Tag Archives: communications

It’s Time to Take an Integrated Marketing Approach

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IntegratedMarketingIn 2013, if you aren’t already, you should take an integrated marketing and communications approach, using a mix of offline and online activities. If your marketing and communications plan has not shifted toward more online communications and integrated programs, you are not fully connecting with your customers.

To sell more products and services, your company should consistently connect with and speak to your customers and stakeholders on a regular basis. You should always maintain and further strengthen the relationships you’ve built with your customers. Keeping visible in your marketplace is also vital to catching the eye of new prospects.

Taking an integrated marketing and communications approach means integrating your offline channels (print advertising, direct mail, public relations, outdoor and broadcast) with online channels (e-marketing campaigns, search engine optimization, pay-per-click, banner ads, social media, blogs, RSS). Integrate the various elements of the mix to maximize competitive advantage for your brand.

Proper integration of online media adds depth and measurability to your programs. It makes you more accessible to your customers. And, accessibility is an important key to marketing in today’s business environment.

You should devote a good portion of your communications budget to public relations, which includes search engine optimization and social-media-optimized press releases, which increase exposure and potential ROI. It’s important to repeatedly let people know why your brand is worth its price by maintaining regular communications and focusing on the advantages of your products and services. A great way to accomplish this is to distribute press releases at regular intervals.

You must also invest in a strong web presence. You have to make sure that you understand how your products are researched and found, and serve as a resource to people who are in search of information. Your website should be responsive to mobile devices. Think of ways to drive people to your website, such as dedicated landing pages, and using an easy-to-remember URL with your promotions. This strategy makes it very simple to track your promotions. Offer a free newsletter, coupons or some other information of value to your target market.

Why not consider integrating a blog with your website? Blogs are conversations. You can speak in your everyday voice, which your stakeholders will often find more friendly and approachable.

Consider doing a video. There are lots of ways to get prospects excited about your business, but very few are as attention grabbing and emotionally evocative as a well-done video. If you’ve never taken this angle for your business, this is an excellent time to do one,  get it up on your website and a clip up on YouTube.

Start doing a monthly e-mail marketing campaign. Use segmented lists and personalized messages with very specific information for each contact. Permission-based tools can make your marketing and public relations dollars work for you. Sending regular messages to your target audience is one of the best ways to market your products and services, and to drive traffic to your website.

Social media is everywhere. You should have a company Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn page, at the very least. With everyone more and more connected via mobile, these are great tools to stay connected with your customers. Your communications need to be relationship-based, taking advantage of search marketing, social media, lead nurturing and online communities.

You should also develop direct-mail pieces using variable digital printing and customized mailing with information directly targeted to each individual. Digital printing can save you money as you print on demand.

And, don’t forget to include print advertising, especially in your industry’s trade publications. Consider using a quarter-page ad in trade publications rather than a half page, or a half page instead of a full page. Many times they work just as well, as long as your copy hooks in your target audience.

Energizing your customers – getting them charged up and talking about your products – should be done consistently. Determine what your customers are looking for and focus your attention there. Learn which channels and mediums provide maximum exposure for your messages and deliver the most for the dollars you are spending.

Successful marketing and communication efforts result from careful strategic and comprehensive planning. Look for ways to promote your company, its products and services in an integrated approach.

It’s All About the Service

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Customer ServiceGood customer service is all about bringing customers back. It’s about sending them away happy – happy enough to pass along positive feedback to others.

Recently, I called the “Help Desk” of one of our service providers. The customer service I received was not what I’d call customer friendly, but rather it was condescending. Needless to say, it left a very bad impression – so much so that I’m not anxious to call back.

Occurrences like this reinforce how not to be, but rather to listen to customers and suggest how to meet their needs or solve a problem. If a client has a concern or complaint, it’s important to address it, solve it and make sure that customer leaves with a feeling that you care about them and have met their needs.

My first job experience was in our family-owned business and my father was my first job coach. He taught me the basics of customer service that I have carried throughout my career. They are simple, but important values – greet people with a smile, treat others with respect, be courteous, look for ways to be helpful, go the extra mile if necessary. That respect in turn comes back to you and builds customer loyalty.

Good customer service is about forming a relationship with customers and sustaining that relationship. It’s making sure someone is answering the phone in person. Your voice on the phone is sometimes the only impression of your company a caller will get. When customers visit your place of business, make sure they leave feeling positive. Whether on a phone call or in person, tone is one of the most important factors in verbal communication. The wrong tone can throw off the meaning you are trying to convey.

Being reliable is essential to forming and keeping a good relationship. The saying, “don’t make promises you can’t keep” is key to good customer service. Keep appointments, meet deadlines, provide the service you promise, be consistent, and keep in communication. Follow up with a customer when a job is completed or after a purchase has been made.

Bottom line, treat customers with the same respect and courtesy that you would like to receive. It’s basic, but providing good customer service is basic.

It goes without saying – if a customer does not get good customer service, they will be reluctant to do business with you again.

The Skinny on… Why use a creative consultant?

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Creative ConsultantsMany companies use an outside consultant, instead of hiring an additional employee or assigning in-house staff, to carry out their communications, marketing or graphic design needs.

In the business world, image really is everything. If you don’t promote a unique and professional image, then it is highly unlikely that you’ll fully meet your sales and marketing goals. It doesn’t matter how good your products or services are.

Agencies are able to devote full attention to your company’s opportunities and needs with an impartial and unbiased view. When you work with an outside creative firm, you aren’t just employing one person; you’re hiring a whole department—one that produces tangible, dollars-and-cents results. Staffed by experts in many areas of the communications and creative, rounds out your team. Each professional is highly trained and experienced in marketing. Because of this, they are experts at knowing what works and what doesn’t when creating a professional image that properly reflects your company.

If you don’t have public relations, advertising, graphic design or social networking experience yourself, then it can be difficult to determine what will actually work for your company. Creative agencies are experienced in planning and developing positioning statements and brand visuals day in and day out.

If you are thinking about promoting your company through public relations, the media depend on contacts that they trust to bring them a real news story. They trust agency personnel that they have been working with for the long term. PR professionals are skilled at communicating each client’s unique strengths in an interesting, innovative way.

Public relations is more than press releases. Effective publicity is choosing the correct placement of your news whether it is in print, broadcast or on the Internet. It’s getting your name out into the marketplace, getting that exact placement in the specific newspaper or trade publication.

A brand-marketing agency will help you differentiate your brand, generate new sales opportunities and increase your visibility through traditional and online marketing efforts. Using sound communications and marketing strategies will increase the support and awareness of your company.

Using a consultant leaves you to what you do best on a daily basis for your company. An agency’s full-time business is communicating ideas and messages to the public, and garnering marketing support for your product and / or service.

Your commitment to working with an agency to develop a sound communications or marketing program does make a difference. The payoff for your company can be tremendous.