Email marketing and other cost-effective tools
In my last post, I discussed business marketing research, and how you can use it to help spot opportunities, customer preferences and market trends. Today, I’ll look at ways to take advantage of the information that your business marketing research uncovers.
Email marketing puts your research to work
You should never stop doing business marketing research, but once you’ve made some discoveries about your business and your customers, you can act. Now that you know what you’re aiming for, what can you do that’s both effective and cost-effective?
Believe it or not, email marketing can be an exceptionally effective, cost-effective strategy for business marketing. In terms of dollars spent to dollars returned, email marketing gives you one of the highest returns on investment available today. This is, in part, because you’re connecting with customers with whom you already have a business relationship. They know you and you know them. Giving news updates about your business or making special offers available to them is a great way to connect with your customers, and it gives them a chance to connect with you.
Surveys of businesses that use email marketing indicate that their revenues increased by nearly 30% in 2014, and nearly 7 of 10 businesses that use email marketing rate it positively as a way to reach their customers. Today, email is a very standard business communication tool.
If your business doesn’t currently do email marketing, you can implement this low-cost, high-return effort easily. You can find low-cost email management programs and services, some of which are free for small businesses. Better still, your customers can easily forward email to others who may have an interest in your product or service.
Your business website is another low-cost, high-return business marketing investment. Your business website can be anything from a simple “billboard” site to a highly functional online resource. In either case, your website is available 24/7/365. It’s ready to answer customer questions about your business when the customer is ready to look. It makes good sense to take care of your website. Keep your information up-to-date and add new content regularly. Customers particularly appreciate videos, inventory information, complete product descriptions and photographs, shipping costs, pricing and other similar information.
If your business doesn’t carry an inventory, consider creating information resources for them like white papers and case studies. They can make a huge difference in the way your customers see your business, and how often they return to your site.
Use analytics on your website to track what customers look at when they visit. Emphasize the popular locations and help your customers navigate easily to other parts of your website. Use search engine optimization to help search engines direct prospective buyers to your site, too! A well optimized website can draw a lot of traffic, and create a noticeable increase in your business.
If you would like more information about low-cost, high-return business marketing options, please contact our Creative Director Dave Ramsell or give Dave a call at (330) 243-0651 to set up a consultation.
Photo Credit: Legends Web Design, via FreeImages.com
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