Online Marketing Strategies

Introduction

Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to businesses of all types and sizes. No matter how you define success, you can achieve outstanding results with email marketing while investing only a small amount of time and an even smaller amount of money

“54% of small businesses surveyed rated e-mail as the top online promotion to drive site visitors and customers to their web sites and storefronts.” Source: DMA Interactive

As with most everything you do in business there is a right way and a better way. E-mail Marketing is no different in that regard. Owners and managers of small businesses who are new to e-mail marketing usually understand the cost-effectiveness of using e-mail to promote a product or service. Frequently, however, they lack the technical expertise to fully leverage this powerful marketing tool. Small adjustments in how an e-mail marketing message is delivered can make a big difference in its effectiveness in producing revenue for a business.

How to Send Brochures, Reports, and
Other Content Via E-mail Marketing

If your e-mail campaigns typically include attachments such as electronic brochures, reports, or other content then we have some helpful advice for you:

Stop it!

Our clients are routinely warned NOT to send attachments in e-mail marketing messages if they want to deliver the full sales impact of the message. Instead, we insist that they send one or more links to collateral sales materials that have been uploaded to your company’s website. There are two big reasons why we make this an iron-clad policy.

1) “Linked” collateral content gets read more often. Content such as brochures, reports, etc. stands a better chance of being read by the recipient than does attached content. There are a couple of reasons why this is true. First, people are becoming increasingly fearful of opening attachments – from anyone. Second, attachments occasionally get stripped away from the e-mail itself by office antivirus and anti-spyware applications before the e-mail finally arrives in the recipient’s Inbox. Third, attachments tend to clog up the recipient’s e-mail system and consume a lot of e-mail bandwidth. In short, e-mails free of attachments tell the recipient (and potential customer) how considerate you are of his time and computer resources.

2) Links leverage the selling power of your company’s website. The goal of any e-mail marketing campaign should be to move the recipient closer to buying your product or service. Either your marketing message asks the recipient to pick up the phone and call you for more information or it leads him or her to an intermediate step that leads closer to a sale.

If your sales offer is compelling enough in the e-mail – and no more information is needed to make a buying decision — then an intermediate step may not be necessary. But if you want to keep the recipient’s interest for as long as possible – and increase the chance of converting him into a customer – then a link back to a page on your website is a smart way to do this. Once inside your website the recipient can download the desired brochure or report and also be exposed to more information about your company and your products.

Finally, once the e-mail recipient enters your website you have the opportunity to easily capture valuable information about your new visitor (name, e-mail address, company, etc.). This information can be requested just before the visitor begins downloading the desired report or brochure. Even if the visitor cannot be converted right away into a customer you will still have collected valuable information that can be used in future e-mails or other marketing communications.

Conclusion

Effective E-mail Marketing becomes a “salesforce multiplier” when combined with other online marketing strategies including “Linked Collateral Content” and a companion business website. When strategies such as these are combined the chances for ultimately converting a prospect to a customer increase dramatically.

For more information about Online Marketing Strategies for Retail Stores (OMS/RS) services offered by MELCOOPER Consulting please call us today at 1-866-695-8669 or visit our website at http://melcooper.com .

Everyone likes to be an insider with exclusive access and priviliges. Rock stars have their groupies who get exclusive backstage access, a seat on the band bus, and who knows what else! Groupies, by definition, are ultra-loyal fans. But more importantly, groupies are talkers who unknowingly become a key component in the band’s overall marketing effort. Every time a groupie talks about their exclusive access with the band they generate more and more buzz. More buzz ultimately generates more business for the band in the music stores and at the concert ticket booth.

Retail stores can learn a lot from rock stars by identifying and constantly cultivating their own community of loyal store “groupies”. By giving customers an opportunity to become part of an exclusive club a retail store can increase customer loyalty to a level never before achieved. Furthermore, such customer’s tend to find opportunities to talk about their exclusive access to others which only makes it that much more desirable for non-members to earn the same privileges and access. A savvy retail marketer understands the value of leveraging a customer’s normal desire to be treated as someone special.

Suppose you started a free Preferred Customer Club in your store that would provide members with a free e-mail newsletter, a regular supply of valuable coupons, advance notice of new products that you’re planning to carry, and exclusive invitations to in-store events or seminars. If you were to offer every customer who walked into your store an opportunity to join your Preferred Customer Club how many customers would take you up on this opportunity? Ninety percent? Ninety-five percent? Fact is, most people want to be considered as being preferred and will gladly join once they understand the value proposition (a free opportunity to get special treatment and privileges).

Assuming you don’t sacrifice the value of the proposition to the customer – that is, you don’t start to treat them less special as time passes – your Preferred Club members will find it very hard to purchase the products or services that you sell from anyone else. They will generally become less price sensitive and more willing to recommend your store to others because they don’t want to lose the special “status” and privileges you and your sales staff have assigned to them.

In addition to increasing customer loyalty with a Preferred Customer Club the biggest advantage to the retailer is the amount of information that can be collected from a club member. If a retailer collected only the customer’s name and e-mail address he could actually reduce his print and broadcast advertising expenses significantly in favor of low-cost, e-mail advertising. Instead of paying for “shotgun” radio or newspaper advertising the retailer could easily launch highly targeted e-mail and website advertising that will produce more sales with lower marketing costs. E-mail marketing strategies that include online coupons also give you store “groupies” an easy way create more buzz by forwarding your marketing message and coupons to others.

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MELCOOPER/CGM Technica specializes in Online Marketing Strategies for Retail Stores and Services (OMS-RSS). For more information about how to use online marketing strategies to increase sales and profits for your retail store or service please visit MELCOOPER/CGM Technica at http://melcooper.com . You may contact us via e-mail at info@melcooper.com or by calling toll-free at 1-866-695-8669.

Recently I visited a new retail store that opened not too far from my office. Actually, it was more like Disneyland than a store and catered to virtually anything a hunter, fisherman, or outdoorsman could possibly want — and maybe a few products they didn’t know they wanted. The two-level store was cavernous inside and featured two giant, indoor acquariams where customers could spend hours watching hundreds of varieties of freshwater and saltwater fish staring back at them.

At the back of the store were dozens of bass boats lined up and ready to be towed away for a season of hardcore angling. In another corner was an area where you could purchase a timeshare condo at any one of a dozen popular fishing or hunting destinations in the country. In yet another corner of the store was the entrance to a great restaurant where fresh fish and steaks were the specialty.

Needless to say this was one of the most amazing retail experiences I had ever witnessed – bar none. But despite all of the shrewd merchandising, the precise positioning of the store displays, and the army of smiling salespeople waiting to assist there were still some folks who left the store with nothing in their hands. They had nothing to remind them of their visit and nothing that would compel them to make a return visit within a specified time frame. Worst of all, the store had no idea who these people were and why they didn’t find something to buy. Considering all the effort expended to sell them something … anything … you would think this information would be important to the store’s managers. I guess not.

Now, if I were the owner of that store I would have made sure that every single store visitor who passed through the door was given a flyer with the store’s website address and simple instructions on how to download a free coupon good on their next purchase. This would have accomplished four things for the cost of a two cent flyer. First, it would have given the customer something to talk about and would have been a reminder of his or her visit. Second, it would have almost guaranteed another visit to the store to redeem the downloaded coupon from the store’s website. Third, there is a better than even chance that the customer will e-mail the download link to friends and family so they can download the coupon, too! An finally, the customer would have an excuse to visit the store’s website — and perhaps make an online purchase — if a store visit isn’t convenient.

What every retail merchant wants is for every person who visits his or her store to buy something – and as much of something as possible. But whether a store visitor buys something you should also want them to take away something that they don’t have to purchase. In fact, you never want a visitor to leave your store empty-handed. Why? Because if they leave empty-handed it becomes less likely that they will be reminded of your store later on. Plus, they won’t have something that could spark a conversation about the store.

What would happen if you placed a small stack of informational slips or flyers next to each product on your store shelves? Office Depot does this and I used to think it was just for inventory control purposes. Then one day I visited the local store and asked a salesman for some information about a new laser printer for my office. He took me over to a model that fit my budget, removed one of the product slips from the plastic holder next the the printer and handed it to me to keep as a reference. Since all of the product slips have the Office Depot logo printed on them I knew where to go when I was ready to buy. So, even though I did not make a purchase during that store visit, I did leave with a valuable reminder (the product slip) tucked inside my wallet. Of course, ever time I opened my wallet I saw that little reminder about the laser printer I needed and where to get it! If I could give the managers at Office Depot any advice it would be to actively encourage customers to “steal” the product slip of items that are interested in so that they become a reminder for a future store visit.

What about placing a large bowl at the check-out filled with cheap plastic key rings printed with your store’s logo and website address? Or, how about a bowl full of cheap plastic pens with a printed logo? On the outside of the bowl just print a card that says “Take one… Please!”. The object is to make sure everyone leaves with something in their hands that will remind them of your store.

Last Christmas I visited an electronics store to learn something about flat screen televisions. I wasn’t quite ready to buy, but I did want to get more information. I found a young salesperson who was reasonably knowledgeable and he gave me about 15 minutes of his time to educate me on the subtleties of “1080p” versus “1080i”. I’m still not sure I know the difference even today, but at the end of our conversation I asked the young man for a card so that I could do him the courtesy of asking for him if I returned to make a purchase. Oops! The salesperson had no business cards – an unforgivable sin in my book for any salesperson worth his or her salt. This was probably the department manager’s fault for not issuing even temporary cards with the salesperson’s handwritten name. But, regardless who was at fault I left the store with nothing to remind me of my visit to the store. And to think that business cards can be had for as little as a few pennies each when you’re trying to sell a three thousand dollar television!

To summarize, if you want your customers to be reminded of your store — and to talk about your store with other people — you have to put something in their hand. Tell your customers to “Take One … Please!” and the marketing multiplier effect of your store’s message will travel to places traditional advertising might never reach.

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MELCOOPER/CGM Technica specializes in Online Marketing Strategies for Retail Stores and Services (OMS-RSS). For more information about how to use online marketing strategies to increase sales and profits for your retail store or service please visit MELCOOPER/CGM Technica at http://melcooper.com . You may contact us via e-mail at info@melcooper.com or by calling toll-free at 1-866-695-8669.

One of the biggest mistakes that retailers often make is failing to notice customers who like to talk when they are in the store. These “talkers” frequently engage salespeople – even other customers – about your products or services. They often seem enthusastic and genuinely interested in knowing more about specific products that are of interest to him or her. Best of all, you and your sales staff notice that these talkers visit your store fairly often and make regular purchases. So, how can you tap this enthusiasm and leverage it to the greatest benefit to your store?

First, find out who these “talkers” are by getting more information about them. What are their names and about how old are they? Are these talkers mostly men or women? What products appeal to them the most on average? How often do they visit your store on average? The more information you can collect the easier it will be to identify your “target talkers”. There are a number of ways to glean this information from talkers – the easiest way of which is to simply notice and acknowledge them when they visit your store. You and your sales staff should be ready to introduce yourselves to target talkers and to thank them personally for shopping at your store. If you make a genuine effort to make a customer feel special they will usually be willing to introduce themselves with their name if you ask. If you feel uncomfortable asking a customer for his or her name – or if you feel this might “spook” the customer – you can always offer the customer an opportunity to join your store’s private “VIP” club.

The special “VIP” club is where a retail store can benefit from OMS-RSS, or “Online Marketing Strategies for Retail Stores and Services”. All you have to do is hand the customer your business card (you do have a business card, right?). On the back of the card is the handwritten URL of your store’s “VIP” website. Note: DO NOT have the URL printed on the card. Handwriting the address adds to the “secrecy” of the site. At this special website the customer can register to join (free, of course), and then be rewarded with a gift certificate good on the next visit to your store. The VIP website will offer “special” customers advance news on new products, special invitations to upcoming sales events, and discount coupons for store merchandise.

The second step in leveraging a talker for maximum marketing benefit is to analyze the information you have collected from them personally and from their VIP registrations at your website. This will tell you and your sales staff who to look for among your in-store customers in the future. More importantly, it will help you better target some of your marketing dollars to reach more customers with the same demographics as your target talkers.

The absolute worst thing you can do is blow off talkers as though they were nuisances. Even if a talker never purchases a thing from you – which is very unlikely – you can still leverage all that “yakking” to your benefit and maybe even convert him into a buying customer. Remember, everyone wants to be treated as though they were special – and they will do almost anything to continue getting that treatment.

Also, never EVER appear to take a talker for granted once you have given him “special” status and collected information from him. Always address the talker by name (people naturally like to hear their name being used). The surest way to turn a talker against your store is if he feels he has been used and then forgotten.

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MELCOOPER/CGM Technica specializes in Online Marketing Strategies for Retail Stores and Services (OMS-RSS). For more information about how to use online marketing strategies to increase sales and profits for your retail store or service please visit MELCOOPER/CGM Technica at http://melcooper.com . You may contact us via e-mail at info@melcooper.com or by calling toll-free at 1-866-695-8669.

One of the things that bothered my wife and I the most during the few times that we’ve engaged a Realtor® to sell our house is that we often felt abandoned for weeks at a time — without any word from our agent. I suspect this is not a totally uncommon experience among clients even with the hardest working agents on the job. The client’s threshold of frustration with his or her agent only gets lower when the real estate market slows down and the house is not being shown to as many prospective buyers.

What is common with ANY customer is that he or she wants to be reassured — on a regular basis — that they made the right decision by doing business with you and that you are providing them with the best product or service possible. This is not Rocket Science, just human nature.

I read somewhere recently that the best salespeople were just “providers of quality information”. The quality, relevance, and frequency of that information will determine how the customer will respond to it. High quality, highly relevant, and frequently delivered information to the customer serves to deepen the relationship with the salesperson resulting in higher sales volume and higher customer loyalty. Poor quality, irrelevant, and infrequently delivered information achieves the exact opposite.

The truth is that regardless of what a person is selling — real estate, automobiles, stocks, or boiled peanuts on the side of the road — there is always a customer involved. Some would argue that a Realtor® has two customers — the seller and the buyer of a property. The real customer, however, is always the one who is being contractually represented by the Realtor®.

So, how can a real estate agent deepen his or her relationship with clients by delivering high quality and highly relevant information on a frequent basis — especially in a down real estate market? One way is to CAPTURE MORE INFORMATION from clients starting from the initial contact. A name and an e-mail address should be absolutely REQUIRED (unless, of course, the client is part of the 1% that doesn’t use e-mail at all). Those two pieces of information can trigger a virtually automatic — and low-cost — process of delivering quality information to anxious clients. This process can continue on a weekly basis for the duration of the selling cycle … and beyond. Delivered in the form of a well-designed, but simple to update e-mail newsletter, an agent can provide clients with weekly real estate outlooks for the local market that include trends, what price ranges are currently selling (and why), how local or national economies are effecting the market, and realistic forecasts that might effect the sale or purchase of a home in the area. This kind of information is usually available from local MLS services, boards of Realtors, chambers of commerce, and other sources.

Delivering information via e-mail newsletters is fast becoming the most desired method of marketing for two reasons. First, it is CHEAP! No postage, no paper, no ink, no delays, and virtually no mailing costs. Second, research has shown that customers appreciate getting news via e-mail more than they do by regular snail mail. Plus, it gives the information provider the advantage of appearing “state-of-the-art” in the eyes of the client.

If this sounds like an idea that you would like to pursue then I recommend that you get started today! There are a number of hosted (online) e-mail marketing services that will let you try the service for a period of time without obligation. I happen to use Constant Contact and can highly recommend that service. If you choose to continue their service after the 60-day trial period the monthly cost starts at only $15.00. Constant Contact makes it easy to design a newsletter by using professional-looking, pre-design templates. These templates also greatly reduce the time needed to get your newsletter ready to send.

All you need to get started with an e-mail newsletter campaign are three things:

1) A commitment to write a minimum of one page of relevant information each week on the topics that I discussed above.

2) A supply of e-mail addresses from current or past clients to get the ball rolling. These e-mail addresses should only belong to contacts that you have had a legitimate business relationship with in the last 12 months. Just sending an e-mail newsletter to everyone in your Outlook Contacts may only get you into trouble with folks who think you’re just spamming them.

3) A commitment to ask for the name and e-mail address from everyone to calls you to inquire about buying or selling a house. Simply asking for this information with the promise of being placed on your “real estate newsletter” is usually all it takes.

A weekly e-mail newsletter is a great way to keep real estate clients from feeling “abandoned” between visits by prospective buyers that the agent brings around. But what happens after the sales cycle has concluded? Fortunately, very few people live in the first and only house they ever purchased. If an agent wants to keep a client for life – whether they are in the real estate market or not – then there is no reason to stop delivering information to them. A savvy agent will continue to touch an inactive client at least one time per month because, as we all know, things change. A divorce, job promotion, transfer, or the “new house bug” can strike when it’s least expected and the Realtor® wants to be at the top of the homeowners’ mind when the time comes to list an existing home. An informative newsletter may even be responsible for sparking the desire for a new home in a new residential development in town.

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To summarize, delivering high quality, useful information to real estate clients and prospects via e-mail can distinguish you from other Realtors® who are unwilling to fully leverage technology in their businesses. Frenzied, old school methods of “churning and burning” clients to close deals only ignore the long term benefits of efficiently managing customer relationships by exploiting online marketing strategies.

MELCOOPER/CGM Technica specializes on online marketing strategies for retail stores and service providers. Our mission is to help brick-and-mortar businesses leverage such strategies to increase sales, profitability, and customer loyalty. The company can be reached at info@melcooper.com or by calling toll-free at (866) 695-8669.