Continuing the discussion on growing your business by staying in touch with your customers and referral sources…the most important thing that I can share is that the “answer” is not just one thing. Many business people are anxious to check off “marketing” from their “to-do” list that they convince themselves that if they do anything with marketing that it is adequate to be done with the task. If it were only so easy. How many times have I heard a business say, “I send out a weekly/monthly email” isn’t that enough?
The answer is no…it is not enough. Why? Because the answer is rarely, if ever, is one thing. There is no one best way to market. Emarketing, text marketing, promotional products, direct mail, personal contact, hand written notes, face-to-face visits, mass media marketing (TV/radio/magazine/newspaper advertising) could all be parts of your solution depending on the type of business you are in and the size of your company. Or it could be three of those activities or four or five. But sorry, I can’t endorse just one method of marketing.
Why? Because if you look at studies marketing effectiveness is influenced by many things including frequency, engaging different senses, and the message. Each of the different types of marketing will reach people in different ways, at different times of the day, location (home, office, car…) Take email marketing campaigns are they good? They have their place in a marketing plan, but in my opinion a limited role. If you look at the statistics of 200 million e-mails sent via Constant Contact’s Emarketing services, you will find that the average email open rate for most industries runs about 10-16%. That means the vast majority of people being sent “warm” emails (not spam) are not even opening them. So is it enough just to send Emails? Probably not!
So we should not rely on just one medium to be successful in our marketing efforts. Email, even with the low open rate should be part of your stay in touch marketing program. But you need other methods of communication as well. We recommend clients think about their stay in touch marketing in terms of short-term, top of mind awareness and longer term, brand awareness marketing. The top of mind awareness mediums can/should include a variety of media including email, direct mail, hand written notes, direct contact (meetings/face-to-face). Examples of long-term presence/brand building marketing can include certain printed pieces (catalogs, calendars, resource tools), promotional products, and corporate gifts among others.
