I gotta admit: Keeping up with marketing news kind of depresses me.
If you’re like me, you subscribe to growth-hacking newsletters, follow thought leaders on Twitter and read marketing forums regularly. And you’ve probably become accustomed to, and a little depressed by, marketing experts sharing their success and how easily “you can do it too!”
I’ve been duped too many times by headlines like: “We grew our newsletter subscribers 1,000 percent by using this simple tip.” I can’t resist these headlines.
I click. I skim. And either the article is misleading or this “simple tip” is just the “tip” of a much larger marketing iceberg — an iceberg that’s going to require buying something, signing up or doing a bunch of legwork first. I don’t have the time for it.
So in response to those articles, I wanted to write a column you can feel good about.
If you’re already doing these five things, pat yourself on the back. You’re not done, though. Do these again, but this time, do them a little better than last time.
And if you aren’t doing these five things, you can start with one today.
I mean, can you spare five minutes?
Day 1. Win #1: Simply Respond To Customers
Sounds obvious, but this recent study showing that more than 80 percent of retailers fail to respond to customer questions on social media should motivate you (and your department). Timely responses with a little personality go a long way in fostering trust, winning over customers and eventually, growing revenue.
You will dramatically improve your sales and retention through meaningful, timely customer engagement, as noted in this Rosetta study.
Here’s how:
If your customer engagement is nonexistent or ad hoc, make sure your next customer response is faster and done with a bit more care than the previous one. Don’t worry about changing the entire customer service infrastructure within your organization right this minute. Start humbly, just get to that next customer a little faster than the previous one and watch what happens.
Day 2. Small Win #2: Write A Thank-You Note To Your Best Customer
Thank one of your best customers for their business. If you have your customer’s mailing address, send him or her a handwritten note.
Most companies fall in that “80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers” model. So take five minutes and send a note that’s a sincere heartfelt “thanks.”
Here’s how:
I always keep Forever stamps and stationery on hand for this express purpose. If you don’t have stamps or stationery, send an email. But I can assure you, the handwritten letter has a much better effect.
Day 3. Small Win #3: Get Better Leads, One Email At A Time
Is it any surprise that the biggest challenges facing businesses are new business development and quality of leads, when I got these two sales pitches via email today?
Email 1. Hey Patrick, how’s it going? I work with a lot of companies in the media space to take care of their accounting and taxes with an all-in-one solution. Does this sound like something that could be useful to you?
Email 2. Hey Patrick,
I wanted to touch base with you in regards to self-service analytics at BlogMutt with [their company name, so let’s call it “Acme Data” for placeholder]. Acme Data is a 100% web-based analytics platform, powering data-driven teams at innovative companies like [customer], [customer], and [customer].
Here’s a quick video you might find interesting from [one of their clients, unrelated to our business] showing how they use Acme Data to answer questions in every part of their organization and become more data-driven with a single source of truth for their data. Reports can be scheduled, shared, and drilled into, allowing anyone’s questions to be explored and answered in real-time.
I’d be great to schedule a demo so we can introduce you to the product, learn more about your use case, and get you started on a free trial on your own data!
When I say “personal,” I mean it in two ways.
One, make it personal for your recipient. Neither email gives me any sense that they know my business or my business’s needs.
And two, make it personal for your company. Take a little pride in your own company.
If this is the only interaction I have with your brand, what’s the value on that? It’s huge! But we treat these initial emails so cheaply.
Frankly, there is nothing that these two companies offer that is unique. Your memorability is directly proportional to your uniqueness.
Here’s how:
I’m not proposing a revamp of how you do sales communication in only five minutes.
But if you’re in marketing or sales or both, use five minutes on your next sales email to do a little homework on your recipient and their company. Start sending out more personalized, memorable sales emails.
Over time, you’ll have built a portfolio of examples to share with the rest of your sales and marketing team showcasing this new tactic. Share your results and what you learned.
It’s a lot easier to manage by doing than ordering. But it all starts with that next email.
Day 4. Small Win #4: Add A Call To Action
Like all of these, this tactic should only take five minutes. Start with a text-based call to action (CTA). You can always make sexier ones later.
The thing is, if you’re not asking your readers or customers to take an action, they won’t.
To wit, there’s a term called “information scent.” As James Archer writes:
Most people navigate based on what’s called “information scent.” When faced with a set of options, they’ll choose the option that gives the strongest indication that it’ll bring them closer to what they want, like an animal sniffing around for food.
Do your blog posts have a CTA that helps your readers and gives them what they want? Use today’s blog post to include a CTA and start helping your readers and yourself.
Here’s how:
If you don’t want to just do a text-based CTA, consider using a super-simple tool like Sniply. You can customize your CTA banner with any link that you share.
Another easy CTA is simply inserting a clickable image within your blog posts. Design apps like Canva are a great place to start.
Day 5. Small Win #5: Share One Success
Here’s the sad truth. If you don’t promote and share your team’s wins, no one will. You gotta be your biggest fan, as well as your team’s biggest fan.
And that doesn’t have to be in a “hey, look at us” kind of way. It’s more of a “hey, look at what we’ve accomplished and where we’re heading.”
A high tide lifts all boats, as they say. By sharing your team’s success, you’re not only promoting the hard work you and your colleagues have done, you’re lifting the spirits of everyone else.
Here’s how:
Celebrating and promoting wins is the easiest and fastest way to boost morale and create a supportive company culture. Just today, at BlogMutt (my employer), our CEO, Scott Yates, shared a happy customer email and added:
I just wanted to share this note from a customer that I got last night. We are all really doing great work for our clients, and every so often one of them tells us and I just want to say good job and to all of the team for making this kind of thing possible.
One note takes a minute but goes a long way in boosting company morale.
That’s it.
Get five quick wins under your belt, and notice the cumulative effect it has on your demeanor and motivation. So often we put too much on our plate, over-commit and under-deliver, and it just makes us feel miserable.
For the next article that says, “Look how easy it is to grow your leads by 500 percent in one month,” think back to this column, and don’t underestimate the value of the quick win.
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