If you own a small business, you should take advantage of all the free advertising on social media. Why? There are now nearly 5 billion active social media users—more than twice as many as there were just five years ago. They spend an average more than 2 hours and 30 minutes on social channels every single day. Ever notice people waiting anywhere. What are they doing? Looking at their phone. Chances are they are checking their social media pages.
Social Media Builds Awareness, Adds New Business, Engages with Customers
Here’s how you can take full advantage of this tremendous source of online prospects:
1) Create a social media plan upfront for your specific business goals. Determine which social media channels would be most beneficial for your company. Also check out your competition. You can use different social channels to reach different audiences or business goals. It is a good idea to speak with customers and find out which social channels they frequent.
2) One of the major benefits of social media is the ability to target audiences. For example, Instagram for younger adults, Facebook for older adults, LinkedIn for business contacts and TikTok for the younger generation. After choosing the best social channels, research the best topics to post and the most popular hashtags to include in your posts.
3) Consistently post content on all your social media channels to stay relevant. Your posts should include valuable information related to your niche, special offers & services, etc.
4) Use social media to learn what is being said about your brand, your competitors, and your industry by monitoring searches in each social media channel.
5) In addition to finding conversations, you can utilize social streams as a powerful content curation tool. Use them with appropriate keywords and hashtags to source great third-party content that adds to informative posts created in-house.
6) Offer variety in your content. In other words, do not just post things to sell. Mix it up by also posting valuable information, images of staffers & events happening in your business and videos (not too long – no more than 2 minutes).
7) Always include 2 or 3 high volume hashtags relevant to your post. This will help people find your posts when conducting a search for a specific product or service.
8) Instead of just selling products, tell a story. We all like to connect through stories. It creates an emotional attachment with your audience. Stories also inspire ideas and encourage interaction.
9) Timing is essential for a successful social media strategy. It is important not only to publish high-quality content. Find the ideal posting frequency for integrating a successful marketing strategy. View what your competitors or others in your business category are doing. You may want to do a little bit more as long as the content is valuable and interesting.
10) Treat each social media channel in a unique way. Facebook is a great communication tool to promote specific products & services, special events and ask a lot of questions. Twitter is perfect for real-time news and offers 1-to-1 interactions. YouTube videos are excellent for conveying a lot of information about a topic.
Paid & Organic Social Media Posts – A Powerful Combination
There used to be a time when all your posts were seen by people who followed your social media channel. That’s history. Your “business” posts are seen by about 2 to 5% of your followers. But if your content is popular, your numbers can jump substantially. The other course of action is to purchase paid social media ads, especially on Facebook & Instagram. We have found the combination of organic & paid ads to be quite successful for our clients. You do not have to spend an enormous amount of money either!
As you can see, there are many benefits when utilizing social media in a proper way. Stay in touch with customers & prospects, promote specific products & services you offer, engage with customers and position yourself as a leading authority in your niche. Almost forgot – social media popularity is still considered important by Google when ranking your website. Need I say more?
During challenging economic periods try using adversity to your advantage. Be strong and use these tough times to be more creative. People who play sports call it “being in the zone”. You have worked so hard to sacrifice and build your company, do not stop now. Avoid watching television news that often can be disheartening. Stop paying attention to all that negativity and focus on what needs to be done. Create a to-do list and then prioritize each task. Review it every night before going to sleep and each morning when you awake. It sets the tone for getting things done.
Past failures or hard times should motivate businessowners more to get their company back up and running. Adversity can often make your judgment very sharp. But there are times when you are so close to a problem, you cannot clearly see what needs to be done. This is where a business or marketing consultant can help.
Remember the best ideas in the world are useless until they are carried out. Every downturn creates opportunity. Even with hard times there are other resilient companies doing quite well. Why? Because they acknowledge that consistent marketing & new customer acquisition are essential for any organization. How do you know what is working for other people? That is another added benefit of having a marketing consultant. Eliminate wasteful spending by avoiding trial-and-error.
You are already operating a company wearing a half dozen hats or more. Do you really have the time to devote constant marketing functions that are proven to work? A marketing intern or someone on staff who took a marketing course or two in college does not really solve the problem.
Imagine having a full-service marketing agency provide you with superb ideas plus implementing your daily promotional tasks for the cost of a part-time employee. Give us a call for a free no obligation meeting and let us see if there is a fit working together.
Why Your Business Needs to Implement Content Marketing
Are You Providing Good Content on Your Website to Rank Better?
When it comes to doing business online today, content marketing is a foundation for attracting customers and preserving a customer base. Content marketing is the publication of any type of information from text to video in order to attract and retain customers or clients. While various businesses may utilize different strategies for content marketing, the objective is essentially the same–to build business. When you market your website effectively, you should see that reflected in your sales.
Content marketing is vital for businesses since it can drive traffic to the company’s website. For example, an e-commerce business that posts content to social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook can encourage people to link back to the business site with effective information. This traffic is also something that the business can capture in terms of data to see which types are most effective.
Informative marketing is very effective, and therefore important, when it is helpful. The info you create must be valuable to the readers. If you create a post such as an infographic that points people to your products, it can be immensely important to your sales. Marketing content in the form of tutorials can be continuously helpful for your clients. In fact, once you create a tutorial, it can be used over and over again by new and previous customers. It can also spread important information that’s relevant to your industry or to the products that you sell. If your content is truly helpful and not simply “a sales pitch,” your customers may even bookmark or share it via social media. Remember that your content should be directed towards your audience and engage them to take some sort of action, whether discussing with friends or sharing it via social media.
Today’s marketing is designed to start conversations and keep them going. Great information engages customers in many ways and even invites them to participate. By engaging with your customers in meaningful ways, a business is more apt to retain them as customers. Furthermore, interactions can tell the business quite a bit about marketing trends. By listening to what people say, a business can gain important information to better sell to customers in the future.
Finally, one of the most important things marketing can do is promote the business brand. By distributing valuable information your business can reinforce its brand so that it becomes more recognizable. Simply put, content can be a great vehicle for continually introducing and reintroducing your business’s brand and logo.
Effective content marketing is integral to business marketing today. The strategy you employ for creating effective marketing and distributing it should result in increased traffic to your website and, ultimately, more sales. Whether you prefer to engage aprofessionalto help with your marketing initiatives or create content yourself, the key is to gauge the success of each marketing strategy so you can continually improve your campaign to grow your business.
You need more leads if you want to grow your business. In today’s marketplace, your website is the very first impression prospects have of your business. Is your website serving your business the way it should? Don’t let a mediocre website — or worse, no website at all — hold you back.
How incredible would it be if your website could automatically generate leads for your business?
What impact would that have for your bottom line?
An attractive, custom-designed website with functionality tailored to your business can generate leads and drive more revenue. If you’re just getting started, here’s what goes into generating leads.
Optimize your website
Pretty websites aren’t enough. Websites that look great on a desktop aren’t enough. If your prospect is on the road and they search for you, will your website come up? Will they be able to read it easily, or will it be a missed opportunity? Websites need to be designed properly and take into account search engine optimization and social sharing so your prospects can find you.
Create great content
You need to post great content consistently in order to attract people to your website. Long gone are the days of trying to trick Google into ranking your content higher by keyword stuffing or fishing for backlinks. And really, who wants to spend time doing that anyway?
Great content will be shared and found, and all it costs is the time it takes to create it on an optimized website.
Step up your email game
Your most valuable asset isn’t your website – it’s your email list that you gather from your website. Not only do you need to create offers that make potential customers want to give you their emails, but you need to know how to market to them effectively after to turn them from prospects into sales.
Something so important shouldn’t be left to amateurs. The design experts at 24-7 Marketing LLC specialize in custom websites that deliver these benefits:
An attractive, cutting-edge design that is unique to your business.
Mobile-friendly so your website looks great on any size screen.
Easy updates.
SEO optimized from the very beginning, so your customers can find you when they search.
Whether you need a brand-new website or an update to your existing one, a custom design from 24-7 Marketing LLC is the best way to stand out from the competition and attract new customers. Call us today.
Creating & Maintaining a Successful Marketing Strategy Takes Time & Effort
“I don’t have the time or resources for marketing.” “Is social media just a lot of hype?” “I need to get the word out, but I don’t know how to do it.” These are some of the thoughts that keep business owners, practice managers and marketers up at night. You can have successful marketing strategies for your business or medical practice that would cost that you would pay a part-tgime employee.
The biggest mistake made by business owners is not investing in marketing as a priority point for their business growth. Many business owners do not see advertising or marketing investments as “hard” or fixed expenses and end up losing out in the long run. They often choose to market their business in a piecemeal manner – “Let’s try this to see if it works” only to learn that it never leads to the expectations promised by the media salesperson.
Successful advertising and marketing require more than talent – they require smart strategy, time and effort. Whether it is an investment in traditional advertising platforms such as print media or television, or a new endeavor in social media or blogging, every marketing venue takes time and effort. Ultimately, successful marketing begins with a change in the mindset of the business owner. Once the owner accepts changes to their respective marketing strategies, they will begin to see the benefits of their newly-developed and wise investments. However, until the business owner is willing to accept new tactics, marketing will remain a tedious and even fruitless drag. Unfortunately, improper marketing efforts may reap little to no benefits. For such reasons, a dedicated approach to the marketing campaign is a required and worthy investment, as it will provide positive and lasting effects on the business. You would never think of running a business without electricity, signage or even a computer. Why would you ever operate one without the most important sales generator – a comprehensive marketing strategy?
Business owners always make time for things that prove successful. It is natural to focus on programs that show a return on investment. However, the ROI in marketing or advertising is not instantaneous. Like all great things, it takes time. In many instances, the initial efforts of any marketing campaign can seem unrewarding: if a business just started a blog, it can be like speaking to the wall. When starting a social media promotion, it may often feel like attending a cocktail party of one; and when airing a television advertising campaign for the first few months, the only one watching may be the house pet. However, all business owners should realize that building an audience or a following requires time. Consistent focus in the same medium will prove worthy of the effort.
We all know that best things are worth waiting for. Whether it is working out to look and feel better, or pushing a car to move it forward, time and effort are the key components to success. Have no fear – success is an ongoing process.
The voice of your business will be heard. People will begin to notice. It just takes a bit of patience and work to get the ball rolling into the right direction.
Guidelines for Successful Direct Mail & EDDM Postcard Campaigns
Postcard marketing encompasses a wide variety of materials and areas. With so many options to choose from, the message being sent is often overlooked. More often than not, marketers don’t spend enough time thinking their ideas thoroughly. Just as a designer takes the time to create artwork, a marketer needs to take time to present a message. Thoroughly selecting WHAT you say and HOW you say it, is essential.
Here are some things to consider when creating an effective direct mail message:
Less is More: The easiest way to get your mail piece thrown in the trash is to put an excess of words on it. Think of ways to convey your message without losing the reader’s attention. Bullets, text color, bolding and italics can all help to highlight the most important words. This is referred to as “The KISS” (keep it simple stupid) method, which is virtually fool-proof.
Repeat Your Message: The more times a recipient sees the same message, the more it will be recalled. As a result, readers are then more likely to respond. Also, the repetition of a message creates the feeling of trust.
Focused Theme: In direct mail, it is important to coordinate your message, artwork, design and audience together to form the theme. When any of these are out of alignment, it detracts from the message, confuses the recipient and the mail piece ends up in the trash.
Rhyme: People enjoy rhyme. It’s easy to remember and fun to read. When your message rhymes, it resonates more with recipients. Have some fun with your messaging.
Brand: Your brand is how people identify you. If your message conflicts with your brand, people will not believe it. Take the time to tailor your message to your brand.
Think about the last direct mail piece you received and really looked at. What intrigued you? Usually, a person can recall a few key words that stuck out. Using that information, how can you modify your message to do the same? What words will grab attention and stand out?
All the words you use in the postcard piece need to work together towards the main goal: Is the goal for them to visit your website? Come to your store? Call you? Or something else? When you have a clearly defined goal, it makes it easier to create your message.
Remember that using a message from previous campaigns is good for recognition, so it may be useful for your next postcard. However, make sure to integrate aspects of your new mail campaign as well. Crafting your messaging can be really fun, so take some time, get inspired and be creative!
Choosing the Best Social Media Channels for Your Business
Social media has become a key component of digital marketing. According to recent research, two-thirds of brand marketers are launching new social media programs, while another one in five have programs in development.
Facebook remains the predominant social network — in terms of consumer use and brand marketing. However, the number of social networks is growingly massively. Digital marketers no longer have the luxury of choosing one social network over another. Today, there has to be a well-managed presence on all relevant social channels.
How do you know which social networks are relevant for your brands and will provide the most return on investment? As consumers explore different social media channels, it’s imperative that marketers understand shifting preferences. For example, which social network engages millennials? Baby boomers? There is no longer a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
In terms of number of users, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram are the four leading social networks. Each of these networks attracts a distinct audience and provides a level of engagement. Although Facebook’s growth may be slowing, it still boasts the largest audience in the world with 1.5 billion monthly active users who are highly engaged; 70% log on to the network daily and almost half log on several times a day. Two-thirds of men are Facebook users, compared to 77% of women, according to Pew Research Center. More than 80% of adults who use Facebook are between 18–29 years of age. Nearly half of online adults who are 65 and older use Facebook. More than three-quarters of online adults who are Facebook users make $75,000 or more annually; 72% of online adults who are Facebook users have a college education. Geographically, Facebook users live in all types of locations: 74% of online urban dwellers use Facebook, 72% suburban and 67% rural. Twitter reached 316 million monthly active users in June 2015, and the majority of them — 80% — are mobile users. Twitter’s audience skews younger, as 32% of online adults who use Twitter are between the ages of 18 and 29 compared to just 13% of online adults who are 50–64 years old. More men than women use Twitter — 25% versus 21%.
Instagram now has 400 million users and the percentage of online adults who use Instagram has doubled in three years. Users are highly engaged, with 59% visiting the site daily, with a higher appeal to women than men.
LinkedIn’s 380 million users tend to be older, employed, and college graduates. About one in five LinkedIn users visit the site every day. Nearly half of online adults who are college graduates are LinkedIn users. LinkedIn is the only one of the four leading social networks in which usage rates are higher among 30–49 year olds than among 18–29 year olds. LinkedIn attracts slightly more men than women.
Pinterest has 100 million users and engagement is rising. More than one quarter of Pinterest users visit the site daily. About one third of online adults are Pinterest users, according to Pew Research Center — a number that has doubled since 2012. Pinterest attracts more women than men.
Snapchat reaches more than 60% of U.S. smartphone users who are 13–34 years old. In total, the social network has nearly 100 million daily active users.
Video-sharing network YouTube has one billion users and reaches 81% of Internet users in the U.S. YouTube draws an equal number of men and women, although men spend 44% more time on the network each month. YouTube’s audience skews young from teenagers through those in their early 40s. Google+ has 300 million daily active users and has reached 2.2 billion user profiles. Engagement is low, however, as only 9% of users have posted content. Social media marketing can improve brand awareness, generate website traffic, drive brand engagement or increase conversions. Understanding which social network — or networks — is right for your brand calls for a comprehensive assessment of your organization’s goals, audience, content, and budget. Use the following questions and information as a guideline to determine your answers:
1. If your brand is new to social media or you need to differentiate it from competitors, some part of your investment should aim to grow brand awareness. Look at social channels that have high levels of social sharing, so your brand will benefit from mentions, likes, followers, app downloads or retweets.
2. If generating more website traffic is your goal, analyze where your website visitors come from. How long do visitors stay on your site? Do they read your content and become customers? A detailed analysis can help you determine not only which social networks are sending you traffic, but which ones are sending you valuable traffic.
Social media marketing has become a necessity for business growth and customer engagement. However, the social media landscape continues to evolve and change dramatically. It is critically important to be knowledgeable before you jump in head first into the world of social media.
It’s your reputation! If there is one way to ruin a business owner’s day, it is finding out about a negative review online, especially when they think they are doing everything right. However, no one is perfect and there are occasional hard to please customers. However, a bad review is not to be ignored or deleted. It should be addressed.
Prior to letting a bad review ruin a day or the whole week, it’s important to look at it from a different light. There may be a hidden benefit. In today’s world, there are many ways to deal with negative reviews and it’s important to see both the positive and negative roles that reviews play overall.
For example, if you were standing on line at a store and the person in front of you had a bad experience, you will subconsciously observe how the store employee or manager handles the situation. In today’s online world, the concept is the same. Everyone is curious to see how bad reviews get handled. It says a lot about a company’s culture and when handled properly, it can turn into a positive.
At 24-7 Marketing LLC, we guide our clients in formulating responses to all reviews, good and bad. In today’s world, online reviews are crucial and they even play a role in optimizing the search engine rankings. For such reasons, we created a system in which feedback is gathered immediately in order to address the issues before they appear online. This reputation management process has encouraged more positive reviews and it has helped many clients lift or maintain their high Google rankings.
Another benefit of our reputation management process is the ability to pinpoint negative issues and rectify them swiftly. For example, a client may see many negative reviews online. However, once they are in the reputation management system, they are adjusted accordingly and positive reviews start rolling in.
Customer feedback can help to understand how to serve each client better. Reviews help to see what customers like and don’t like, providing the opportunity to improve the product or service offered to them.
After the initial anger or despair subsides, the chance to respond to an online review provides a chance to publicly offer a solution and give customer service that everyone will see. This will show true concern and interest, and that is key in building and controlling a brand’s image.
Postcards or Email…Which Delivers More Prospects for Your Business?
In our opinion direct mail postcards are more effective than email marketing due to the inherent benefits highlighted in this article. Of course direct mail has one major weakness – cost. Email is significantly cheaper. However, while it has a higher front-end, on the back-end direct mail is cheaper when calculating cost per sale.
BETTER RESPONSE: When searching for “new” customers, study after study proves mail postcards will generate more new customers than email. A study by the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) shows direct mail being 10 to 30 times more effective than email.
CONSUMERS PREFER DIRECT MAIL OVER EMAIL : An Epsilon study found that over 50% of consumers prefer mail over email. And 67% feel postcards are more personal than the Internet. 70% preferred mail messages for receiving unsolicited information from unfamiliar companies.
OFFERS THAT ARE MORE TRUSTWORTHY: The Epsilon study also found that 25% of consumers found mail offers more trustworthy than email offers.
MORE PROSPECTS: Accurate – quality email addresses are very difficult to acquire – mainly because most people do not opt-in for third party offers. For this reason, all email lists are missing the majority of the target. Typically a mail list offers 80% more prospects.
EMAIL OVERLOAD: Sending and receiving emails is easy, possibly too easy. Most people receive dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of emails in a single day. That’s simply too many to give each one adequate attention. This means that your email is likely to be glanced at and quickly tossed aside, if it’s even opened at all. Regular mail will get tossed aside too, but the fact that there’s actually less of it going out these days increases the odds that someone may actually open what you’ve sent. When there’s currently less competition with postcards why waste your time fighting to stand out among all the email?
LESS COMPETITION: More than ever consumers are bombarded with digital offers that they don’t want. Email is now the cluttered option, while direct mail represents the uncluttered option. With postcards your offer will not get loss in avalanche of competitive offers.
SPECIAL – UNIQUE: Unlike the old days when every marketer was using direct mail, these days a mail piece is special and unique. These days it’s not often when someone receives a personalized envelope with a catchy teaser – open me – line. This uniqueness will inherently stimulate more interest from the reader … thus response.
Your chance to wow a customer with an email goes about as far as the subject line. Take too many chances with a creative subject line and it will likely get deleted for fear there is some sort of virus or phishing scam involved. Stick a boring subject line in, and, yes, it will also likely get passed over and deleted. While there are ways to spice up emails, they just don’t seem to have the same potential as direct mail.
LONGER SHELF LIFE: The shelf-life of an email offer is measured in seconds, while a direct mail postcard piece can linger on a coffee table for days.
MORE SELECTIVITY: Most email lists do not offer the extensive array of selectivity factors available with a mail list. With a list you can pinpoint your best prospects … cream of the crop prospects, while email often forces marketers to take the old-fashion shot-gun approach.
HIGHER DELIVERY RATE. A mail list is typically 95% deliverable. On the other hand, the great majority of email lists being advertised have a delivery below 50%. Also, due to the constant onslaught by spammers, the ISPs (Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc) are beginning to block unsolicited emails … and for this reason some are predicting the demise of email “prospecting.” Fantastic offer, fantastic creative, fantastic list … all this is irrelevant if the ISPs don’t deliver. With direct mail – your offer gets delivered!
HIGHER OPEN RATE: With the great majority of email “prospecting” campaigns, 95+ percent of all emails are not even opened. The email recipient will either delete or transfer to the SPAM box … without even peeking at the email … your brand name. On the other hand, direct mail is a tangible item that typically captures a glance. The receiver may not read every word, but your company name/brand will gain much more awareness with mail than email.
SAFE: With the growing threat of identity theft, viruses, and SPAM, people are becoming more and more hesitating in responding to on-line offers … even legitimate interesting offers. Mailing postcards is safe … the user can visit website on own time schedule and without having to click potentially dangerous links.
IMPROVES EMAIL RESPONSE RATE: One sure way to boost email OPEN and CLICK-THROUGH rates is with postcards. One week before the email blast, send the email recipient a postcard informing that a special “email” offer will soon arrive. This one-two punch will increase the odds that the email recipient will OPEN the email … instead of deleting before even blinking at the email.
MORE CONTROL: The majority of quality email list suppliers will not release their email addresses. With mail you can receive the direct list. Having a prospecting database in-house … offers innumerable marketing applications / opportunities; for example, data append, market analysis, market penetration reports, SalesForce Prospecting Management, Telemarketing Follow-Up Campaigns.
TELEMARKETING. A direct mail list can also include phone numbers. A telemarketing list is not the ideal tool for generating sales, BUT telemarketing is very effective for gathering information on potential customers … relationship formation.
INCREASE WEB TRAFFIC & ONLINE SALES: Direct mail has a tremendous influence on generating online sales. Per USPS study, over 60% of direct mail recipients were influenced to visit promoted website – with the greatest influence on first-time shoppers. Direct mail recipients purchased 28% more items and spent 28% more money than non direct mail recipients. The study also noted a revenue lift of 163% for websites supported by direct mail as opposed to those that were not.
SOURCE: USPS survey of 5,000 visitors to retail websites
The US Postal Service did a third-party study that revealed these direct mail facts:
… 46% direct mail recipients read their direct mail and nearly everyone at least glances at it for a few seconds (that’s an impression)
… 23% visited the sender’s store location
… 21% visited the sender’s website
… 12% called an 800# listed on the mailer
… 9% replied via email
https://www.usps.com/business/pdf/Acquisition_WP1.pdf
VERIFICATION: With an email campaign there is no way to verify the accuracy / quality of the email list since in most cases the email supplier will not provide the email contact data to the marketer. With a direct mail list the marketer has a physical address … that you can cross reference with other databases for verifying demographics / quality.
HISPANICS AND DIRECT MAIL: Due to cultural and other issues, direct mail is an excellent way for reaching Hispanics. According to a USPS survey, Hispanics are six times less likely than non-Hispanics to discard their direct mail without reviewing. And even though Hispanics look forward to direct mail, Hispanics receive 20% fewer direct mail pieces than the average non-Hispanic household. Also note that studies have shown Hispanics spend more shopping each year compared to non-Hispanics.
CONSUMERS LIKE THE TACTILE NATURE OF DIRECT MAIL: In focus groups consumers said the interactive part of direct mail helped them connect to the brand and left a lasting impression.
EMAIL IS NOT AS TRUSTWORTHY: Spam, identity theft, and a multitude of viruses that can crash your entire system are just a few of the fears people have when opening their email. Unless the person already knows you, attachments almost never get opened. Images may not even make it through spam filters. Even if someone is intrigued with your tag line, the fear of a virus is often enough to keep them from opening it. An attractive envelope, however, does not hold the same sort of fear.
There’s something much more personal about holding a letter or a brochure in your hand than clicking and gazing into a screen. Direct mail can connect to another individual in a way that a standard email can’t. The feeling of holding something in your hand creates a psychological connection that just doesn’t exist with an email. Once someone has actually opened your envelope they’re more likely to spend some time looking over the physical materials they’re holding than they would an email. In the time it takes a person to walk to the trash can, you have a chance to actually capture their attention.
DISCOUNTS: Consumers believe more valuable discounts/coupons come through the mail than email. For example, over 50% prefer receiving credit card offers via mailbox than Inbox.
IN SUMMARY: For “prospecting” … direct mail is more effective than email! Email “prospecting” is still effective in varying degrees and direct mail is regaining strength. Many marketers choose email marketing because it is cheaper when prospecting for new business. Mail is the overwhelming winner especially in the densely populated New Jersey market because it is difficult for many companies to advertise on New York TV and radio at a cost-efficient price. Have you noticed that you are not receiving a lot of postcards in your mailbox at home? This is a big opportunity for you to stand out from competitors with less competition. Marketers that use direct mail gain a competitive edge on those that skip direct mail.
Keep in mind, we recommend using both direct mail and email marketing because both deliver a powerful punch to obtain new customers.
If you want to upsell and retain your current customers, email marketing is a powerful way to do it. Many medical practices and small business owners miss out on email marketing because they’re not sure where to start.
Less than 10% of small business owners rely on email marketing for getting new customers and keeping current customers. Is your small business using email to connect with your patients? If you aren’t utilizing it yet you’re not alone. Properly marketing through email is a great opportunity to generate more business and stand out from your competition.
Why is email marketing so beneficial for small businesses? You can turn leads into sales and build customer loyalty. It’s a great way to make your patients or customers feel like you’re staying in touch with them. It shows that you value their business.
What is an effective email marketing strategy for medical practices?
The most effective sales plans are targeted toward specific customers, and the same is true for email messages. Email marketing is about more than sending pitches or promos – soft-sell emails are about building, nurturing and sustaining trust with your customers.
Here are 3 tips to create an effective email strategy:
Engage your customers. The more engagement with your business, the more customers connect. The deeper that connection, the more likely they are to purchase. As you’re planning your emails, make sure your messages aren’t simply promotional.
Concentrate on your subject lines. You can’t nurture relationships through emails if your customers don’t open them! Stick with short subject lines that convey the content of your message in a way that will stand out in inboxes.
Don’t expect fast sales—or to reach your goals through email only. You must deploy multiple emails to increase engagement. You cannot expect big results from one email alone.
Email marketing can be used for just about any industry. From home services providers to tax accountants, many different types of small businesses can use email to build stronger relationships with customers. If you need help with your campaign, 24-7 Marketing LLC is here to help.
