Mad 4 Blog

It always makes sense to ask successfully acquired clients and customers how they came to hear about your business. By carefully comparing how well each of your advertising efforts performs, you can bulldoze past a lot of trial-and-error and simply direct your budget toward what works, both in quantitative and qualitative units. For example, if no one’s seen that ad in the newspaper but everyone heard about you from a friend or relative, you may wish to pull your print ads and focus on buzz-generating word-of-mouth campaigns–or even reward former patrons for referring a friend. And if you’re reaching a higher caliber of clientele via brochure than billboard, you’ll certainly want to bring your message down to the smaller scale, which can also cut back cost.

These days, tracking is everything when it comes to building successful campaigns. Online, it’s perfectly easy to determine how a person landed on your page; analytics mark each click-through by its referring links, search engine source, browser type and even the viewer’s physical location—it’s not only effortless, but also automatically built into most website content management systems. But even online there’s always more you can do; when it comes to e-commerce, many shopping outlets utilize codes. Asking buyers to enter a code before they take advantage of a sale helps marketers to track which sales and campaigns were more successful than others, and to help determine if shoppers heard about it from a newsletter, referral or ad. This is why you might see several usable codes available for the same sale, depending on where you hear about it.

In what other ways can coding and tracking be used in your business endeavors? Mad 4 Marketing recently posted job listings on several career search websites. But each posting required us to pay a fee, and since we weren’t sure which websites or which wording would be most successful for attracting the best new teammate, we decided to generate a few different ads. We asked job candidates on each board and posting to reply with a different subject line. This took a little more time and thought, but we were able to see from where we were getting hits, and what kind of prospective employees were nipping the bait. After the first week we cut our ad placement (and cost!) in half and only used phrasing that was clearly expressing our desires to the most qualified candidates.

Another example is Satori’s text message campaign. In 2008, we used a lot of on-the-scene guerrilla marketing to advertise for the newly opening apartment rental community in Fort Lauderdale. We wanted to reach out to those who already lived in and loved the surrounding area of South Florida. At each event (such as street fairs, art shows and the boat parade), we advertised the chance to win six months’ free rent by texting a code to a given phone number. At each event, the code differed. That way, we could see which community event had directed the most participants to our giveaway, as well as which regions or crowds were most interested in Satori. This information turned out to be extremely valuable in later marketing endeavors, such as choosing local ad placement.

The bottom line is that tracking efforts are a smart investment in the future. It means looking past today’s brochure or even tomorrow’s website, toward next year’s entire marketing strategy. Tracking provides you with the tools to always understand and surpass prior tactics–and no matter what, this means that you will ultimately succeed.

Last week, we introduced the premise of using blogs in marketing, and what to do once you have your own blog. In that same vein, this week we are following up with tips for keeping your readers once you have reached out and engaged them in the first place.

Getting Readers to Stay on Your Site

In a world where single impressions are used to measure website results, one might wonder why it’s important to care how long readers actually stay on your site. When it comes to marketing, keeping readers engaged means that you’re increasing their familiarity with your voice and information. By staying on your site, readers are able to connect to the content, which may make them think about your ideas later or want to return (more on this below). You’ll also want visitors to move around on your site, which is why you should always provide links to other areas that might be of interest. For example, if you published a complementary article last month or previously mentioned the topic at hand, you’ll want to refer back to that old post. When readers move through your site, it increases your impression rate click by click–getting you more bang for your buck per visit or guest.

Getting Readers to Revisit Your Site

Why allow readers to have one single good experience on your site when you can encourage them to create a pattern? Readers make pivotal decisions about whether they might want to return to your blog in the first few seconds of landing on it, so inviting them to come back again begins promptly at the start of their very first visit—even with your blog’s title. An easy-to-memorize name will make it easy for one-time visitors to find their way back to you. The look and layout of your blog are also invaluable tools that can influence how the general populace—or your targeted audience—perceives the value of returning to your blog, so don’t skimp on the creative. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

The next step is to make your content as subscribable as possible by providing easily identifiable links to RSS feed, your newsletter or other forms of content subscriptions; this includes ‘following’ ‘friending’ ‘liking’ ‘fanning’ or other ways to connect with the page. It also helps to flat-out prompt readers to bookmark your hyperlink. Anything that removes the middle step of making your reader remember that your blog exists will be useful, so be sure to try to lock them to a mailing list or feed as soon as possible.

You’ll also want to make your blog extremely user-friendly so that it’s a welcoming and easy-to-navigate space that readers will want to revisit. We’ve previously discussed the importance of user-friendliness on the Web, but there are a few differences when talking about a blog rather than a website or forum. For example, utilize your blog’s sidebar to chronicle past posts, organize content by key words or add a search feature. Don’t just load this valuable space with heavy text and ads; besides, a busy blog will generally overwhelm readers and dissuade them against ever coming back.

Of course, no effort goes so far as introducing frequent, fresh content and enforcing quality control. By providing plenty of new, engaging content (that must, must, must be typo-free), readers will come up with the bright idea to come back again all on their own.

These aren’t stand-alone suggestions; each relates to one another in order to create a plotted process by which readers are easily directed and re-directed to the blog. Much like with all advertising, it takes several interactions or impressions before marketing tactics can truly take hold; and it’s those who have been most often exposed to your messages who are likely to convert to customers–and spread the word.

Embarking on a new relationship with customers isn’t all that different from starting a courtship with a new girlfriend or boyfriend. You begin by trying to catch their attention, and then slowly build upon mutual interest with the hope of turning it into a long-term engagement. There’s a lot of give and take. Communication is optimal. And of course, both parties have to be honest and uphold their end to make things work. This Valentine’s Day, think of the ways you can romance your customers to achieve a lasting relationship.

First Impression
A first encounter is your chance to make one amazing impression with the person you’re hoping to woo. In marketing, this refers to the initial point of contact between your business and your prospective customer. Before you can ask this person out to dinner—or even ask for a phone number—you need to be sure that you’re ready to put your best foot forward. Your first point of contact should be an accurate reflection of who you are and what you can provide, so that they can make up their mind if they want to learn more. Bold, memorable creative is also a key aspect (it always helps to look your best). Your call to action should also be a highlight of your first impression. If you want to make future contact and set up that pivotal first date—if you want to get your foot in the door—then you’ve got to get your customers invested and curious to learn more.

Dating
Once you’ve started going out on dates with your object of affection—or in this case, once you’ve gotten past the first point of contact and initiated a relationship with your customer—the next step is to begin to get to know them, and let them get to know you better as well. It’s not enough to achieve one transaction one time from an interested party. You want to take the successful sale and turn it into a deeper familiarity with your brand, and a deeper investment in your company. Throughout point-of-sale interactions and beyond, you must continue to show your customer that you are committed for the long-haul. That you appreciate their former business with you, and welcome its return. Reminders of prior interactions while keeping your line of communication open are vital at this stage. And to be perfectly honest, it wouldn’t hurt to send flowers. Small tokens of continued interest and gratitude go a long way in nurturing a growing relationship.

Engagement
Okay, so you’ve made it through the trial-and-error period (perhaps provided some products and services to your target audience) and now it’s time to get serious. You want to exclusively supply your products or services to them from now on. This might entail developing incentives for customer loyalty, such as additional discounts or benefits for long-term users. It may also mean that your customer has been invited to register for further information and involvement, such as through a newsletter or subscription. Either the promise of future business or a well-established opportunity to embark on future relations is the equivalent of engagement between you and your customer.

Marriage
Between businesses and their target markets, a marriage is achieved when your customer decides that your brand is the best choice for their continued patronage. They are very familiar with everything you can and will do for them, and they are no longer shopping around. This marriage may come in the form of a contract, or it may be a far less tangible connection. Whatever the terms and conditions may be, this promise of fidelity is never simply cemented with an ‘I do.’ It takes ongoing effort and continued work to ensure that your business stays top-of-mind and best-suited for your betrothed. As you both grow over time, communication and flexibility may be necessary so that the relationship remains mutually beneficial.

If you’re thinking that a baby in a carriage is what comes next, you’re absolutely right. The offspring of your business/customer relationship are the referrals and reputation that you earn through your ongoing trustworthy performance. The longer you maintain satisfying and strong relationships with choice consumers, the stronger your brand will grow and the more rewarding contacts you will gain throughout the life of your business.