Proactive Marketing in the 21st century

Proactive Marketing - Keeping Clients Informed

For any business, client retention has to be high on the priority list.
 
Finding new clients is one of the most costly exercises any business can perform. It has been estimated that it costs five times more to find a new client than it does to keep and existing one.

The new buzzword for this is Client Loyalty. It is not easy as a small business to compete with the large organisations when it comes to client loyalty programmes; after all they have massive budgets to handle client loyalty schemes like loyalty cards, free flights etc. So how do you compete against all that hard cash available to the large company when it comes to retaining existing and finding new customers?

There appears to be an almost automatic assumption with many small businesses that clients enjoy things like loyalty cards and all the trappings of shopping with large supermarket and department store chains, but don't be too sure.
 
People are becoming more aware that loyalty cards are electronic spies that report back to the shop or store what your habits are so they can better target advertising and marketing at you and your family. There are many concerns being voiced about the amount of information these large companies now hold about us and more people are being turned off by the loyalty card.
 
We believe that what clients are looking for is a fair deal, especially when you move away from necessity shopping on food and drink.

The one advantage that big stores and supermarkets like Tesco's and Asda have over the smaller shopkeeper is the convenience of having everything under one roof and the ease of parking close to the shop.
 
Traditional shopping has us trampling from one shop to another to get what we want carrying bags and kids around with us, not to mention the reluctant husband.
 
However, even with these items there is strong demand for quality as opposed to quantity on numerous items particularly when it comes to goods and services which carry with them something different or some kind of added value.
 
So, it's added value and something that bit different that can make your business the supplier of choice even over the ubiquitous supermarket or department store who are trying to be all things to all men and women.

However, when you analyse why clients change to another supplier, the reasons can be quite enlightening; price is not the main factor in changing suppliers and usually comes around fourth or fifth on the list.
 
Poor service or product support can be a major factor in deciding to leave one supplier for another.
 
Another is that the buying may be spasmodic, perhaps the client buys one a year or once every so many months and in the mean time the supplier simply has little or no contact with the buyer. They just sit back and wait for them to order again.
 
Clients have also reported that they didn't know that their existing supplier had the item or carried out the service that they were looking for.
 
Clearly this means that smaller businesses

• Are not keeping their existing client base properly informed as to their range of goods or services 
• Do not keep in regular contact with existing clients especially when they buy on an irregular basis 
• Are unaware that they are loosing clients to poor service, poor product supply or support  

This is difficult to understand when communication in the 21st century has never been easier.

Business to Business

If you are focussed on Business to Business services then it can appear difficult to identify simple cost effective ways to compete with the 'Big Boys' and of course at some point price always rears its ugly head. Having said that, one of our own suppliers for Office equipment and stationery if far from being the cheapest, but their customer sales service and after sales service are second to none, they are excellent and because of this we are happy to pay that bit extra for the goods they supply.

But it doesn't stop there. They send me weekly sometimes daily emails to keep me informed of special offers, give away prices, and of course new products.
 
Whilst I don't necessarily read them every day, I do read them from time to time and when I do I usually find myself following the link to their website to view something we could do with and often as a result I'll fire off an order for that and of course other things. Or perhaps I'll pick up the phone and call them to ask more about the product and while I'm on there, human nature being what it is, I give them an order for something if not for the product I called about.

Business to Consumer

I receive emails telling me about wine, shoes, clothing, books, movies and food. If you have ever dealt with Amazon, think how many emails you will receive saying
 
"we just thought you would like to know that people who bought the last thing you bought also found the following items useful and bought them as well"
 
OK, the wording might not be as it comes on an email from a firm like Amazon, but it get the message across I think. Not all the emails I'm referring to come from large companies like Amazon or Tesco; many of them come from proactive small businesses which we always like to support being a small business ourselves and this goes to prove that the small business can match the large company when they use today's technologies effectively.

The fact is that at some point in my working year I will have a look at the emails and buy something. I'm also glad to be hearing about new products and services because it keeps me informed, so whilst I filter out the SPAM emails - I do keep the regular marketing and information giving emails from small and large firms, and so do many people.

And that brings me to my point

What the owner managers of small businesses often fail to recognise is that in the early twenty first century clients have a thirst for knowledge on: -

• Where to buy things 
• The prices of product and services 
• The support available before and after buying something 
• What's available in the market place 
• Technical details  
• and much more 

The large companies have cottoned on to this and have made it part of their marketing strategy, they do everything they can to satisfy this thirst for knowledge. The small business on the other hand, usually lets this kind of opportunity pass them by for some feeble excuse like, I don't understand how to do it, I don't understand the technology, or even worse, why bother, they know where we are!

Promoting your Business, retaining existing and winning new clients

Making it Happen

How would you like to have at your disposal

• A monthly, reader friendly newsletter to send to you clients 
• A quarterly magazine to distribute 
• Occasional seasonal offer notices 
• Occasional special offer notices 
• Occasional flyers and leaflets 
• Occasional articles about your firm such as - success stories, case studies, what you are doing, new products or innovations, product or service enhancements 
• Customer tracking and reporting facilities 
• Automatic email responders to enquiries and FAQ's 
• Automatic email responders to - new orders, new subscribers and new customers 

Delivered to your client base and new prospects each month in a controlled and targeted campaign, tracked and monitored to tell you who is reading what and who is responding?

Saving you time and money

Sound like a good idea?
 
If you think so follow this link to find out more on using Email for Client Retention Marketing and Winning New Customers.

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