by Alyssa Craft | Jul 1, 2014 | Loyalty Marketing
In a competitive market, it’s important to stand out from the crowd. Popular marketing channels such as search engines, email, print advertising, online advertising, and networking groups are all packed with competition, and many small businesses are looking for new and unique ways to present themselves. Businesses are often so focused on new business that they forget to nurture current and past customers, and print newsletters are one way to strengthen those relationships and improve loyalty. However, misconceptions prevent many small business leaders from seriously entertaining the idea. In this post, we’ll address these misconceptions and discuss how sending a print newsletter can help you achieve marketing goals. Misconception #1: printing and postage is too expensive. Fear of sticker shock prevents many business leaders from considering a print newsletter, but calculating the cost per customer helps put things into perspective. A four-page color newsletter may cost as little as $1.30 per customer per mailing depending on the specifications of the print job. For a quarterly newsletter, that’s about $5.00 per customer per year. That’s a small price to pay for cultivating genuine and long-lasting business relationships. Misconception #2: the design process is difficult. Some people hesitate to send print newsletters because they don’t have professional graphics software or design experience. Microsoft Office and other common programs are a low-cost option, but you may not be able to customize the templates as much as you’d like. If design is not your thing, there’s no need to spend hours or days stressing over creating a newsletter. If you hire a professional graphic designer in Medford, OR, a small investment can yield a high-quality, fully-branded template to use again and again. Misconception #3: creating content is hard. The idea of creating content can be intimidating, but it’s not as difficult as you...
by Alyssa Craft | Jun 24, 2014 | Loyalty Marketing
When sales are flat or falling, many small businesses resort to common marketing tactics as a quick fix for the problem. Many of these tactics work in the short-term, which is why they have become the norm. But some marketing tactics can do long-term (and possibly irreversible) damage to your business. Let’s examine the drawbacks of five common marketing tactics so you can decide whether they will help or hurt your business in the long run. How can common marketing tactics hurt your business? Five common marketing tactics are lowering the price, offering a promotion, and appealing to fear, aspiration, or novelty. These tactics manipulate the customer into buying from you. Carrots and sticks such as these can be the best way to elicit the desired behavior for a single transaction, but they may do more harm than good if you want customers who have a loyal and long-lasting relationship with your business. Price Many small business owners are reluctant to play the price game, but cave in because it works. Most small business owners have lowered a price to close a deal. If you drop your prices low enough, people will buy from you. How this tactic can hurt your business: Slashing prices or having a sale may be a quick fix for your sales problem, but once your customers get used to paying a lower price, they will never want to pay full price again. Promotion Whether it is “two for one” or “free toy inside,” promotions are so common that we often forget we are being manipulated. Like price, promotions work because an extra goodie is sometimes all it takes to close a deal. How this tactic can hurt your business: Over time, giving things away for free can erode profit margins and attract customers that are doing business...
by Alyssa Craft | May 26, 2014 | Loyalty Marketing
Marketing is a lot like dating. While some people date for fun, many people date to ultimately find the person they are going to marry and have a life-long relationship with. As a business owner you want your clients to “marry” you. Dating is unstable, and you want stability and predictability in your business which is what marriage provides. You want to develop trust and loyalty in your customers, but you need to go through the dating process to get to marriage. Let’s take a look at those steps and what they mean for your business. [Tweet “You want clients to ‘marry’ you. Dating is unstable, and you want the stability of marriage.”] Courting Courting is really the process of getting someone to go on that first date with you, or the process you need to go through to get the first sale. Getting a first date and getting a first sale can be a lot of work. You need to look as attractive as possible, have the right message, be in the right place at the right time, strut your stuff, and have some good conversation: all so that when you ask for that first date they will say yes. This can be exhausting. While some may enjoy the chase in the dating world, many crave stability, loyalty and consistency in the business world. The First Date So you finally go on your first date, or get your first sale. Let’s say it went okay. If you want to go on a second date, you can’t just sit around waiting for the phone to ring. You will need...
