3 Marketing Tactics Worth Keeping
I was recently talking to a friend who finds what I do complicated. It’s true that content marketing has lots of moving parts, and that trends come and go faster than most people can learn about them, but I shared with him three tactics that will always be worthwhile.
Create valuable content
This is the mantra chanted by thousands of content marketers everywhere. Content is the lifeblood of your marketing; creating great stuff can mean more links, more visits, more leads, and more customers.
Unfortunately many business misinterpret this as merely “create content,” and spend a lot of time writing self-promotional drivel that isn’t worth the ink on which it’s printed.
The content you create needs to focus on the customer and his or her needs, and should lead them down the sales funnel at a pace appropriate to your buying cycle. Answer their questions, educate them, anticipate their challenges and give them what they need just when they need it.
Content is critical to success — without it your marketing will fail.
Make it easy to share
Chances are good that almost everyone you know has some kind of social media profile; and most of us use those profiles, in part, to share what’s happening with friends and family.
This sharing takes many forms, but often involves asking for advice — everything from “What do you think of this shirt?” to “Which local dentist do you recommend?”
92% of people consider recommendations from family and friends as trustworthy. Imagine the potential value of a blog post you’ve written being shared to someone’s Facebook connections along with a glowing recommendation of your company.
Add social sharing buttons to your website, and encourage people to share and send your valuable content. Your next customer may be checking their Facebook page right now...
Have excellent customer service
In How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life, author Michael LeBoeuf shares the astonishing statistic that 68% of customers stop doing business with a company when they are met with an attitude of indifference from an owner, manager, or employee.
Add to that the fact that people are more likely to share bad experiences than good ones with their connections and you’ve got plenty of reasons to make sure your customer service is tip-top.
People want to know they are being heard. They buy your product or service because you’ve told them it will solve their problem; if it doesn’t, they have a right to be upset, and you have a responsibility to try your best to make it right. Ignoring complaints brings nothing but trouble.
On the other hand, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, versus a mere 5-20% with new customers.
Do your best to provide customer service that makes you worthy of your customers’ loyalty. Remember it’s about more than building wallet share.
Final thoughts
It’s a common saying in the business world that people don’t buy what do you do, they buy why you do it. Continually provide value to your prospects and customers through content and customer service — show them that you are passionate about your business and passionate about helping them succeed in theirs.
Marketing fads come and go; but being helpful and human will always be a trend worth following.
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