Many small businesses are missing out on a profitable avenue, an easy and enjoyable way to engage prospects and customers daily.
What is Magnetic Marketing? Confused? Most of you probably are. Basically, it is a term used in the direct marketing world to describe a strategy that focuses on integrating marketing online and offline. And its timing couldn’t be better. There’s huge growth in mobile commerce, there’s the era of smartphones and PDAs and SMS, and with the ever-growing number of small businesses, huge profits can be made from getting your message to the right audience.
What is offline marketing? It’s ideal for an offline business. For example, a real estate agent could use offline marketing techniques like mailers, print ads, postcards, flyers, etc. These techniques can be overseen by a direct marketing agency. However, for the solopreneur who just opened their business or a small business just starting out, marketing doesn’t stop when the business opens. You still have to figure out how to make your business known to the world.
Many small business owners look online to find ideas. But remember, just because you find a great idea online doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for your business. You have to dig deeper, look at the numbers, and find out what you need to do for your own marketing.
For example, a direct market agency may be able to fit a direct mail campaign into your budget, but when are you going to measure the success of the campaign? If you’re not able to track the results, you won’t know whether it’s a joint venture or a good match. Or you might find that the campaign was no business at all.
Instead of relying on a print ad, give your campaign its very own website. Remember, inexpensive paper printing is cut in half for digital printing. You can then send it out with a magnet imprint that displays your company’s contact information. There’s definitely a better way to get direct contact than print ads. However, what if you don’t have a large mailing list to start with or you need more people easily? You need another method.
Here are the Seven Best Direct Marketing Tips:
- Make a list of your current customers and your current prospects.
This will be the core customer list and provide the foundation for all your other campaigns. Don’t go out and cold call. There’s always someone who needs a service they don’t necessarily have off the top of their head. You can do opt-in or opt-out mass mailing campaigns that are affordable. There’s no better way to get your message out without investing a great deal of money in advertising.
- Identify your best prospects and customers. You have to own everything they buy and every turn of business contact. One of the best way to go about doing this is to create a list of 5-10 of your best customers and prospects based on earnings. Look at online forums and blogs to find out more about your members using software that scours millions of forum threads and reviews. Buy buying habits and see who the best prospects are.
- Create a warm offer. People go out of their way to find out which is the best offer for them. Realtors know what they want, and you and I know that we’re anything but perfect. But we all share certain common qualities, so why not combine a good offer with a warm offer to admit who your ideal prospects are and how good it is to work with them to help them realize their dreams.
- Immediate give them something for their loyalty. You don’t want to keep choosing to do business with another company, do you? Nothing is more frustrating than a business owner who brings on board only the best customer service and under-delivering. Show them your appreciation.
- Make them feel special. An array of small business owners believe that by cutting prices, they’re offering quality customer service. At the same time, this may work for some businesses, for most don’t cut it. That’s why you need to go that little bit extra and do something special for your clients. Give them a few minutes of your time to look over their projects. A handwritten note or a gift certificate with their name engraved will make a world of difference. People are motivated by results. Your clients, even your prospects, want to know that you appreciate them.
- Get their contact information. Use a newsletter (online or offline) to stay in touch. Then use social media to follow up. Have a special offer open only to your best customers and prospects. Then send out monthly newsletters with links to your social media venues. This can be a little bit more costly but certainly worth it, especially if your customers love all of your work.
- Trust them.