another key tactic that every business needs to activate. A customer is for life not just for a quick sale.

What happens when a customer or client has paid you once? Do you say thanks very much and leave them to it?

You will constantly be trying to bring in new customers, right? It is a lot more expensive to bring in a new customer than it is to get a previous customer to do business with you again.

Each of your customers has a Life Time Value (LTV). The LTV of your customer is worked out by multiplying the average initial sale amount by the average amount of times they buy from you in a year and then you multipliy that by the number of years they stay a customer of yours. So…

Average sale per customer…
e.g. £50

Multiply by number of times they buy from you in a year…
e.g. 3 times.
So £50 * 3 = £150

Multiply that number by the average amount of years they stay your customer…
e.g. 4 years.
So 4 * £150 = £600

Gives you Lifetime Gross Revenue Per Customer…
e.g. £600

So from the example above you know every time you get a new customer, on average they are going to be worth £600 to you.

If you are not sure about your figures, then be conservative with your estimates.

What we now want to do is show you how you can:

# Increase the transaction value of your customers.
# Increase the buying frequency of your customers.
# Increase the length of time they stay a customers of yours.

Now imagine increasing all of the above - that would have a significant impact on your business. Doing any one of the above would have an impact, but doing all 3 is beautiful. Let’s take a look:

 

Increase the transaction value of your customers.

This basically means you increase the amount each customer spends every time they pay you. Even if it is just a small amount, do it. Long term it is significant.

We will cover this in another post - as this post is about ‘Communicating With Customers’. You might want to have a look at the Upselling post.

 

Increase the buying frequency of your customers.

AND

Increase the length of time they stay your customers.

Communicate!

Communicate often and with reason. Make sure you collect every customer’s details. Name, address, email, etc – get as much information as you can.

Then you need to communicate with them regularly -

# Send them a thank you note after they have paid you, bought from you, done business with you, etc.

# Give them something else for free that wasn’t expected.

# Send them birthday and Christmas cards/emails.

# Send them news or advice on matters related to your industry and their interests.

# Send them invites to special events you might put on for special customers.

# Send them news about new stock or services you are launching – and give them opportunity to buy before it goes on sale to the general public.

# Send them offers – if you have surplus stock or have a month where you don’t have much business booked – let them know, make them an offer.

# Send them questionnaires on how you can improve your product/service.

# Send them discounts and special offers.

# Send them discounts that they can give to their friends or family.

You see, there are a million and one ways you can communicate with your customers – these are just a few.

Do remember not to over do it. And when you do communicate it must be for a good reason. You must give your customer a reason why they should bother to read your letter or open your email. There must be a perceived benefit for the customer – what’s in it for them?

Don’t just send them the offer. You always must have a reason why.

“As a valued customer we would like to show our gratitude by offering you and one of your friends 25% off anything this weekend…”

Communicating regularly and offering some kind of value will get your customers coming back more regularly and extend their Life Time Value massively.

Which will result in significant revenue for your business.

Action Points:

What is the LTV of your customers?
How can you collect all of your customer’s details?
How can you communicate with your customers regularly?

 

Please leave questions or comments below. Also feel free to send this to a friend or business associate.

Until next time

Tim & Chris