The days of blindly sending out thousands of printed direct mail pieces is over. With a 2% response rate for direct mail considered “highly successful”, most companies just don’t have the financial resources to throw that shotgun approach toward Marketing. And they shouldn’t. That is not using money wisely. It was good business for the Marketing companies, printers and the post office, but not so good for the businesses, and most was trashed immediately by the intended recipients. Estimates are as high as 97% never even being looked at.
There is a much more intelligent approach. In fact, Marketing in general has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. If you are still using your old ways of marketing, you are wasting your time and money. Today, strategies are carefully planned, results are measured and a return on investment is carefully considered.
Strategies
Consider the results of the survey of how companies are spending their marketing dollars in 2012.
See the entire article on marketing sherpa.
Does the above chart look different than your model for your own Marketing? If it does, it might be time to reconsider your Marketing budget to reposition your company for how business is being done today.
One side of the strategy involves initially attracting potential clients to your web site and content. Another aspect is keeping them engaged once they get there. But the real change in Marketing is once a potential client is gained as a verified prospective lead, the emphasis is now on treating that lead as an individual, handling them carefully, and not dropping the ball with them from introduction, through educating them, closing the sale, and on through servicing the sale, servicing the sale, constant contact programs after the sale, and obtaining further lead prospects from the client after the sale. I like to call that portion reputation harvesting.
Each one of these areas is a specific emphasis for businesses and their marketing efforts. Doing your research (homework) prior to throwing money at Marketing, and then measuring your results will make your Marketing efforts produce better results for your business. Isn’t that what you really want anyway?
Let me end by elaborating on a couple of terms that may be new to you:
Outbound Marketing: This is the marketing that we put out there kind of like a fish net to attract potential clients. This is not a comprehensive list, but it includes things like your web site, newsletters, direct e/mails, brochures/flyers, advertisements, etc.
Inbound Marketing: This is where the real change to Marketing is occurring. Once a potential client (lead) has been obtained, Inbound Marketing defines the process that will be followed to assure that we maximize our opportunity to close the sale with the lead, and to flow through our entire “process” to ensure that they are treated properly, we continue a long-term relationship with the client, they give us recommendations, and we have the opportunity to reach their contacts with referrals.
This process can be difficult, however. Consider a company that sells many types of products that they install through different divisions of their company, or through different installation or manufacturing paths. Do your employees clearly know what is involved and expected? If they don’t, how can you expect your clients to be handled properly. …but this, we will save for another time.
AKOR Services specializes in assisting small-to-medium-sized companies with their Marketing efforts, so they can concentrating on providing great quality products and services to their clients. If you would like more information about what you have read today, or other Marketing topics, please contact us.
AKOR Services
P.O. Box 1081
Sandy, OR 97055
(503) 427-8553
www.akorservices.com
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