But in times like these, it’s more important than ever that we communicate valuably!

What does it mean to communicate valuably? It means that the value is in the message. When you reach out to the people you’re in touch with — whether they are existing customers, suspects, prospects, or even the general public — make sure that what you’re communicating to them is valuable… to them!

Here are 5 ways to communicate valuably:

1. Find out what they need.  This can be time-consuming and demanding. But it pays off. When you are in touch with the needs of people, you can be best positioned to make yourself and your communications valuable to them.
2. Put a strategy in place to reach out regularly. We get annoyed when communicated with too frequently, this is true. But if your messages are concise and valuable to the people you’re reaching out to, then they will anticipate and even look forward to your messages. Whether this is done via e-mail, on the web, via voicemail, text message, Twitter, snail mail, or in person, having something valuable to say and doing it consistently helps build relationship, trust, and a desire to reciprocate.
3. Budget for it!  Treat this like an advertising expenditure: devote time, resources, and — yes, even money — to it.  Put a staff member on it (multiple staff members, if you can). If you’re a salesperson or a smaller company, then carve time out of your schedule on a regular basis to make sure you’re reaching out. The more you do this, the more efficient you’ll become at it. Learning how to use tools such as WordPress, RSS feeds, e-mail service providers, and even Social Media can have an astounding impact on your ability to reach out to more people in highly-targeted ways for very little cost. Many businesses are now wisely diverting money from traditional advertising methods to see to it that they are communicating effectively and regularly with audiences that are likely to produce new business.
4. Create feedback mechanisms. Hopefully it goes without saying that your communications should be highly measurable. Understand whether you’re reaching your target, whether they care enough to open/read/listen to/etc your communications. But, in this day and age, we’re without excuse if we aren’t going beyond measuring and tracking and into really listening.  Give the people to whom you’re reaching simple mechanisms to respond and let you know what they find useful, what they dislike, and what they want more of.
5. Reward those who participate in the dialogue. Amazingly, some businesses still don’t understand that if people care enough to provide feedback, it should be rewarded. Even if the feedback is negative and not presented in a constructive fashion, the point is that they cared enough to respond! Sometimes you may wonder why they cared enough. Find out! And by the way, the reward for participation should at the very least be an acknowledgment or a response. But you can easily go above and beyond… and you don’t always have to provide discounts, coupons, or the obvious financial incentives. Here are some ideas from Starbucks about creating rewards.

Do you have an intentional, strategic process in place to communicate valuably? If not, get busy! The marketplace rewards value. Make sure you’re delivering so they know who to reward!

We’ve met so many of you for the very first time this year in 2008, and let me say, “I’m glad we met!” At the same time, this year we’ve strengthened relationships with many of our long-time friends.

No matter how long we’ve known each other, we at Epiphany Marketing are truly thankful for you! May you and yours have a wonderful holiday weekend!

A quick scan of my unread e-mail shows that they sent me something about this card a month ago. I missed that message. No big surprise, since e-mail has been a background process for me with a few minor exceptions in recent weeks.

Here’s the quick skinny on the card: $25 annual membership, 10% off (nearly) all purchases, sneak peeks and surprise offers via e-mail and postal mail. On top of that, you get a free drink (anything you can dream up) when you buy the card in-store, a free drink on your birthday (evidently an old-school card arrives snail-mail-style), and a very classy exclusive-looking card ensconced in a booklet with free “guest” offers you can give to friends. One added bonus: a gorgeous high-usability “private” website for members of the Starbucks card where you can manage your account and benefits, including up to 2 hours of free wi-fi at AT&T hotspots within company-owned stores.

Lessons for Businesses Working to Beat the Recession

The introduction of this loyalty program serves up a number of great takeaways for any business tackling the challenges in this economy. Here are a few:

Listen to Your Customers

Starbucks started by bringing back Howard Schultz, who is almost single-handedly responsible for creating the famous Starbucks experience. His first move? Start listening.

The company has engaged in any number of efforts to solicit and obtain feedback from its customer base to determine where it had missed the mark. The bottom line? It’s done a great job of listening.

Give a Little

Customers wanted free wi-fi (something the company had famously sworn off forever). The solution? It’s available for the company’s loyal customers only, and within reasonable limits. Others may continue to pay, thank you very much. Customers wanted free flavoring syrups and other little bonuses to help counteract the escalating prices of their addictions. Again: available for customers willing to use a prepaid rewards card.

These and other relatively low-cost accommodations will pay off handsomely for the company when given to those of its customers willing to give up a little bit of information (the rewards cards are certainly being tracked, more so when registered online).

Let Your Biggest Fans Self-Identify

Another important facet of this process is that those customers who felt snubbed as the company went through changes resulting from rapid growth were given an opportunity to identify themselves and sound off. The result? The company has elegantly reached out to them and strengthened its relationship with them. These are now the people who are receiving Starbucks’ most frequent e-mail communications. Remember: this is a very high ROI marketing medium.

Be Creative

Listening to your customers can be a risky business. Taken at face value, raw feedback and suggestions from customers — especially ones you may have injured — may not be directly actionable. They’ll ask for things you may not be capable of delivering. (And, your feelings may get hurt — especially if you’re a small business.)

Starbucks’ promotion belies a lot of intentional effort on their part to hear what was behind the complaints and the feedback they got. They worked to create a viable solution that capitalized on their own need to market to their customer base and to give where they were able to give while still delivering great value.

We all know it costs a lot less to keep existing customers happy than it does to acquire new ones. So, Starbucks used some of its marketing budget on discounts to loyal customers.

At the same time, charging a $25 annual fee for the Gold card created a great income stream while filtering out customers who don’t spend enough in the stores to justify the purchase. For me, between my occasional cappuccinos, the beans I go out of my way to purchase for my home brewing setup (burr grinder & french press), occasional entertaining at Starbucks locations, and the days like today where I want someplace different to work, the purchase was a no-brainer. It will pay for itself in short order.

Can you find creative ways to reward your loyal customers? Absolutely. And in times like these when your customers are vulnerable to being picked off by low-priced competition or by other economic factors, now’s the time to nurture those relationships like never before. But do yourself a favor: start by asking what they want and need. Customers who feel neglected are the first ones to go.

Personally, I’m feeling a bit less neglected by Starbucks. Now if only they’d bring back the almond syrup.

Now It’s Your Turn

What creative ideas have you seen (or used!) to reward loyal customers on a budget?

Use the comment box below to sound off!

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

Here’s some actual data (Hat tip: Rod Alan Richardson via Twitter @rodalan) on previous recessions that reveals some very interesting facts:

• maintaining your marketing budget helps not only during a recession, but afterward
• your ROI may not be as high during a recession, but your actual profits in other years may not be as high as you think
• market share is as important right now as profitability (more so, if you ask me)
• the idea that you can cut back “because everyone else is” is foolhardy

There’s quite a bit more data out there, but you can read the article to get it.

My point is this: cut anything… heck, cut everything, but don’t cut your marketing budget.

The Big Key

That being said: spend it more effectively. Gain the know-how to utilize and leverage 21st-Century technologies to get better results. Here are some tips:

1. Fix your website.  Look at 2 things: is it showing up when your actual prospects are searching Google and those other search engines (I’m sure there must be others).  And secondly: is it starting and furthering relationships?  (Hint: measure!)
2. Drop your print yellow pages ad.  With certain very specific exceptions (highly-niched specialty books that have actual users), you don’t need this.  Keep a listing, yes.  Don’t waste your money on display ads.
3. Buy internet yellow pages listings.  And other online local business search listings. Here’s how to not screw up: be sure you can track everything. Know which listing is getting you what results. Do not do this if you haven’t done #1 above.
4. Email. If you don’t yet have a database, start one.  Today.  Put a strategy in place to deliver value to your prospects and customers (hint: don’t be boring) on a consistent basis.  Then execute that strategy. Divert internal resources as necessary to accomplish this.
5. Manage your time with a hatchet. Figure out where your energies are being wasted and cut the stuff out of your schedule. Do it now.  You can’t be effective if you’re floundering around.

Want more?  Let me know.

By the way… if you couldn’t make it to our recent “Results Now Marketing” seminar, the DVDs are coming soon. They’re worth their weight in gold. Sign up to be notified over here.

The fundraiser was put together by some of the world’s top internet marketers in connection with the recent World Internet Summit in London. Debra Thompson Roedl and the team from Wealth International Networking Group assembled a “dream team” of top marketers to provide “secret recipes” to great results on a masterminding session.  By last count, the event had raised over $10,000.00 for the Make A Wish Foundation, which is significant given that a substantial majority of contributions were $10.

We shared some “secret recipe” ingredients from our recent Results Now Marketing event, and were honored to participate alongside top marketers from — quite literally — all over the world.

Thanks to Debra Thompson Roedl, Robin Thompson, Randy Roedl, Matt Bacak, Tom Hua, Brett McFall, Patrick Spielmann, Jenni Snook, Carol Akright, Armand Morin, and Ray Edwards for making this such a memorable event!

By the way, to gain access to some great materials and be notified about the recording from the mastermind session, head on over to the Wealth International Networking Group site and make a contribution. You’ll do something good and benefit your business at the same time!

Bonus #1 (valued at $297) was added a couple of days ago — it’s the 2.5-hour downloadable video training on the subject of e-mail. It includes step-by-step instructions for how to manage your e-mail database as well as how to avoid blacklisting and SPAM accusations.  You’ll come back to this training session again and again!

Bonuses 2 & 3 have just been added today!  In fact, the Results Now Marketing website doesn’t even mention any of these bonuses…

Bonus #2: Advanced Keyword Training (valued at $297).  This is another downloadable video that teaches you in detail (including step-by-step instructions) how to discover the exact nuances of keywords that your future customers are using to search Google and other search engines.  Many businesses that obtain just one new client would already have earned enough to more than pay for this video at its full retail price.  But… it’s not available for sale anywhere!  Only our members have access to it, and you’ll receive 60-day download access to it absolutely FREE when you register for Results Now Marketing.

Bonus #3: Our Resources List (priceless!) You know, if I were to tell you that I had a piece of paper that was worth thousands upon thousands of dollars, you might be interested to find out why.  Am I right?

You see, it’s not the paper itself… it’s what’s written on the paper that makes it valuable.  And… what’s written on the paper isn’t just a collection of words.  This list of resources has taken years to put together… years of trial and error.  Investment of thousands upon thousands of dollars in both cash and in my time.  I have never before offered this list to anyone. You will receive it absolutely FREE as part of your training in the Results Now Marketing seminar this Saturday.

These bonuses are worth $594 at a very minimum… and thousands (or even tens of thousands) at most.

As I’ve already mentioned… those of you who have already paid for your registration for this weekend’s event are receiving these bonuses too!  This is just our surprise way of over-delivering.  But if you haven’t yet registered, then these bonuses add significant value to the investment you’re about to make.

Reserve your spot right now.

Do search engines really matter where local businesses are concerned?

The answer may surprise you. According to a 2007 study by comScore Networks, even when looking for local business information, 3 out of 5 people will search online. When you consider that only 1 in 3 check the yellow pages, this represents an enormous shift.

It’s a no-brainer that we look online today when locating solutions that are less localized, but I wouldn’t have guessed that the trend had shifted that far yet where local business is concerned. And, given that the study is a little over a year old, it’s likely that the actual numbers for today are even higher.

What does this mean? Well… it means that if your company’s website isn’t ranking well on the right search terms, then you could actually be missing 60% of your best customers.  After all, when people are actively looking for your product or service, they’re probably a sooner buyer than the person who is passively shown an advertisement you placed.

The search engine game is one that is constantly evolving and changing. Unless you’ve managed to hire a marketer instead of a web designer (or participated in small business marketing training), chances are good that your site won’t show up when it really needs to.

Check out this video clip for some additional insight:

[See post to watch Flash video]

Consider this my personal invitation for you to participate in our Results Now Marketing seminar in Sarasota on September 27th.  When it’s over, you’ll know exactly how to get to the top!

]]> http://www.epiphanymarketing.com/blog/2008/09/18/results-now-marketing-do-search-engines-matter/feed/ http://www.epiphanymarketing.com/blog/2008/09/11/cutting-through-the-noise/ http://www.epiphanymarketing.com/blog/2008/09/11/cutting-through-the-noise/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:59:36 +0000 David G. Johnson http://www.epiphanymarketing.com/blog/?p=41 Have you wondered why your tried and true historic methods of gaining new customers have been less and less fruitful in recent years?

Consider this: according to author David Shenk in his 1999 book, Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut, the average American was exposed to 560 marketing messages per day… in 1971.

By the 1990s, that estimate had reached 3,000 per day.

With the explosion of the number of channels on cable and satellite TV, the number of display ads being served on websites, the advent of Google, YouTube, FaceBook and other new media outlets, the number of marketing messages your customers are being exposed to every single day has exponentially increased!

Understanding what this means and how it affects your efforts to drive new prospects into your business can absolutely make or break your business in today’s world.

Getting results in the 21st Century is a different ball game. That’s why I’m thrilled to announce that we’re bringing our revolutionary training to Sarasota, FL on September 27th. Until now, this training has only been available through our 12-week online program. We’ve condensed it down to a half-day event, and it’s sure to change the results of local business people.

Find out more about this event at Results Now Marketing.  Hopefully, we’ll get to meet you there!

What do we do in a down economy?

It happens.  Sometimes your business is affected by an economic downturn.  Whether you’ve got a local business like the ones that serve our local Sarasota community — an economy that has previously been unfortunately based upon housing and construction — or one that exports products or services outside of your region, sometimes business slumps and it has nothing to do with what you did “right” or “wrong.”

So… inevitably the belt-tightening begins.  Trim here, cut there.  Perhaps we are forced to reduce staffing levels, perhaps we improvise and begin to try to creatively respond to new market conditions.

But… whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of killing your marketing.

I’ve seen this again and again. Advertising budgets are sometimes the first to go. And… while I’m the first person to agree that much of the advertising going on in the small business world should be replaced with much more effective marketing efforts, the underlying philosophy here is deadly.

If you’re not marketing, it’s only a matter of time before the inevitable occurs.

Changing Your Investment Strategy

In the 21st Century, there’s no excuse for not getting results. Even if your advertising budget is non-existent, there are myriad tools that are free or low in cost that leverage technology to facilitate connecting your future customers with your business. This is where we need to invest — most significantly, time and energy.  But certainly financial resources must be committed to these high-ROI methods.

Watch this space for some tips you can implement right away.