Feb/100
Worried about using your customer data for direct marketing?
Several local business owners have recently expressed to me their concerns over collecting and handling their customers’ data. They don’t want to annoy their customers and they want to make sure they don’t break any laws or regulations.
As more local businesses take advantage of mobile and internet technology to grow their own audiences, these concerns will become increasingly common. If you are a concerned business owner, here are the key points to keep in mind.
Firstly, you are right to be collecting your customers’ contact details and preferences. It is no longer viable to rent an audience from your local newspaper or radio station. Your competitors may be saving money and winning their customers’ loyalty by building their own audience. So should you. Don’t let your concerns put you off.
To succeed in building your local audience and converting them into true fans of your business, here is the most important thing to do. Get their explicit permission. Without that, their interest in your marketing messages will be minimal. Your response rates will be low and you may even upset some people. How often do you welcome a mailshot or email that you did not ask to receive? Invest time in finding good reasons for people to ‘opt-in’ to receiving your marketing. This is the best way to get high response rates. And responses lead to sales.
If customers give you their details as part of buying from you (for example, a salon takes your name and number when you make a booking), don’t assume that they want to receive your marketing. When you take their details, ask them if you can get in touch now and then when you have something special to tell them about. This is not only good practice, it is also an EU requirement for anyone that conducts marketing by electronic means. Oh, and don’t give their details to other businesses. At least not if you want to keep your customers.
Your next aim should be for customers to look forward to receiving your messages because this will generate the best response rates. To achieve this, you’ll either need to send very tempting marketing offers (very expensive for you) or send offers that are very relevant to people’s interests. If you are an off-license, is your customer interested in white wine, red wine, beer or champagne? This is where you’ll need to get creative about giving people reasons to tell you their interests and also making it easy for them to tell you.
It’s natural to be concerned about conducting business in a new way. The best way forward is to think it through, make a plan, then get stuck in. Treat it as a trial. Expect some error. When you get it right, you will enjoy a well deserved advantage over your competitors.
Jan/100
A resolution for 2010 – get permission!
This seems like an obvious point, but make sure that customers know what to expect when they agree to receive direct marketing from you. Are they consenting to email only, or also SMS? Are they opting in for special offers only or will they receive general news and updates about your business? The clearer this is, the more welcome your message will be, the greater chance of receiving a good response from customers. In this respect, people rarely welcome surprises.
Your aim should be for your customers to welcome and look forward to your marketing rather than to put up with it. If it is expected and welcomed by your customers, there is far more chance that it will influence them.
A list of your customers’ contact details is almost worthless unless you have captured their interest and gained their permission. If you have their interest and permission, you have a good chance of generating revenue with each piece of marketing you send.
Sep/090
Help people remember your local business
You know how difficult it can be to get people to visit your local shop or try your service for the first time, right?
You have probably experienced this yourself as a consumer. You decide to try something new, perhaps a new exercise class or a new bar. You have a great time and end up telling some of your friends about it. Then, six months down the line, you realise that you haven’t been back. You’ve been really busy, your schedule has been tight, you didn’t get around to it and then you completely forgot.
As a consumer, you have to ask yourself – how eager were they to get you back? Even though you found them initially and spent some time with them, they didn’t take time to capture your details. If they had done that, they could have sent you a message or offer to invite you back.
As a business, do you really do enough to capture new customers and turn them into loyal customers? Sometimes, the reason people don’t return has less to do with the quality of your product or service and more to do with how good you are at helping people to remember you.
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