The most prevalent mistake when it comes to a social media marketing strategy is the failure to have a solid plan. The really sad part is that not only are organizations missing out on the fastest and most affordable means of generating new business but they are setting themselves up to be overtaken by their competitors a lot sooner than they realize.
1. Underestimating The Need For A Toll Free Number
1. Real Estate
While there is no industry or company that cannot benefit from toll free numbers, real estate companies and agents definitely should not be in business without one. Building credibility and branding are perhaps the top two concerns of the many real estate agents that are rushing back into the business. Taking advantage of the rebound and toll free vanity numbers are the easiest and most cost effective way to achieve this.
2011 may mark the year of the return of direct marketing. The importance of this promotional method is apparent. Direct marketing allows your company to interact with customers without any barriers. Some of the tactics that fall under this marketing strategy are:
Catalogs: Because printing costs are continually coming down, more companies are enticed by the possibilities presented by catalogs. Glossy, sophisticated, and attractive: catalogs are a direct marketing method that can easily entice.
Email Marketing: Traditional salesmanship still matters when you take your campaign on the Internet, but not by much. The key to having a successful email marketing campaign is to have accurate data. Once you know what the customers want, need, and desire, it becomes easier to target your email messages.
Social Media: Get responsive leads through social media. If you are like most companies, you rely on a certain demographic to generate most of your sales. Social media allows you to be in touch with your target market during people's “downtime.” When they visit social sites, they tend to feel more sociable themselves.
Basically, the main reason why direct marketing is so effective is because salesmen don’t make far-ranging assumptions. The campaign is based on detailed data that is gathered from the customers themselves.
Business columns and business coaches often dedicate much of their time to telling entrepreneurs and business owners that they must be revolutionary in their advertising strategy and be unique if they want to win.
However, the reality is that as an entrepreneur or marketing executive, achieving a successful advertising strategy can often be a difficult tightrope walk between doing what is working for others and offering a unique proposition.
There are two problems with developing your own advertising strategy from scratch. First, it can mean ignoring the facts and figures and the tried and true methods that are working in the current market. Choosing just to learn from your own mistakes rather than others is costly and can result in losing any lead time you had on your competitors. Secondly, creating an advertising strategy that is too far away from the norm can be confusing to prospects and consumers, not only reducing your advertising effectiveness and the ROI of your marketing budget but alienating many viable customers.
In order to develop a truly successful advertising strategy, you really should take the best of both worlds. If a certain marketing strategy, channel, or platform is proving to be incredibly profitable in your industry, you shouldn’t ignore it. Consumers will be looking for some of the similar attributes in order to find your product or service and judge it’s value and credibility. However, at the same time you need to be different enough from your competition to differentiate enterprise and stand out from the crowd. The perfect example is books. While self-publishing is becoming more popular than ever and has turned out many of the best sellers in the last couple of years, it remains an independent way to produce books; nevertheless, authors can definitely benefit from promoting their books on reputable sites like Amazon or by using Facebook likes and a familiar blog or website format for promoting it. What will you take from the proven and comfortable way of doing business in your industry and what will you do differently to develop the ultimate advertising strategy?
Image Credit: © Ali Mazraie shadi | Dreamstime.com
Vanity phone numbers have proven to be one of the greatest marketing tools for improving branding and increasing advertising effectiveness, but it doesn’t end there. The recent changes in the economy are demanding that companies not only fight harder to expand their market share in their current niches but also become the company of choice in other niches within their industries in order to maintain revenue levels and grow. Vanity numbers can help accomplish this goal.
Vanity numbers that spell out words can be used to target specific groups and needs within your given industry, enabling your enterprise to carve out big slices of market share and dominate them. Obviously there are advantages to having generic vanity phone numbers for your industry if they occupy the number one spot like 800-FLOWERS, 800-CONTACTS, or 800-MORTGAGE. However, if you can’t get your hands on these for some reason, then look at targeted vanity phone numbers that can help you take over different market segments one at a time. These phone numbers make it easier to maximize marketing ROI with more targeted campaigns. Once you have locked in a top position in a certain niche, it is going to cost your competitors much more to try and compete with you in it, no matter how good their products or services. Then, while they are planning attacks on you in one area of your industry, you have the luxury of a head start to go after other niches with new vanity phone numbers while they are not paying attention.
How can you put this marketing strategy into play for yourself? Start by looking at customer needs and desires. Then take a look at how your company differentiates itself in your industry. Typically, you can harness factors like being easier and faster to deal with than your competitors in order to grab attention and drive prospects to action. Use words like FAST, EASY, EZ, and NOW in your vanity phone numbers for maximum effect. You may not even be the fastest or easiest in your industry, but it is all about perception. Harness the power of winning vanity phone numbers and grow your business.
No longer is it good enough just to get a return on your direct marketing. To survive in this economy, you must maximize marketing ROI. That means not only ensuring advertising effectiveness in terms of response rates, but also in terms of closing ratios and how you handle those customers once they make the effort to contact you.
Tighter economic times have made companies more careful than ever with their marketing budgets. However, amazingly a huge number of businesses are still not utilizing cheap and easy tools--right at their fingertips--to help them hone their marketing strategy and marketing effectiveness. Instead, many companies are using out of date practices and reducing the amount of marketing they are doing from fear of lost money. Instead, they should be analyzing what is and isn't working so they can improve and maximize marketing ROI. Surprisingly, even business coaches and marketing consulting agencies are making these costly mistakes. Ignoring data and marketing metrics right in front of you is like complaining you are broke while burning a hundred dollar bill.
