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Technology advances have forced companies to change their marketing strategies.  From traditional methods, they get to embrace modern ways to carry out their marketing campaigns. Companies have spent billions to strengthen their marketing strategies. They have adapted several new methods of promoting their products and services to compete with the rising market. Although many have relied to modern marketing today, there are still businesses who opted to use the traditional methods to do their marketing.

Traditional marketing is used by businesses to get the word out about their product or service, whether it is by pushing a cart load of wares around, distributing flyers or advertising in newspapers.   Anyone that is trying to sell something used some sort of these to get their products noticed.

Door to door sales also constitute the traditional marketing.  In some industries some form of knocking on doors is the best way to do business even today.  Another one is by using Yellow Page.  The yellow page is a very thick book filled with thousands of business listing of business owners throughout a specific area.  People would often look through the book to search for businesses that interest them.

Now, there are a lot of other traditional marketing methods that people use to market their businesses, yet because of the emergence of new technologies, they don’t respond to these methods like they did before.  Instead of a business spending millions on television advertising or on other traditional marketing strategies they can save on using some modern marketing strategies like SEO, B2B telemarketing and email marketing and promote just as effectively.
E-marketing is another name for web marketing or online marketing.  It is a business strategy that is increasingly being adopted over the traditional forms of marketing.  For businesses that aim to establish an online presence in a cost-effective way, then this is a much preferred solution.  One of the advantages of e marketing is that it can reach a wider client base for it uses Internet as medium to connect with millions of potential customers.  Unlike with traditional marketing strategies, e marketing can undertake all sorts of tasks like customer service, information management and public relations at low costs.

Some businesses die because of their weak marketing strategies.  Success in business requires careful and longer research of the market, product and service.  Really it takes time to learn what method works for your business.  You will constantly need to find and adapt methods that will meet your needs.  Take a step now.  Outsource your marketing activities to reliable call centers before your competitors eat their way into your potential customers.

The same is true in lead generation. It is necessary that every little thing is qualified, not a mere illusion. Sales leads must be qualified in order to have higher chances of closed sales. The installed technology ought to be qualified according to a company’s specific needs. The outsourced telemarketing company should be qualified in order to wrap up qualified appointments that their clients want.

Every company aims for qualified appointments. They do not want their sales representatives to arrive empty-handed after an assumed qualified appointment setting with a sales lead. After all, they pay a price to get what they want. However, when a business entity outsources a business-to-business  B2B telemarketing, every penny paid is returned in double or more.

Let us uncover the costs and rewards of a qualified appointment setting.

1. Cost Per Appointment

How much does a company pay for every qualified appointment? Does the payment worth the outcome of the appointment? Or is it overpaid?

Cost per appointment depends on the agreement between the telemarketing company and its client. Another thing that has been considered is the specific decision maker that an appointment setter has targeted.

The telemarketing firms have trained and educated their professional appointment setters to provide their clients with a list of qualified appointments, which targeted those decision makers who are at the top management. When client’s sales people delivered well during the presentation, sales come in a hundredfold.

2. Cost Per Quota

Aside from cost per lead, another cost scheme used is the cost per quota. Meaning to say, clients pay when the telemarketing service provider has reached the requirement in the number of qualified appointments. This is no problem for both partners. In the case of the client, an aggregate payment is lower than a cost per appointment. On the telemarketing firm’s side, there is no pressure in meeting the requirement since such agreed demand has been based primarily on the appointment setters’ experiences and capability.

3. Other Service Costs

An appointment is the start and not the end of customer relationship. This is to be followed with lead nurturing. This is so because it is crucial to keep in touch with the customer so that loyalty will exist. The business organization is obliged to keep their customers aware through constant updates.

A life-time value should be established relative to the customer. If a company is content with one sale to one sales lead, then such firm ought to think seventy seven times. It is to be remembered that one closed sale is a big no-no in doing business.

4. Opportunity Costs

When appointment setters pick up the wrong prospects, the opportunity costs foregone is high. The time, money and endeavor that should have been used to generate qualified appointments are wasted when the wrong ones are chosen.

The good thing is that this is not an issue with telemarketing service providers. Through their pre-qualification processes and specialists, no appointment is set until it has been accurately determined that a sales lead is qualified, sales-ready and within the company’s criteria of targeted prospects.

Can you afford to make price your main selling point? Here’s five really good reasons why I believe you should not be discounting:

The big boys have the money to outlast you
It hurts any small business owner to see big retailers or big business in general coming out with a heavy schedule of advertising, promoting discounts and undercutting your products. But trying to combat this by matching the discounts is really dangerous because the chances are, they have bigger margins because of their buying power and they have more advertising dollars to promote their sales.

Consumers come to expect it all the time
In a frugal environment we as consumers are more than often researching online to find the best prices, or even visiting various stores to assess prices before purchasing. So it goes without saying, once we find the cheapest price for something then we will continue to go back. The only thing we’re loyal to at this stage is price. Once that price goes back up, then it’s back on, we’re searching again. This means you will have to find something else to keep them coming back otherwise they’re gone, or continue discounting.

We’re becoming immune to discounts
There was a time and it wasn’t that long ago when 10% or 20% off actually meant something. But now, anything less than 20% isn’t that special and to be honest 10% off or less is just embarrassing (maybe 10% off a BMW). This perception will not be changing overnight and worst case, it might continue so whilst you’re happy to discount 25%, have you got the margins to go to 40% and further?

It devalues your product and your service
Unfortunately we tend to perceive value by cost. Everything in a discount store is cheap and nasty and basically very poor quality. Is this really the case? Do we know for fact? No. But because it’s all cheap that’s the perception. So there is every chance that once you’ve been discounting for a an extended period of time, consumers will start to devalue your products and your service. This affects your brand and your business.

It cuts your margins and your profits
Business is tough. The overheads are increasing, consumers are cutting their spending. Can you afford to cut your margins in an environment like this? Obviously many see no other way. If you discount 50% then think about it, you’re going to need to sell twice as many units.

Of course it’s real easy to turn around and say don’t do it but you need a solution right? Please check out some of my other posts for some ideas or if you prefer to just keep discounting then hopefully these ideas should help:

• One Day Only Sales - Identify what is your slowest trading day and introduce discounts for that day each week. It will encourage the people looking for bargains to come in during the week and it will ensure your margins are still healthy on your busiest days.
• Encourage Loyalty - Ask for your customers mobile numbers to run small SMS campaigns, get their email address so you can send them an email newsletter, ask them to ‘Like’ you on Facebook. The point is, it’s OK to give a customer a discount if you know you’ll see them again and again. So get their details and provide exclusive discounts, it encourages loyalty.
• Minimum Spend - Only apply discounts on a minimum spend to ensure that you are doing what you can to increase revenue.
• Offer a Freebie - Is it possible in your situation to give away a freebie instead of a discount? At the end of the day, the consumer is looking for value. If you can source cheap, relevant gifts that perceive value this may be a better strategy. Perhaps this might even be branded to help encourage them coming back. For example, if you’re running 25% off and someone comes in for a $100 item, you’ve essentially handed them $25 in discounts but what if it was a $10 gift? As long as it weighs up in the customer’s mind.

Discounting has a place in any marketing strategy, but it can be dangerous and it should not be done hastily. Think about some of these options I’ve noted and be creative. You will be much better off if you do not compete for a customer based purely on price.

Photo credit by linder6580.

What does Google+ mean for your business?

Google+ has been gaining steam in the social media world since the beginning of its test prelaunch in early July. Gaining upwards of 1.7 Million Google+ accounts in its first week, and rising to an estimated 4.5 Million accounts the following week.  All before the social media site has even officially gone public! Holding accounts for some well known names such as Seth Goden, Myspace’s Tom Anderson, and even the social media bad boy himself, Mark Zuckerberg.

Google+ is currently only offering accounts for people. Business profile pages are still in the works. But while the numbers continue to rise, and people start to “check out this new Google social site everybody is trying to be invited to,” businesses should be busy licking their lips at the SEO possibilities.

Here are a few reasons why your business should be preparing for Google+ business pages.

Combining Google+ Pages and Search Engine Rankings

It is quite possible Google will integrate the amount of feedback a +1 button on Google+ posts receives into their search rankings algorithm.  Helping Google sort out the relevant and quality content from the irrelevant.

What does this mean for your business?

This means there will no longer be a separation between a business’s social media presence and its search engine rankings.  The two will then be one in the same. Providing quality and engaging content will, in real time, affect a company’s search engine presence. Helping give hope for smaller businesses everywhere!

Keeping Your Customers Organized

Google+ offers a more aesthetically appealing way to keep your friends organized with “Circles.”  Easily allowing people to click and drag their friends into different categories such as: Closest Friends, Family, Work Buddies, etc.  Allowing certain posts to be only seen by circles predetermined by the user.

Google+ business pages can categorize their fans into the different stages of the customer cycle.  For example: Top Customers, Need More Information, Recently Purchased, etc. The ability to categorize your fans and then post content to that specific circle will be a huge advantage.

Google Offers and Maps

With Google’s answer to the growing success of Groupon, Google Offers­ would be a realistic integration into the Google+ business page. Supplying a very user friendly daily deals service.  To compliment this feature would most likely be the feature of Google Maps.  Displaying directions to your business, or the closest business franchise locations.

What does this mean for your company?

It would be wise to incorporate a Google+ promotion that leads to a Google Offer for your business.  Allowing you to again keep what would normally be separate entities, one and the same.  Also, Google Offers would then be linked to a convenient Google Map of all the closest business locations where the offer can be redeemed. Take all extra steps out of the equation.

These are my thoughts into the wonderful minds of Google and their future development of Google+.  If you have any thoughts on your own of how you see Google+ growing, please leave them in the comment sections below!

But wait! There's more!

Most companies (on and offline), after the effort to entice a sale, conclude with a “thank you” and escort them out of the store or website sometimes never to make a sale again.  Giving ourselves a pat on the back and a job well done head nod to our co-workers.

The reality is this is the perfect time to ask for follow up sale. Your customer is where you want them and in the “buying mode.”  Your customer is satisfied enough with your product selection to make a purchase.  They are accepting your business as worthy enough for their attention.  Once that customer walks out the door, they are now subject to be victim to other advertisements or enticing deals.

The job is not done at the conclusion of a sale, rather just beginning.  When a customer makes a purchase, they are saying to the business “your products or services are worthy of my time and money.”  This should be seen as more of an agreed upon business contract.

Let’s take a look at some enticing ideas to draw further sales from your present transaction.

Limited time coupon:  Instead of a coupon being valid for a month, make the time period much shorter.  Creating a limited time offer only a couple days will give the customer a large sense of urgency.  The customer begins to realize that in order to use this coupon, it would make most sense to use it immediately.

A list of related or complimentary items:  Obviously this customer is in the mood to purchase certain items, so why not showcase more items just like it? Or, give them items that can be accessorized along with their purchase that most customers enjoy purchasing together.

Surprise bonus: Daniel Pink states in his book “Drive” that people obtain more pleasure when they receive an unexpected reward rather than an expected one.  When you reward your customer for making a purchase with small but generous surprise gesture after the sale, you create motivation for that customer to make immediate repeat purchases.

Of course, what strategy you choose will depend on the type of business you’re in.  But there is always a chance to create an up sell.

Relate marketing with dating? Read on.

Well, I would at least hope so.

When it is all said and done, our main goal is to win a second date, or better yet, a husband or wife! But this cannot be done without a little personal selling. You need to prove to your “customer” that you are the right choice for this decision.

Here are some key points that can relate marketing with dating.

Know your target market, and where to find them.
Everybody has their own style and flavors when it comes to their choice of spouse.  And over the years, these probably have been revised due to bad experiences. But once you understand what type of person is the right fit for you, it becomes easier to weed out the ones that aren’t.  Knowing who your customer is will draw a larger conversion rate rather than selling yourself to the masses. Find out who and where these people are.

You have the first 10 seconds to make an impression.
Within the first few moments of meeting somebody new, you make a large prejudgment of that person’s life.  This isn’t wrong of us, it’s just human nature.  We make a snap decision. Either you’re worth my time, or you’re not.  In marketing we find this to be true as well.  First impressions are everything.  Creating a positive first impression emotional response is key.

What can you do for me?
Dating can be a little selfish at times.  After all, we enter a relationship in the beginning because of the benefits we receive from it.  It is only through time where the relationship builds strong enough that mutual sacrifices are made.  As customers, we enter relationships with companies and brands because we see a potential self benefit.  Over time, with consistent quality, customers return the favor.

The power of seduction
This power is more commonly practiced by the female race, but put into the wrong hands, can be very dangerous. The concept of getting a result from your enticing words or actions is the key to any good advertisement.  You want to lure your customer in. Create desire. And leave them with no choice but to take action.

Read on for ways to increase traffic flow, and potentially, your bottom line.

It is by no means a mystery that driving a larger amount of traffic to your site results in an increase in sales (along with a well copywritten landing page of course). But the ongoing struggle in every business is how to increase that traffic flow to your store or online business.

Here is a way to increase that traffic flow, and potentially increase your bottom line.

Create a service, whether online or within your business that you provide completely free.

Now I am not referring to your main service. If you sold that for free then you wouldn’t be in business for very long. But instead, implement free services within your site or business that draws otherwise lost customers to your front door.

For example, a guitar shop having free guitar lessons. Or an online website design company posting exclusive information on the hottest new websites.

Here are some tips into successfully implementing this process.

Stress the value behind your free service
While potential customers drool over any sort of free service, many times people associate free with less important. It is important to establish credibility and make sure your customers understand the importance behind your service.

Make sure it is relevant to your overall company goal
A ski shop should not be lending out free singing lessons.  This will not only confuse your customers, but you also will start to receive the wrong types of customers. The idea behind the free service is to bring a transition into other products or services you offer for a price.

Though it is free, still hold quality
This is the most crucial time to provide quality in your work. For many of your customers, this will be like a trail or test run for your business. The more useful your product or service becomes to them, the more your customer loyalty will grow.

Establish boundaries
Create a free service that provides only a step to a much larger process. Giving away too much for free will cause a loss in potential profit. Make sure you establish something that is cost efficient and drives returning customers. For example: A bank that converts your coins into cash. Only thing left to do with that money is put it into the bank!

What's the distinction between customer and client?

Although many business owners use the words customer and client interchangeably, consider the following: customers lack loyalty. They may have bought from you, but if another business offers a better price or deal, the customer moves on. A client, on the other hand, looks to you for guidance. A client forms a relationship with you, and expects to do business again.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “customer” as “one that buys goods or services from another.” A customer is often a short-term, economic relationship. They may utilize your business services, on their own whim, but will always leave afterwards.

The American Heritage Dictionary actually uses the word “customer” to define client. In fact, the terms can be similar as long as you realize that the similarities only go one way. A client can be a customer yet a customer can never be a client.

The American Heritage Dictionary goes on to define “client” as “a person or group that uses the professional advice or services of a lawyer, accountant, advertising agency, architect, etc; a person who is receiving the benefits, services, etc., of a social welfare agency, a government bureau, etc.” In short, a client is someone that utilizes the services of a professional. Clients will have a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship with their service provider. Your clients are an important aspect of your business’ long-term goals.

Oftentimes, the nature of your business will decide whether you have a customer or client. Restaurants or retail stores have customers. Professional organizations have lasting, stable clients. Understanding the distinction will help you to nurture the relationships that matter. It can affect the way you do business. When deciding whether you are dealing with a customer versus a client, it’s important to keep in mind the following distinction: Customers will purchase good and services from a business while clients will depend on a business for advice and professional knowledge.

Photo credit by ba1969.

Mistake? Or purposeful technique?

If you think about your inbox, all of your messages are lined up nice and neat, all justified to the left hand column separator. But the Google email had a blank space before the first letter in the “Subject” line. It immediately caught my eye and was the first message I clicked on.

Either way, it worked.

I’ll test this on email lists I manage — since I know our typical open rate, I’m curious if this tactic creates a lift.

What do you think?