Archive for the ‘Mobile Marketing’ Category

Marketing today is not the same marketing of yesteryear nor will it be the marketing of tomorrow! There are changes in the world that are changing the way we communicate with our customers.

There are advancements in technology, specifically mobility and access. There are new tools and networks, specifically social media, smart phones and IPads.

Today’s customers are informed and when it comes to brand management, there is a shift of power from companies owning their brand to the customer’s voice owning the brand.

So how are you addressing these changes?

When a customer enters into your storefront or business, you interact with your customer usually with a greeting , a warm smile and a simple question; “How may I help you?”

But with our new world, how are you handling the customers who interact with you in your virtual environment? In a social- networking, mobile connected world?

More and more customers are carrying smart phones and are checking in on social, local and mobile applications such as Facebook, Foursquare and Yelp. Some are connected to your twitter feeds and local community websites. Others are fans of your fan pages.

So the question becomes, how are you handling the customers who walk thru your virtual door?

As business owners, we have to have the answer to these questions if we want our businesses to grow. We have to play in both the bricks and mortar world of our stores, but also need to serve our customers in a virtual environment.

Here are some tips to get you started today:

• Get in the Game.
  You need to be seen. If you are not dabbling into social media or looking at mobile marketing as a strategy than you are missing a profitable boat! An online presence is one of the most effecting and inexpensive ways to market your business.

 

• Create a Loyalty Program.
  Reward your loyal customers with special discounts and coupon codes that they can get via their mobile device and through services such as Foursquare. Foursquare has a point system and offers users badges to reward customers who check in most frequently and creates a special designation of “The Mayor”. Similar to Foursquare, Gowalla rewards user with pins but they offer businesses the ability to control the information on their location page and welcome pages.

 

• Develop a virtual customer service strategy
  This has to be part of your plan and communicated to your employees. How do you want them to communicate, how often? What is the tone? Empower your employees to serve your customers and reward those that support your business and address those that complain.

 

• Monitor your online reputation.
  You need to be seen. If you are not dabbling into social media or looking at mobile marketing as a strategy than you are missing a profitable boat! An online presence is one of the most effecting and inexpensive ways to market your business.

People looking for professional services and many types of goods want to do business with local providers. Following are some ways to give your online marketing a strong local presence:

SEO Tune-Up: Do a search engine optimization (SEO) tune-up. Be sure your website is optimized with plenty of local and regional references. If you are able to dominate the search engine rankings for local niche keywords, local people will find your website whenever they search online.

Use Google Places: If you are not on Google Places, you are missing out on one of the best online advertising options available.

Online Directories: Submit an article to an online directory. Article Marketer is a service that submits articles to various article directories, putting your article on steroids and boosting your Google rankings for local niche keywords.

Email Marketing: Reach out regularly to your existing customers with special local promotions, offers and tips. It’s still much easier to sell to existing customers than to acquire new ones.

Launch a Local E-Zine: Publishing increases your name recognition and boosts your credibility. Publishing online delivers all the advantages of print communication minus the cost of materials and distribution.

Write a Blog: A blog is a great way to inform, educate, opine and, at the same time, promote your goods and services. Blog about topics that will interest your customers and position you as an authority. Be sure to sprinkle local niche keywords liberally throughout your blogs.

As with any marketing technique, it’s important that your online messages be consistent and congruent with one another and with your overall brand strategy.