With businesses of all shapes & sizes facing continued headwinds from multiple rate rises, increasing costs of doing business, on-going geopolitical instability and conflicts, it's more important than ever before that marketing leaders & business owners get smart about, 1) optimizing their marketing & sales spend, and 2) increasing the lifetime value of their customers.
And often, the best way to do that is by going back to the basics and making sure the fundamentals of our businesses are strong.
Here are ten steps that your business can take today to strengthen your sales & marketing to make sure that, in a tough environment, every dollar you spend counts:
1. Who's your target customer?
It's an easy trap to fall into. Leads are coming in and sales are happening, so why rock the boat? But just like visiting the dentist, a regular marketing check-up to make sure you're targeting the right customers with the right messaging is both an inexpensive exercise, but can pay dividends by tightening up and focusing your marketing & sales efforts where it can deliver you the best results.
2. Optimize your website
When was the last time you took a look at your website? Is it still relevant? Is it still fresh? Is it communicating the right messages to your target customers? Consumers & businesses are always changing. A quick refresh can do wonders for making the most of the customers visiting your website.
3. Social, social, social
It's free, and sure, you need to be strategic about it. And you could also get lost all day looking at cat videos, but finding your customers where they hang out is a proven way of finding and building relationships with prospective customers.
4. Email, but make it smart
Everyone has heard the stats. Email marketing, because it's so easy & common, is one of the least effective forms of marketing. But, 1) it's cheap, and 2) it can be quite effective if you use it the right way. Segment your customer base. Personalize your emails. It's a bit more work, but well worth the effort to help drive more sales and build loyalty & retention with your customers.
5. Incentivize me bro!
Sometimes everyone just needs a nudge, a little bit of a push. And it doesn't always have to be a discount. Something of value - a gift, an offer, an IOU - can be just as good. Don't underestimate the power of GIVE.
6. Loyalty is Royalty
Originally, it used to be a massive undertaking to create your very own loyalty program. Nowadays, there are dozens of tools that will help you create a loyalty program in less than a day. So what are you waiting for? Just make sure to find one or two points that make your loyalty distinctive and help it stand out and stay top of mind to your customers - because the worst thing that can happen to a loyalty program is that it goes unused.
7. Get your customer service basics right
It doesn't matter if you're an award winning business or a unicorn start-up, if your customers are waiting days to hear back from you, or you can't resolve their problems in a timely & responsive way, then ultimately that's doing immense damage to your reputation & brand, which always costs you in the long run. Get your customer service basics right - it costs nothing, and as we say, it's cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one.
8. Upsell / X-Sell
Are you making the most of your existing customer base? Upselling & cross-selling might come across as dirty words for some people, but if you genuinely believe in the value that you offer, why shouldn't your customers be benefiting from that as well? Don't leave opportunities on the table. You never know when your customers might just thank you for adding more value to them.
9. Partners to the end
Partnerships are powerful ways to create win/win opportunities that benefit you, your partners, and customers. Honestly, those are the best partnerships. Everyone brings something to the table to deliver something of even greater value to the customer. Sometimes 1+1 really does equal 3.
10. Focus: Retention
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make your customers love you so that they come back to you over and over again. Analyze their needs & behaviors, demonstrate that you understand them, and build strategies that encourage & empower them to come back to you over & over again.
Conclusion
With all the uncertainty businesses are currently facing, it makes sense to put extra focus on the cost of acquiring new customers, and how we can retain & grow the value of our existing ones.
Often that means making sure that our basics are in a good place - that we have a strong foundation upon which our sales & marketing can build upon.
About Visuo
Visuo helps marketing leaders & business owners to Engage More, Sell More & 5X their sales & retention with real-time, personalized customer engagement.
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